Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 10, 2023 / 11:23 am
A Mexican high court on Wednesday upheld the conviction of a former national congressman over what it called “gender-based political violence” after he called a transgender-identifying fellow politician a “man who self-ascribes as a woman.”
Former congressman Rodrigo Iván Cortés will be forced to publish a daily court-authored apology online for 30 days in punishment for having referred to congressional representative Salma Luévano as a man, according to a press release from ADF International, which has provided legal support to Cortés during the fight.
Cortés had originally referred to Luévano as a man as part of a series of tweets in September 2022. The tweets were in response to a bill Luévano had introduced that would designate certain Christian teachings on sexuality as “hate speech.” Adding to the controversy, Luévano proposed the bill while dressing up in a caricature of a Catholic bishop.
Luévano filed a complaint against Cortés for having referred to him as a man. A lower court earlier this year had ruled against Cortés for the tweets, which it claimed constituted “political violence” against a woman.