Transphobic violence haunts the towns of El Salvador

When the discussion moves to gender, homosexuality, and civil rights in El Salvador, one must be aware of the risks and social rejection in one of the most conservative countries in Latin America.

Home to just over 6 million people—almost half of the population of the city of São Paulo—the Central American country has one of the world’s worst violence rates outside of warzones, with 46 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. But if you are both Salvadoran and a member of the LGBTQ community, your chances of being targeted by violent crimes are much higher, and your individual rights are denied on a daily basis.

Hell-bent on solving the violence issue—which defined last year’s presidential election that culminated in the victory of 38-year-old Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s youngest head of state in history—the country has little to no interest in pushing progressive policies to support those individuals of non-binary gender. 

The blame for this ultra-conservative culture comes from the El Salvador’s colonial roots. With Spain dominating Central America, Catholicism spread like wildfire around the region. Eighty percent of Salvadorans define themselves as Catholic; the number jumps to 97 percent when we count all Christians.

The violence suffered by...