The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights published a regional report on the violence perpetrated against LGBTI persons or those perceived as LGBTI [...] Some countries in the region have made significant progress in recognizing the rights of LGBTI persons, but there are still high rates of violence in all countries of the region.

As the many testimonies included in the report show, this violence tends to be extremely brutal and cruel. Moreover, the everyday violence that affects LGBTI persons is often invisible, as it is not reported to the authorities or covered by the media.

The report focuses on violence against LGBTI persons as a complex and multifaceted social phenomenon and not just as an isolated incident or individual act. Different sexual orientations and identities challenge fundamental heteronormative notions about sex, sexuality, and gender. The report also analyzes how the situation of violence faced by LGBTI persons intersects with other factors such as ethnicity, race, sex, gender, migration situation, status as a human rights defender, and poverty.

When States do not carry out thorough and impartial investigations into violence against LGBTI persons—as in the majority of cases—this leads to impunity for these crimes; this sends a strong message to society that violence is condoned and tolerated, which generates even more violence and leads victims to distrust the justice system. Read more via OAS