Documentary: Inside a shelter for LGBTQ+ migrants

Brut America

On the Mexican border, thousands of migrants survive on the hopes of crossing to the other side into the U.S.   Brut met Shakira and Jonathan who have found community in Casa de Luz: a shelter for LGBTQ+ migrants.

Transcript

00:00When I saw that I no longer had water, I no longer had food, I had to give myself up to immigration.

00:09Economic scarcity drives these people to look for a better place.

00:13In Honduras, too many. Several of our trans sisters have died at their hands.

00:22In my house, they know about my sexual preference, but it's a topic that is not discussed.

00:28It's not discussed because of the same machismo.

00:31The truth is that since I was 11 years old, my family has not determined me as their family.

00:36On their way here, they come to suffer violations, abuse, mistreatment.

00:42I'm not ashamed of my skin color, of how I am, I'm not ashamed.

00:48I am who I am, wherever I am.

00:52I think that in the United States I will be a little more free in my gender identity.

00:59And hopefully, God willing, I will achieve it soon.

01:02Lighthouse is an albergue, but more than an albergue, it is a collective house.

01:18Because the word home encompasses many things.

01:23Security, food, love, hope, a purpose, a reason to live.

01:38Everyone has a responsibility, everyone has a role to play.

01:43Everything, basically. Food, cleaning, absolutely everything.

01:49It's like a sink, but it's clean.

01:51Like a sink.

01:52Do you know what a sink is?

01:53A bed.

01:56Yes, good morning, how are you?

01:59Hey, I wanted to ask you if there are going to be people who are going to come,

02:02because we are cooking more or less to contemplate it.

02:07And what time will they come?

02:09I don't know, since we are making the food and everything,

02:11tomorrow it will be complicated, so we want to organize ourselves.

02:19They can stay as long as they need, until their situation can be fixed.

02:34Every day, many immigrants pass through this house,

02:38who come from Colombia, Cuba, Brazil, all of South America.

02:43Many come.

02:45Hey, migration!

02:48Migration!

02:49Migration!

02:50Migration!

03:02Good morning.

03:03Good morning.

03:04My name is Irby, and we are here in a collective house of immigrants and refugees

03:10who are looking for a job in the United States.

03:13We are a civil association,

03:15and we are doing our part independently to be able to receive them.

03:20Marcelo is stopping them,

03:22because he is trying to get as many people as possible to cross to the other side.

03:28Solidarity is with us.

03:30If the people here could cross, they would have already done it, but it is not possible.

03:39Complete families,

03:41girls who are alone in the world,

03:43boys who are alone in the world without their parents.

03:46It mainly helps people from the LGBT community.

03:50So, because these people have suffered discrimination in their countries,

03:55they flee.

04:05Casa de Luz does not work with the government,

04:07it does not work with migration,

04:09it does not work with an American organization.

04:11Basically, it is something independent.

04:14It started in 2018-2019, more or less.

04:23We get up to prepare a meal

04:26that we bring for free to those who are trying to cross the wall.

04:40This one does not fit me, right?

04:42No, it is too small.

04:44Here it will not fit you.

04:48On the way from my country to here,

04:52it is difficult.

04:54It is difficult.

04:56For us, the people of the LGBT community, it is more difficult.

05:10Well, here they call me Shakira because I dance.

05:15Well, it is more.

05:17They put it in my country,

05:19from there they call me like that.

05:21I come from Honduras

05:23and now I am here in Tijuana, Baja California.

05:40I got dressed when I was 12 years old.

05:43Yes.

05:44Since I was 11 years old,

05:46when they kicked me out of my house,

05:48I got dressed when I was 12 years old.

05:53I remember I started

05:55wearing shorts,

05:59with shirts stuck to my navel.

06:06Since I was 11 years old, I have worked,

06:08I have received humiliations,

06:10I have had to sell my body to be able to survive

06:12until the age I am.

06:14And I am not ashamed to say it

06:16because, whatever it is,

06:18I had to find a way to get ahead.

06:20There in my country,

06:22four people from the community,

06:24also, out of envy,

06:26stabbed me.

06:30Four stabs hit me in the back.

06:34And then their families,

06:36some drug addicts,

06:38beat me up.

06:42I got angry,

06:44I got angry,

06:46and then I ran away.

06:48I was on the street for a long time.

06:52Sometimes you complain about the life you lead,

06:54but you don't think

06:56that there are people who suffer much more than you.

06:58I don't know.

07:06People have had

07:08quite traumatic experiences,

07:10not only in their migrant path,

07:12but also in their personal life

07:14before coming to Mexico.

07:16Those stories

07:18make people vulnerable.

07:20So when they get here,

07:22waiting for the worst,

07:24to be mistreated,

07:26they begin to have

07:28a more intimate relationship

07:30with each other.

07:32And a community is formed.

07:34A very nice,

07:36very personal,

07:38very loving community.

07:46My family is in Honduras

07:48because I haven't been

07:50involved with them

07:52in my LGBT environment.

07:56To a certain extent,

07:58it lowers your self-esteem

08:00because

08:02you can't express yourself

08:04the way you want to.

08:06You can't live your life

08:08the way you want to.

08:10You can't be who you are.

08:14A year ago,

08:16I left my country

08:18for political persecution.

08:20I worked

08:22for an NGO

08:24where people

08:26were protected

08:28by human rights.

08:30They began to charge extortion

08:32for my business.

08:36I refused to pay.

08:38That's when

08:40the death threats began.

08:42They wanted to kidnap me twice.

08:44And once

08:46they wanted to rape me.

08:54I tried to cross the river three times.

08:56The first time,

08:58I only crossed the river

09:00and surrendered.

09:02But they still didn't give me

09:04the opportunity to turn myself in

09:06and present my case

09:08or say,

09:10I need help.

09:12They just grabbed me

09:14and threw me

09:16to Mexico.

09:18In the United States,

09:20I want to find

09:22access to justice,

09:24access to food,

09:26safe housing,

09:28and not to be afraid.

09:38All migrant populations

09:40are from any community.

09:42They are at risk,

09:44especially women.

09:46The particularity of the LGBT community

09:48is that there is the aspect of discrimination.

09:50And that adds

09:52a stronger factor

09:54to their suffering.

09:56It is more personal

09:58because it deals with the identity

10:00of the people,

10:02who they are,

10:04and if they should feel bad

10:06for who they are or not.

10:08We have lost

10:10a lot of people,

10:12whether they went to another country

10:14and returned,

10:16or whether they will return

10:18to their country.

10:20And I know that any of us

10:22could be a migrant at any time.

10:24My parents were migrants.

10:26Most of the people

10:28who live here,

10:30their parents were migrants

10:32or they themselves were migrants.

10:34So I don't see a reason

10:36to discriminate against this population.

10:38I want us to be one family.

10:40All of us, regardless of our race,

10:42our religion,

10:44our country,

10:46I want us to be one family.

10:48I think I will be very successful.

10:50I will achieve all of my goals,

10:52all of my dreams.

10:54In the same way,

10:56even if my family rejects me,

10:58I will support them.

11:00When I go to the border wall

11:02to live with the other people,

11:04I keep looking

11:06to the other side

11:08of the wall.

11:10I will go there.

11:12I will go there.

11:14I will go there.

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