Civil Rights
A national law does exist to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, but discrimination remains widespread. Polls show high levels of prejudice directed at LGBT people, and there are many reports of anti-gay harassment and bias motivated violence.
Much of the nation's advocacy on behalf of LGBT rights comes from William Hernández and the other members of, "Asociacion Entre Amigos" (Among Friends Association), who have faced harassment and even death threats for their activism.
On 4 May 2010, President Mauricio Funes issued a presidential decree banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the public service. At the same time, President Funes created a Sexual Diversity Division within the Secretary of Social Inclusion, which was headed by a member of the lesbian community. Although there are gains on removing discrimination, activists report that outside of the government and administrative areas, discrimination is still ongoing.
Read more about this topic: LGBT Rights In El Salvador
Famous quotes by civil rights:
“... two great areas of deafness existed in the South: White Southerners had no ears to hear that which threatened their Dream. And colored Southerners had none to hear that which could reduce their anger.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 1, ch. 16 (1962)
“I’ve never been afraid to step out and to reach out and to move out in order to make things happen.”
—Victoria Gray, African American civil rights activist. As quoted in This Little Light of Mine, ch. 3, by Hay Mills (1993)
“...I was confronted with a virile idealism, an awareness of what man must have for manliness, dignity, and inner liberty which, by contrast, made me see how easy living had made my own group into childishly unthinking people. The Negro’s struggles and despairs have been like fertilizer in the fields of his humanity, while we, like protected children with all our basic needs supplied, have given our attention to superficialities.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 1, ch. 19 (1962)
“Children’s liberation is the next item on our civil rights shopping list.”
—Letty Cottin Pogrebin (b. 1939)