Erick Iván Ortiz plans to become El Salvador’s first openly gay MP. The 29-year-old from the new party Nuestro Tiempo is considered one of the most ambitious candidates for the upcoming elections in February 2021.

The parliament of El Salvador, the Asamblea Legislativa de la República de El Salvador, consists of only one chamber with 84 deputies, each elected for three years. In the last three decades, the right-wing conservative ARENA (Alianza Republicana Nacionalista de El Salvador) and the left-wing party FMLN (Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional), which emerged from the former guerrilla, determined the country’s politics. Until the election of Nayib Bukele in 2019, the two parties alternately provided the president. In the upcoming elections, which are scheduled to take place on February 28, 2021, the competition for the long-established two-party system is likely to become even greater – at least according to Erick Iván Ortiz of the Nuestro Tiempo party.

On August 7, the openly gay politician presented his plans for building a new Salvadoran society to The Blade magazine.

The political career of the 29-year-old, who studied economics at the School of Economics and Business in Santa Tecla, El Salvador, and human rights at the Catholic University Luis Amigó in Medellín, Colombia, started his career in the youth wing of the right-wing conservative Republican Nationalist Alliance (ARENA) about a decade ago. Asked how it came about that the first political attempts at walking were made in the right-wing camp, Ortiz explained that the challenge “is not to talk to those who are convinced, but rather where things are more complicated. It was important, he said, to stimulate an internal debate on certain issues.

Ortiz, who saw himself as an agent of change during these years, has been leading spaces and platforms for youth and civil associations involved in promoting and defending the human rights of the LGBTIQ* population since 2011. However, when Ortiz witnessed negative election campaigning on queer issues during the 2014 presidential campaign, he realized that the sexist, violent and homophobic society of El Salvador “is a social construction that we have created”.

This experience gave the impetus to campaign. In 2015, Ortiz and others founded the Colectivo Normal, a cultural and political advocacy group that seeks to change the discourse about the LGBTIQ* community through art and culture. This is an ongoing learning process, also within the community.

“Ha llegado nuestro tiempo. El tiempo de la ciudadanía.” Our time has come, the time of citizenship.

“Faced with an overtly anti-right-wing government that has made us invisible and downplayed LGBTI issues, I decided to take the plunge and take over the governance of our representation and be at the forefront of politics,” Ortiz told The Blade. He joined Nuestro Tiempo “because it is a party that defines diversity as one of its seven principles.

With the slogan “Ha llegado nuestro tiempo. El tiempo de la ciudadanía” Nuestro Tiempo promises the dawn of a new era of equality:

“We do not want special rights. It is about guaranteeing access to justice, fighting impunity for hate crimes and ensuring that there is no discrimination in the labour sector, health care and education, to name a few”.

Like many Latin American countries, El Salvador has a history of sexism and homophobia. Violence against women and LGBTIQ*s are commonplace in Salvadoran society. El Salvador also has one of the highest rates of transvesticides and transfemicides in the world. It even escalates to that trans-people are murdered by the police.

It is clear to him that as a gay man he cannot fully represent all segments of the queer community. But “I was able to learn from El Salvador’s best trans activists such as Karla Avelar, Karla Guevara, Ambar Alfaro, Paty Hernández and others and improve at their side,” Ortiz told The Blade.

A year ago I was in Buenos Aires where I saw the tremendous work of the Argentine LGBT Federation (FALGBT) and learned a lot about how the political and human rights agenda for LGBTI in Argentina is being advanced. But on this day, together with the founder, my dear and admired friend Marcela Romero, I was able to inform myself about the Trans House project: We will continue to move forward! 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧

He said:

“Ultimately, the LGBTI struggle is about fighting for an El Salvador that is more inclusive, just and peaceful,” Ortiz explained, making it clear that he means the whole of society. “All we are asking for is equality. Our goal is to build a better country; a country that includes all Salvadorans, that is built through new leadership and citizen participation in public life.”

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