Public policies
catalogue

In Mexico City (CDMX) –as in most traditional societies–, heterosexuality is the most accepted existence and cohabitation model among the population. Therefore, different behaviors, affections, identities, sexual preferences and gender expressions not fitting such model are widely rejected, thus generating discriminatory acts that promote inequality regarding the access to and full exercise of human rights by the LGBTTTI population (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transvestite, transgender and intersex people). Regardless of the progress attained in society in general –and in CDMX in particular–, homophobic hatred and violence is still seen, as well as a restriction in services and the denial of specific rights, which call for serious actions to be taken by the local public administration. Therefore, CDMX’s government decided to design public actions and policies addressing this situation, in coordination with all governmental agencies, involving areas that might potentially result in discrimination contexts. The purpose of Mexico City’s LGBTTTI-Friendly City Agreement is to draw attention to and eradicate these challenges, taking into account that this city has paved the way for the development of social awareness actions and the promotion of human rights of LGBTTTI populations in Latin America. In this sense, the current Declaration is based on the 2014 Agreement, which ordered many agencies within CDMX’s Public Administration to implement actions throughout Mexico City to fight phobic acts and discriminations against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transvestite, transgender and intersex (LGBTTTI) populations. Although the former Agreement contained specific actions in strategic areas, it only applied to certain agencies within the local government.

Making CDMX a city of gathering, consensus and dialogue for everybody –whether local people or foreigners–, offering freedom, equality, legal security and, most importantly, respect for the rights of the LGBTTTI community. Raising awareness about, assisting and offering participation to the LGBTTTI population. The purpose of this Agreement is for the capital city to become a place where the rights of diversities are respected and encouraged. The spirit of this Agreement goes beyond a simple tourism-driven “Gay-Friendly City” label, establishing a series of commitments among different governmental agencies so as to eradicate and prevent discrimination of this priority group.

● Consejo para Prevenir y Eliminar la Discriminación (Council to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination – COPRED). This agency operates under Mexico City’s Secretariat of Social Development, in charge of executing the Agreement and ensuring that an equalitarian and non-discriminatory culture is built within the city. ● Secretaria de Inclusión y Bienestar Social (Secretariat of Social Inclusion and Wellbeing – SIBISO).

In order to fight discrimination, building networks and joining efforts was essential. Therefore, the purpose of CDMX Government was to generate guidelines and coordinate inter-sector and inter-institutional actions for the Agreement’s development and effectiveness. Consequently, different entities –centralized and decentralized public administration, semi-public entities, and political-administrative agencies– committed to the Agreement, sending their own action programs and reporting on the steps taken in relation to this issue.

• Federal District’s Discrimination Prevention and Eradication Act, as amended in 2014. • Executive Order amending and adding several provisions to the Federal District’s Civil Code and Procedural Civil Code. • Mexico City’s Children and Adolescents Rights Act, November 2015, as amended in 2017. • Anti-Discrimination Notice in Commercial Establishments Act, as amended in 2017. • Mexico City’s Political Constitution.

LGBTI Population

Seminars/events
Social/citizen participation
Advice
Financial/legal/technical assistence
Communication and information channels, platforms and tools
Awareness and/or information campaigns
Education and training
Systems of production, survey, systematization and monitoring of information (data)
Institutional strengthening
Access to justice

For the purpose of implementing this public policy, certain direct actions were carried out within the society through different advisory systems and specific interventions, both by the Council to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination (COPRED) and other local governmental organizations. The strategy is based on the compliance with the commitments deriving from the Agreement, which are materialized in specific public actions. Thus, certain matters such as gender perspective and LGBTTTI people’s human rights were included in different public administration agencies and entities, so as to ensure that these populations are not discriminated and receive equal, decent and quality treatment. At the same time, legal, psychological, health and civil assistance is provided by different entities focused on this population. In this line, the Secretaría de Seguridad Ciudadana (Secretariat of Citizen Security – SSC) offers assistance with and follow up of complaint files, cooperation applications, and conciliation proposals. Assistance is also given to the LGBTTTI community through the Unidades de Atención y Prevención de la Violencia Familiar (Family Violence Assistance and Prevention Units – UNAVI). The Centro de Atención a Riesgo Victimales y Adicciones (Assistance Center for Violence and Addictions Risks Victims – CARIVA), under Mexico City’s Office of the State Attorney General, offers services to LGBTTTI people, such as psychological assistance and diagnosis, physical checkups, legal assistance and/or in-home visits. The COPRED also answers enquiries and requests made by people from the LGBTTTI collective. In relation to the agencies that provide public services, all their regulations, protocols, guidelines, manuals, guides and operation rules were harmonized so as to add human rights and gender perspectives based on international instruments ratified by Mexico. The Escuela de Administración Pública (Public Administration School) and the COPRED regularly carry out education and awareness activities for the city’s civil servants. Thus, training sessions are given to operational supervisory staff on sex diversity issues. All new staff at the local public services receive specific training on human rights, violence prevention and help, gender perspective, and non-discrimination. Through different methods (such as awareness courses and film discussions, among others), information is given and reflection is promoted on certain particular issues, in order to modify the perception of reality of public servants that act as the first-line public assistants of the LGBTTTI population. In order to ensure full inclusion, equality and fairness towards the LGBTTTI population, the Consejo de Evaluación del Desarrollo Social (Social Development Evaluation Council) carries out an external evaluation of the public policy established in the Agreement. For that purpose, the Council monitors CDMX’s public administration actions and social programs, verifying that their operating rules include and effectively reach the LGBTTTI population. LOCATEL –the Telephone Localization Service– set up a specialized LGBTTTI line. LOCATEL established the “Non-Discrimination Line”, which assists with and channels discrimination cases in COPRED, available 24x7 all year long. Later, with the change of administration, the Agencia Digital de Innovación Pública (Digital Public Innovation Agency – ADIP), through the Directorate General of Citizen Contact, absorbed LOCATEL’s activities and launched the “Diversity Line”, with the purpose of assisting the LGBTTTI community under citizen assistance models that encourage equality, non-discrimination, fairness, social justice and recognition of diversity. This specialized line also offers legal and psychological assistance. Awareness campaigns are also carried out in order to modify the local culture to be more respectful and inclusive in terms of sex and gender diversity. This is implemented through electronic media, such as social media, audiovisual material and videos; printed resources, such as pamphlets and posters; and urban fittings and public transportation signs. CDMX institutions regularly conduct communication and information actions consisting in a common message of respect and equality towards the LGBTTTI population. A series of public events was scheduled in Mexico City, with the participation of human rights referents and experts. As a result, citizens have access to specialized information to know the LGBTTTI collective’s current situation, thus promoting discussion, debate and reflection on these issues. At the same time, recreational, artistic and sports activities are being implemented to promote the human rights of this population. The Agreement also supports the organization of the LGBTTTI Pride Parade –which has already reached its 40th edition in CDMX. The participation of civil-society organizations and NGOs that assist LGBTTTI populations is actively encouraged. In this sense, the Centro Comunitario de Atención a la Diversidad Sexual (Sex Diversity Assistance Community Center – CCADS) works jointly with civil-society associations, organizing informational events and awareness-raising activities. The private sector also participates in this policy, facilitating job inclusion for LGBTTTI workers and placing non-discrimination notices at factories and commercial establishments. Additionally, the private sector carries out training activities, signs agreements and develops events to share their experiences in good practices, in order to encourage job inclusion of and respect towards the LGBTTTI community in the job world. As regards children and adolescents, certain actions were taken in order to ratify and guarantee the rights of children with same-sex parents, specially to avoid any type of school bullying. In this sense, the Consejería Jurídica y de Servicios Legales (Office of Legal Affairs and Services – CEJUR), through the Vital Records Office’s Central Court, reviews and files the recognition of children and registers births.

The innovative aspects of this project are the design, implementation and evaluation of actions promoting the LGBTTTI population’s human rights from a networking standpoint, through inter-institutional coordination and inter-sector articulation. This public policy actively encourages the participation of a plurality of public agents and social actors, such as the academia, civil-society organizations and the private sector. Another innovation consists in the methodology set up by the COPRED to evaluate the Agreement’s contents. This instrument provides for objective, timely and accurate mechanisms to evaluate the actions taken in order to guarantee human rights.

• Centro Comunitario de Atención a la Diversidad Sexual (Sex Diversity Assistance Community Center – CCADS). • Consejería Jurídica y de Servicios Legales (Office of Legal Affairs and Services – CEJUR), through the Vital Records Office’s Central Court. • Academia and universities. • Private and entrepreneurial sector. • International LGBTTTI-Friendly Cities (Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, Brussels, Madrid, Montevideo, Paris, São Paulo and Tel Aviv).

The Agreement was designed jointly with civil-society organizations, which, based on their experience and advocacy work, suggested different types of actions that could be taken in order to achieve progress regarding the guarantee of human rights. These organizations also helped in the wording of the Agreement. The implementation of these activities and initiatives is also actively and jointly carried out together with civil organizations that execute many of the awareness and training activities, advocacy actions in formal and institutional mechanisms, and reviews and updates of assistance protocols, both in the public and the private sectors.

There is no specific budget allocated to the Agreement. The financial and budgetary calculation of the actions is made under the public policy framework, setting physical and financial goals aligned with the institutional activities by following the strategies detailed in Mexico City’s Human Rights Program (PDHCDMX) since 2017. Compliance with the Agreement is mandatory for the public entities operating within CDMX; therefore, the commitments deriving from the Agreement must be covered with each entity’s budget.

The Agreement’s contents are evaluated on an annual basis, since the evaluation instruments work as indicators. The annual results thus obtained are compiled in a Report on the Progress of Actions Benefiting the LGBTTTI Population. Additionally, in 2018 the Evaluation Methodology for Public Actions was drafted, applicable in the CDMX as LGBTTTI-Friendly City. This methodology focuses on the evaluation method applied to processes and results deriving from the implementation of the Agreement published in 2015.

Local goverment

The CDMX: LGBTTTI-Friendly City Agreement is wide-ranged and is developed throughout different areas. Some of the specific results deriving from the Agreement are the following: i) Same-sex marriages, adoptions and birth registrations (i.e., biological children), thus guaranteeing the right to have and to start a family. ii) Gender recognition for trans men and women; recognition of the rights of trans children and adolescents (many of these cases come from other federative entities where they are not able to fully exercise their rights). iii) Inclusion of non-discriminatory contents in the design guidelines of operating regulations for social programs; inclusion of the LGBTTTI population as beneficiary of social programs. iv) Anti-discrimination notices placed in commercial and business establishments. v) Implementation of formal mechanisms for the reception, enforceability and culture of reporting. vi) Significant reduction of discrimination against the LGBTTTI population, observing a general increase in the number of reported incidents. This is also seen in public institutions and the private job sector.

Both the scheduled activities and the results deriving from this policy are informed using the official websites of each public entity and the COPRED’s website. In this sense, COPRED’s number of followers on Twitter has multiplied exponentially, thus becoming a relevant presence in the public agenda.

As per the Agreement, an Annual Report is submitted to Mexico City’s Mayor, which is also publicly available, thus encouraging democratic transparency and accountability.

Inclusion of CDMX in the Rainbow Cities Network (RCN). Since the CDMX: LGBTTTI-Friendly City Declaration, Berlin’s Mayor congratulated Mexico City’s Mayor, so CDMX became the first non-European city to be part of the RCN, a network of over 41 cities created with the purpose of sharing experiences, good practices and public policies benefiting the LGBTTTI community.

Consejo para Prevenir y Eliminar la Discriminación de la Ciudad de México (Council to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination in the City of Mexico – COPRED). CDMX: LGBTTTI-Friendly City Declaration

Metodología de evaluación de acciones públicas