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Latin America accounted for 78 percent of the 1,731 murders of transgender and gender-diverse people reported worldwide between Jan. 2008 and Dec. 2014.
Argentina saw its first national action against the murder of transgender people on Tuesday, with participants also standing up for the rights of the LGBT community and women.
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Chanting, “We don't want any more deaths in our community,” the protestors marched in memory of the Stonewall riots that took place in Greenwich Village in New York City in 1969.
Members of the LGBT community spontaneously took to the streets, protesting against a violent police raid carried out earlier that day. “Since then, we started saying 'Gay Pride' and that's why we believe it was important that day to say 'no more murders,'” said LGBT activist Paula Lorenzo.
The march demanded justice for Diana Sacayan, an LGBT leader who made a historical contribution to the progress of LGBT rights in the country, and who was murdered in Oct. 2015.
In 2012, Argentina began to allow people to change their gender on official identification documents. Latin American countries have some of the world's highest murder rates for transgender people, according to rights groups.
According to Transgender Europe, which advocates for transgender people worldwide, Latin America accounted for 78 percent of the 1,731 murders of transgender and gender-diverse people reported worldwide between Jan. 2008 and Dec. 2014.
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