by ALEJANDRA CUELLAR
The Mexico-based campaigner tells Dialogue Earth about what the movements have in common, their challenges and his hopes for the future
June is the month where LGBTQ+ pride is celebrated globally. It is a moment of recognition, visibility, and continued fight for equality. But this year, in many parts of the world, pride marches and events come against the backdrop of record temperatures, devastating floods, and grim scientific warnings. In the midst of increasingly urgent climate challenges, many are highlighting the intersections between the climate crisis and the struggles faced by LGBTQ+ movements. Can we find lessons and solidarity in this convergence?
Renowned Colombian transgender biologist Brigitte Baptiste has spoken about palm tree species that change their sex for survival, and frogs that “seem to be in a gay pride parade at all times”, having evolved with a diversity of colours and shapes that has helped them adapt and survive. Elsewhere, forms of family organisation between individuals of the same sex have been observed in the animal kingdom, with some species seeking diverse groupings to defend themselves against adversity.
“There is nothing more queer than nature,” Baptiste has stated.
Though such natural diversity is widely cherished, for LGBTQ+ people in Latin America it is so often a harsher reality, facing alarming rates of violence and mortality. Between 2014 and 2020, at least 3,514 LGBTQ+ people were murdered in Latin America and the Caribbean. These are struggles that share parallels with those of environmental activists, who often risk their lives in defence of the planet. Between 2012 and 2022, more than 1,300 environmental defenders were killed in the region, making it the deadliest in the world for such activities.
Dialogue Earth spoke with Aurélien Guilabert, a Mexico City-based activist committed to both LGBTQ+ rights and environmental protection. Guilabert started the Mexican chapter of Extinction Rebellion, the global movement that aims to compel action on the climate and ecological emergency, has run in local elections for the Mexico City congress, and has worked on HIV prevention and the promotion of gender identity laws in the country. Guilabert explains how his experience of more than a decade on both fronts has revealed strong connections between the defence of human rights and the safeguarding of nature
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