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:
“... one of the blind spots of most Negroes is their failure to realize that small overtures from whites have a large significance ... I now realize that this feeling inevitably takes possession of one in the bitter struggle for equality. Indeed, I share it. Yet I wonder how we can expect total acceptance to step full grown from the womb of prejudice, with no embryo or infancy or childhood stages.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 1, ch. 10 (1962)
“Children’s liberation is the next item on our civil rights shopping list.”
—Letty Cottin Pogrebin (b. 1939)