March called in Colombia to protest government for pushing sex changes for minors
Colombian President Gustavo Petro and his Cabinet. / Credit: Official photograph of the Office of the President of Colombia. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 12, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
The Unidos por la Vida (United for Life) platform in Colombia has called a nationwide march for Oct. 19 in opposition to a memorandum from the Colombian Health Superintendency in support of sex changes for children.
The National Health Superintendency (Supersalud) issued External Memorandum 115 on Sept. 21 that provides “general instructions for inspection, oversight, and control to guarantee the right to health of trans people in Colombia.”
The demonstration’s slogan is “Don’t Mess with Children” and is against, among other things, Section H of the memorandum dedicated to “trans children and adolescents who are in the process of development.” The document states that the objective is to ensure this population has “healthy development and support in the affirmation of identity and/or gender expression in these stages of the life cycle.”
In support of this, the Supersalud document cites in footnote 26 rulings by the Constitutional Court in favor of sex change for minors.
For example, it points out that “judgment T-447 of 1995 established that sex reassignment requires the direct consent of the ‘patient,’ since minors are the only ones who can decide on their life and freedom, which include sex as a relevant element of identity.”
Likewise, it cites ruling T-218 of 2022, which, arguing “the need to ensure the autonomy of minors,” establishes that “in cases of intersexuality” the consent of the person responsible for the minor will only be necessary when the minor is under 5 years old. Furthermore, without making any distinction between patients, Supersalud requires in its instructions to “verify that the right of trans people to access health services in treatment for surgical sexual reaffirmation or sex change is guaranteed.”
March will demand policy change
In a statement to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, the president of United for Life, Jesús Magaña, said the goal of the Oct. 19 march is to demand the revocation of Memorandum 115 and the resignation of the superintendent of health, Luis Carlos Leal.
Leal has held the position since Feb. 23, appointed by President Gustavo Petro.
Magaña said Leal “has issued this memorandum to promote hormone therapy and sex changes, in accordance with his ideology, his own way of life. He is a homosexual activist, promoter of this entire LGBTIQ ideology.”
He also said this is “a very clear project of President Petro, through his superintendent of health.”
“They don’t care about destroying the family, destroying children, they don’t care about respecting the rights of parents because they want to do it to minors,” he added.
The march, to be held in Bogotá, the country’s capital, will begin at 10 a.m. in the National Park and will head to Plaza de Bolívar in the downtown area.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
