Life as a Legislator: Susel Paredes, Peru

Lawyer, activist, actress: Susel Paredes is the first openly lesbian woman to have been elected to the Congress of Peru, and the most voted woman in the 2021 elections. Since taking office she has almost single-handedly forced LGBT+ issues onto the congressional agenda, serving as a visible and powerful representative of the community. We had the opportunity to meet with her to learn about her journey and her work as a minority in Congress, in the context of adversity in the Latin American region.

HOW DID YOU ENTER POLITICS?

I studied at the National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas with a strong political pedigree. I was a middle class girl from a middle class Catholic college, but I entered this university with thousands of students from all over Peru. Having lived in a bubble my eyes were suddenly opened to the differences between people - from my background, university was always an obligation, but for many of my peers it had taken great effort to get to where they were.

I discovered inequality and it didn't seem fair... and then I started to attend every student meeting I could. That's why I started doing politics, which became partisan later on. But in short: I was a pink middle-class girl who entered the hyper-politicised national university.

*Susel Paredes talks with María Revelo (GEC Membership Officer)*

WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE AS A LESBIAN IN THE CONGRESS OF PERU?

It is a huge responsibility, because I am the first in the history of Peru who is openly lesbian. I was also the most voted woman in the last elections, so that also gave me a very special legitimacy with the rest of the congresspersons, that is, I have won the respect of evangelical pastors, the children of millionaires, the right-wing… This means I have a responsibility: to do things right.

Since entering Congress I have co-founded a new party, which has LGBT+ rights firmly as part of its agenda, and we are lifting up LGBT+ people as part of that. We are working on that and aiming to create a formal parliamentary group once we have the required members.

I’ve also proposed several laws to benefit the LGBT+ community - a marriage law, a gender identity law, a law on hate crime, and we have been working to update the ban on conversion therapies first proposed by Alberto Belaúnde (former Congressman of Peru and GEC co-founder). Opponents to these laws have frustrated progress, refusing to schedule time or sending them to the archives, but by proposing these laws it forces debate and puts these issues onto the agenda for us to build on.

Plus, my very presence is challenging, isn't it? When I say to them, “Well, what do you think? That lesbians don't have children because we can't get married? What is wrong with you? There are lesbians with children, the problem is that you don't want to give rights to the children of our families!”… it challenges my colleagues to think, it makes it human and real.

*Susel Paredes participates in an LGBT+ forum at the Equal Rights Coalition in Buenos Aires, Argentina*

HOW DO YOU THINK WE CAN ADVANCE LGBT+ ISSUES FURTHER IN PERU? WHAT IS CURRENTLY STOPPING PROGRESS?

There is no cross-party consensus or camaraderie. What would be ideal is to have a ‘School of Political Cadres’, not one of a party, but one in which LGBT+ people, whatever their ideology is, have an organisation to encourage political participation either on the left or right.

I wish there were right-wing LGBT+ activists. We have a rightist gay congressman but he’s opposing social progression on same-sex marriage and reproductive rights. We urgently need cross-party education on LGBT+ issues. We cannot restrict ourselves to those who think like me, I have to look for those who do not think like us, so we need to encourage people to participate in politics, to run: for mayor, councilor, councilor, regional councilor, for everything! otherwise, we're not going to influence, we need to get more into power.

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER URGENT TO CHANGE THE REALITY OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV IN PERU?

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many people did not receive their medication, so there was a wave of people resistant to antiretrovirals because they stopped taking their antiretrovirals for several months and generated resistance…

Peru also has more than 1 million Venezuelan migrants, many of whom have come seeking HIV treatment. We are looking for facilities so that people who have come as refugees or have an irregular migratory status have access to a Comprehensive Health Insurance and can have access to HIV and tuberculosis treatments. Because HIV is TB's first cousin as well, and with the pandemic many clinical services closed, and with unstable work many people faced hunger and disease including TB.

HOW DO YOU BENEFIT FROM PARLIAMENTARY NETWORKS SUCH AS THE GLOBAL EQUALITY CAUCUS?

First because it gives strength to those who feel alone… I am always in contact with Alberto, for example, as even though he is no longer in Congress we share an agenda and I have taken up his cause. Another example is Aldo (Dávila, Congressman from Guatemala and GEC member), last time he had a problem and he called me, we have been talking… and it is very useful for comparative legislation but also for peer support because we are alone. Here in Peru I am alone, I have the community yes, but the community does not understand the difficulties of being a minority in the Congress where it is pure and hard power.

I need more people, I don't want there to be one in Congress, there should be five at least. And you have to camouflage them, and you have to train them, and they come in to win, they run to win, don't they?

And it is proven, Alberto and I have tried, Alberto has been the second most voted last time and this last elections I was the fourth most voted and the most voted woman, so no party can tell us that we make them lose votes, because it is the contrary! We have voters. We are the living proof that it is good to include us, because you also have to say to the party: “Hey party, I am a good token for you”, because we do not apply by ourselves, we have to lobby, generate organisations, conditions…

And once we have secured the representation, we have GEC to mobilise, to support one another, to advance our common cause.