And from indigenous rights to equal rights, today hundreds of Belizean children are growing up in families that include LGBTQ parents. It's a familial structure that faces unique challenges - most which have to do with the illegitimacy of the unions on which they are based.
It's a cause championed by Managing Director of Our Circle, Derrica Castillo Salazar. And this morning her group hosted a media breakfast to advance their cause, sensitive the public, and lobby decision makers:
It was a media sensitization breakfast at Our Circle this morning, a sumptuous feast, yes, but what was really being served up was the awareness of the challenges faced by families composed of LGBTQ persons. Our guide through this little-understood field was Derrica Castillo-Salazar, a former BDF soldier turned NGO managing director who is also raising a young son within a same-sex relationship.
Derrica Castillo- Salazar, Managing Director, Our Circle
"We're not asking for a seat at the table, the inalienable right that's given to us to be able to have families is something that's given to every individual so we're not asking for a seat we're asking them to do a revision which would include family structures such as ours."
That's a revision to the law books which would require fundamental changes to many societally agreed-upon pronouns, gender norms, and most importantly, definitions of what constitutes a partnership.
Derrica Castillo- Salazar, Managing Director, Our Circle
"We created a public policy team where we're looking at the laws which create some differences between our families and the families of persons who are in heterosexual relationships, so we're doing that review to be able to submit a recommendation of all the laws that we see are creating the most discrimination and we're going to be submitting that through the parliament to be able to get some form of redress in regards to getting that security that our families deserve."
And like all the other cracks in society, those concerns have become much more immediate during the pandemic.
Derrica Castillo- Salazar, Managing Director, Our Circle
"If we look at the way these grocery bag systems are put up there's not much leverage to support families headed by LGBT persons because it ties a lot within the social security system, we see that the LGBT couples who are already not supported by social security schemes are further disadvantaged, particularly because the head of the families aren't considered in legal relationships, so when catering to a family as opposed to it being a two adult family it would be considered as one adult and however many children are being catered for as opposed to looking at the entire family because of course these same-sex persons are not legally covered as families here in Belize."
And it's not just food security that's at stake it's also the education of hundreds of children.
Derrica Castillo- Salazar, Managing Director, Our Circle
"A lot of the LGBT persons, due to the COVID restrictions have gained employment in the call centers, the BPO industry so we see that a lot of them are working from home. So while some of the issues that are being flagged include time to be able to cater to their children to give these distance learning or the fact that the kids are out of school. We do see that within the LGBTQ community we do see that they have the time and their children are there but it's the resources for them to be able to gain either if it's a virtual lesson, some of them are working and they have to choose between logging online to make the money or giving that data to their child to be on these virtual lessons."
In Belize difficult choices for families comprised of same-sex couples abound. That's because their unions aren't recognized, meaning that matters of a partner's estate, in the event of their death, get complicated.
Derrica Castillo- Salazar, Managing Director, Our Circle
"Social security it's a big thing and its, I'm sure it's something you're going to be hearing a lot when we start challenging some of these systems which exist because with the social security systems we're paying into these systems, if we have children within our household it's only the biological parent that can provide that support or that protection for the children within our families and another big thing is looking at the reality of COVID, COVID to some point is synonyms to death and so at some point, it will be where if something were to happen to one of the partners who are not the biological parent of that child then there's the possibility of family members coming from nowhere and disrupting what has been their normal family up to the day."
According to "Our Circle", there are over 100 LGBTQ families living in Belize.
