{"id":6339,"date":"2024-01-22T23:44:02","date_gmt":"2024-01-22T18:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/22\/mexican-politician-convicted-of-misgendering-lawmaker-appeals\/"},"modified":"2024-01-22T23:44:02","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T18:14:02","slug":"mexican-politician-convicted-of-misgendering-lawmaker-appeals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/22\/mexican-politician-convicted-of-misgendering-lawmaker-appeals\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexican politician convicted of \u2018misgendering\u2019 lawmaker appeals"},"content":{"rendered":"


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By Anugrah Kumar<\/a>, Christian Post Contributor
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Rodrigo Iv\u00e1n Cort\u00e9s<\/span> | ADF International<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mexican civil society leader and former congressman Rodrigo Iv\u00e1n Cort\u00e9s has appealed to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights following his conviction for “gender-based political violence” over social media posts referring to a trans-identifying lawmaker as a “man who self-ascribes as a woman.”<\/p>\n

The appeal was filed by the legal nonprofit ADF International last Wednesday. Cort\u00e9s was convicted in June<\/a> of referring to trans-identifying Mexican member of Congress Salma Lu\u00e9vano as a “man who self-ascribes as a woman” on platforms like X and Facebook.<\/p>\n

“As evidenced by Rodrigo Ivan Cort\u00e9s’ conviction for peaceful expression, and dozens of cases like his, free speech is greatly threatened in Mexico at this time. It is our plea that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights will admit this case and hold Mexico to its duty to respect the fundamental right to free speech and expression,” stated ADF International attorney Kristina Hjelkrem said in a statement<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is an autonomous organ of the Organization of American States. The complaint against Cort\u00e9s centers on nine social media posts, alleging a violation of Lu\u00e9vano’s right to be acknowledged as a woman and a denial of identity.<\/p>\n

Cort\u00e9s, charged solely because Lu\u00e9vano is a sitting member of Congress, faced a failed appeal in Mexico’s Electoral Superior Chamber, leading to the international appeal.<\/p>\n

The conviction resulted in a fine equivalent to $1,123 and a requirement for Cort\u00e9s to publish a court-written apology as well as the ruling on his social media account daily for 30 days. Cort\u00e9s must also enroll in a “gender-based political violence” course and enter into the National Registry of Persons Sanctioned in Political Matters against Women.<\/p>\n

“Disagreement is not discrimination, and peaceful dissent is not violence,” Hjelkrem said. “Cort\u00e9s spoke out, peacefully, in support of self-evident truth, and for that, he has been convicted as a violent offender and subjected to onerous punishments. The Mexican government’s continued censorship of its citizens violates their international human rights obligations to uphold freedom of speech.”<\/p>\n

Upon the filing, Cort\u00e9s expressed a commitment to defending freedom of speech in Mexico and his anticipation of a decisive ruling from the IACHR.<\/p>\n

“Peacefully expressing the truth of biological reality can never be a crime, and the government of Mexico must not be allowed to punish individuals for sharing their convictions,” he said. “I am hopeful for the day that all Mexicans can freely speak without fear of being silenced.”<\/p>\n

The case raises concerns about due process and judicial impartiality, ADF International, which specializes in religious freedom cases, stresses.<\/p>\n

Cort\u00e9s, head of the advocacy group Frente Nacional por la Familia, was initially convicted by a lower court for his social media posts. The impartiality of the higher court’s ruling, expected in June 2023 but delayed, came into question following a publicized closed-door meeting between Judge Felipe Barrera and Lu\u00e9vano.<\/p>\n

Evidence of inappropriate meetings and communications between two of the five judges and Lu\u00e9vano further complicated the case, leading to allegations of a breach of Cort\u00e9s’ right to a fair trial.<\/p>\n

In September 2022, the FNF expressed concerns over a bill presented by Lu\u00e9vano, which they view as violating freedom of speech and religious freedom. The bill, ADF International claims, would penalize Christian teachings on sexuality as “hate speech.”<\/p>\n

Lu\u00e9vano, along with trans-identifying representative Mar\u00eda Clemente, has been involved in several high-profile incidents in Mexico’s Congress, including physical altercations and the sharing of explicit content on digital platforms.<\/p>\n

Cort\u00e9s’ situation parallels that of Mexican Congressman Gabriel Quadri<\/a>, who faced similar charges for Twitter posts following a complaint by Lu\u00e9vano. Quadri is also seeking justice at the IACHR.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Free<\/span> Religious Freedom Updates<\/h2>\n

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By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor Monday, January 22, 2024 Rodrigo Iv\u00e1n Cort\u00e9s | ADF International Mexican civil society leader and former congressman Rodrigo Iv\u00e1n Cort\u00e9s has appealed to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights following his conviction for “gender-based political violence” over social media posts referring to a trans-identifying lawmaker as a “man who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[]},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6339"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}