HOUSTON, TX – What’s unfair to Houston’s Gia Pacheco is that each election cycle the transgender, immigrant communities, and others are used as an “expendable pawn” for votes.
In the meantime, discriminatory laws get passed that harm LGBTQ, immigrant communities in the Lone Star State, says Pacheco.
“The hate that’s pushed during these Congressional hearings, during an election year – it’s used as a tool to get votes for their party, but they have lasting results,” Pacheco told GLAAD.
Pacheco made clear that after an election, politicians move on. Their collective attention shifts to other issues, but “the people who suffer from those discriminatory laws will still be suffering from those laws,” and forced to live under a new set of unfair rules. And those unnecessary laws will probably be made even more stringent in the next election cycle, as trans people and immigrants once again become political pawns.
Gia Pacheco, transgender, Latin immigration activist; photo by Lana Leonard
Pacheco is a first generation Mexican-American, transgender activist fighting for LGBTQ, immigration rights and against Christian nationalism. She sat and spoke with Monica Trasandes, the Senior Director of the GLAAD Media Institute’s Spanish- Language & Latine Media & Representation team at the invitation of Equality Texas to convene and empower the stories of bilingual Latine, Spanish speakers at the Montrose Center LGBTQ Center in Houston.
The training was part of a GLAAD Media Institute initiative to train and develop more Latine leaders on effective and impactful storytelling through the Camera-Ready Latine Leaders initiative, with the goal of delivering more accurate and fair voices on issues surrounding immigrant communities to mainstream conversation and media.
Each activist spoke to key issues impacting their communities, including, immigration, reproductive justice, LGBTQ protective laws, and what they’re doing to fight proactively for all three.
“It’s just become a reality that [in] this country, if you’re not a Christian ideal, or what is seen as a Christian ideal, you will eventually become a target,” said Pacheco. “Roe v. Wade was a right that was given before I was born, but now it’s gone,” Pacheco continued.
With that said, human rights violations continue to intensify in Texas.
Last month, the Supreme Court ruled to keep one of “the most extreme anti-immigration” laws in place, known as Texas Senate Bill 4 (88-4). The legislation “would permit local and state law enforcement to arrest, detain, and remove people they suspect to have entered Texas from another country without federal authorization,” according to the ACLU.
Laws like SB4 (88-4) lead to racial profiling, separation of families, and traumatization of Black and Brown communities across Texas.
In addition, anti-LGBTQ laws such as the “Don’t Say Gay/Trans” law censor, surveille, and block impertinent information and literature on LGBTQ education in schools. Texas also bans transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary healthcare, and has banned transgender students from school sports.
Ultimately, the Lone Star State is at the center of anti-LGBTQ, reproductive, and ethnocentrist violence. Just last year, Equality Texas tallied more than 140 anti-LGBTQ bills in 2023. These bills compound the harm introduced into communities that are immigrant, LGBTQ, Latine communities.
“Algo muy importante para mi es que la comunidad latina recuerde que las personas LGBT también están entre nuestras familias. Yo sé que yo no aparezco como mujer trans y no parezco mexicana, pero soy las dos cosas y nunca voy a poder deshacerme de los dos lados,” Pacheco said.
The President and CEO of Empoderando a Hombres Trans, or Trans Men Empowerment, Daron Yanes Perez stands in community with Pacheco. He says “la organización comenzó en el 2023.”
“Apenas cumplimos un año y pues todo empezó por un grupo de chicos. Éramos tres que teníamos experiencias bien compartidas,” Perez said.
Darren Yates Perez, president and CEO of Trans Men Empowerment; Photo by Lana Leonard
Perez continues to say that Trans Men Empowerment formed through a need for immigrant, Latino, trans masculine visibility, resources and safety. Something not readily available for so many in the trans community.
“Es un momento difícil porque empezando por todo lo que está pasando con la comunidad, hay muchas leyes anti trans, anti LGBT y como nos han tratado de poner contra la pared, ponernos para un lado y vernos como juguetes, como algo que no cuenta para ellos. So, lo veo muy personalmente. Yo lo que pienso es que deberíamos seguir luchando contra eso, para obtener la igualdad,” Perez continued.
The president also said that it’s so important for trans men and communities to find ways to support each other while human rights violations continue to mount against Texans.
About 1.8 million Texans are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, which is the second-highest such population (following California) for any US State, according to 2022 data from the Public Policy Institute of California
Earlier this year, Equality Texas, the ACLU of Texas, GLAAD, and the Human Rights Campaign with the support of the Human Rights Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law submitted a Joint Allegation Letter to 17 independent experts, working groups, and special rapporteurs at the UN about the human rights crisis facing LGBTQIA+ Texans.
Ricardo Martinez, the president and CEO of Equality Texas said “state leaders are failing us.”
“Failing to meet the minimum standards of international human rights treaties highlights the dire state of LGBTQIA+ rights in Texas. When state leaders fail us, we turn to the courts and the federal government, when they fail us we turn to the world. We cannot pretend to be a beacon of freedom when our state is slipping behind global human rights standards that have been in place for nearly 50 years. Our nation is only as strong as our weakest link, and right now, Texas is dragging our nation into a human rights crisis that will do more than damage our global reputation, it will harm our LGBTQIA+ neighbors at home,” said Martinez in December of 2023.
Pacheco and Perez leave call-to-actions for their peers.
“I’d like to emphasize that if you’re currently on the fence about any political topic, try not to fall into the scandal that’s going on with that topic,” Pacheco insisted. She said to do your research and follow the facts versus the propaganda, and vote.
Perez says to keep supporting us with resources, a share on social media, and by showing up to events Trans Men Empowerment might organize.
“Solo digo que es muy importante también emocionalmente estar ahí para apoyar a tus amistades y familiares que sí son parte de la comunidad,” the organizer said.
