We Are Not Who They Say We are

Commissioned by Peace Brigades International Honduras

While LGBTQ+ people across the world are participating in marches and events proudly showing they exist, in many countries they face threats, criminalisation and even murder. 

Since 2009, at least 325 LGBTQ+ people, most of them trans women, have been murdered in Honduras, making Honduras one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be an LGBTQ+ activist. The vast majority of these crimes remain unsolved. According to local human rights groups, public security forces are responsible for more than half of all reported attacks. Impunity rates exceed 98%, leaving survivors with little choice but to stay silent out of fear for their lives.

In the heart of this violence, the Asociación Arcoiris (Rainbow Association) offers a fragile but vital refuge. Based in Tegucigalpa, Arcoiris is more than an organisation, it is a chosen family, a shelter, and a beacon of resistance. Within its walls, we witness quiet moments of care, joy, sisterhood, and strength, glimpses of a community that dares to survive in a society that wants them erased.

In recent years the organisation has faced mounting threats and attacks, the murder of 6 of its members, sexual violence and following relentless public abuse and stigmatisation. And yet, the women I met weren’t hiding. They were marching, organising, educating, advocating. They were fighting for the Equality Law, for the right to healthcare, to safety, to identity, to simply exist.