Coalition condemns ongoing murders of members of the LGBT community in Puerto Rico

New York City Stands in Solidarity with the Puerto Rican Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community, a coalition of LGBT groups and elected officials, is outraged by an ongoing series of murders of members of the LGBT community in Puerto Rico. This week, two transgender women were found dead alongside Highway 512 in Juana Díaz. Both women had been shot in the head. Also, a local political leader in Aguada was beaten to death. The two male suspects who confessed to this crime alleged that they killed him because he solicited them for “sexual favors.”

Pedro Julio Serrano, communications manager of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, founder of the LGBT rights group Puerto Rico Para Tod@s and a founding member of the coalition, says the law requires authorities in Puerto Rico to investigate whether the murders were motivated by the victims’ sexual orientation or gender identity and urges them to respond adequately to this wave of violence.

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