Mexican city seeks to establish ‘diversity neighborhood’

Monterrey, Mexico, Jun 27 (EFE).- Like major cities in the world such as New York and San Francisco, the northern Mexican city of Monterrey seeks to have its own “diversity neighborhood” inhabited by members of the LGBT+ community, the project’s promoter Heriberto Garcia said Tuesday.

At a press conference, the activist spoke of the prototype “Monterrey Diversity Neighborhood,” one of the three civic projects that will be presented on Saturday, and promoted by the Ministry of Culture, through the Citizen Cultural Lab (LABNL).

“It is a reflection of the rights to housing and the rights to culture that have often been denied to us,” Garcia said.

For years, he said, the LGBT+ community has been persecuted or rejected in public spaces, so it needs a space that gives members identity.

“For many years they have been denying us spaces, they run us out of places where we meet, as they tell us that tourists don’t like to see ‘jotos’ (a derogatory term for gay people) or they persecute us,” he said.

This is why they are looking for a place that makes the community visible.

“Now the community is centered in the heart of Monterrey,” he said.

The project estimates a space where people from the LGBT+ community can live.

“We want a place where there is heritage for us, where there are activists, people who have worked on spiritual issues, civic projects,” Garcia said.

Also, he added, to reflect on how urban developers are going to incorporate human rights into city planning.

“We are planting a small seed that in other countries is already many decades old.”

For the time being, he said that the project will be presented Saturday and the virtual founding will be signed.

The other two prototypes to be presented are Trans and Non-Binary Citizenship, presented by Loren Daniel Ibarra, and Translucidity, promoted by Samantha Paredes.

Valentina Sanchez, LABNL’s mediation coordinator, said the prototypes are part of the processes and projects developed in the cultural lab.

Also present at the press conference was Nuevo León Culture Secretary Melissa Segura, who emphasized that the efforts are focused on the struggle and efforts of the LGBT+ community during Pride month. EFE

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