Mexico shelters offer safe haven for LGBTQ migrants [Video]

Shirlei Vazquez, a trans woman, fled Guatemala after being assaulted and threatened, joining a growing number of LGBTQ migrants heading north in hopes of a better life in the United States.

In Mexico, these migrants have found a safe space at shelters welcoming people facing added stigma or violence on the long journey north due to their sexual orientation or identity.

“I had two options: die in my country or leave to find safety,” the 27-year-old Vasquez told AFP from a shelter in Tijuana called Rainbow House.

Back home she was assaulted and told she would be set on fire “for being gay.”

UN Women this month warned that LGBTQ migrants “face higher risks of significant physical and sexual violence at all stages of migration.”

This includes “unsafe shelters”, lack of access to healthcare and discrimination by border agents.

Casa Frida, a shelter in Mexico City, offers legal, psychological, social …