Outing' Honduras: A Human Rights Catastrophe in the Making

Photo: Johny Magallanes/MCT

Nov 29 2012

Suyapa Portillo Villeda

Now that President Obama has come out in support of marriage equality, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has dedicated a small budget to defend LGBT rights internationally, it’s the perfect time to remind them that the abuse and killings of gay and transgender people keep piling up in Honduras—even as Washington heralds the country’s return to “democracy.”

Following a coup d’état in June 2009 that ousted President Manuel Zelaya, Honduras held a presidential election that excluded anti-coup candidates and was boycotted by large numbers of voters and election monitors. This led to the election of Porfirio Lobo, who has governed in the interests of Honduras’s small elite, continuing the agenda of the right-wing coup regime instituted in 2009. In October 2011, Obama received Lobo in the White House with the following statement: “Two years ago, we saw a coup in Honduras that threatened to move the country away from democracy, and in part because of pressure from the international community, but also because of strong commitment to democracy and leadership by President Lobo, what we’ve been seeing is a restoration of democratic practices and a commitment to reconciliation that gives us great hope.”¹ No mention of the human rights abuses, the economic desperation, or the failings of a corrupt judicial system.

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