Introduction Antigua, Guatemala is more like an outdoor museum than a living city, overloaded with colonial Spanish architecture, yellow-ochre-blue walls, tiny specialty shops full of artwork, paintings and local jewelry, touristic but charming cafes serving quiche or dark chocolate drinks and dozens of old church ruins–and functioning ones as well–rough cobblestone roads constantly under repair,
Homosexual acts between consenting men over the age of eighteen are legal in Guatemala. Even so, discrimination and hate crimes go unpunished, especially crimes towards the Transgenger community. As with many Latin American countries a macho attitude prevails with deep rooted homophobia. There is state harassment of the LGBT community. There are occasional reports of killings of gay activists for example in 1997 transgendered Aids Activist Luis Palencia was gunned down in Guatemala City. The police have also been implicated in a series of anti-gay murders. Given all this there is a surprisingly large gay scene in Guatemala City with several bars clubs, a sauna and even a sex club. Since 2000 there have been annual Gay Pride Marches.
Name: Guatemala
Population: 13000200
Capital: Guatemala City - Pop. 1300000
Area: 108890 sq. km/ sq. miles
Language: Spanish
Religion: Roman Catholic
Status of Homosexuality: Legal
Telephone Country Code: 502
Being gay in Guatemala is ‘a political issue’, 2020/Jan/15
Guatemala Elects First Openly Gay Congressman, 2019/Jun/24
Guatemala says no to gay marriage, 2013/Jun/04
USAID launches partnership to promote LGBT rights, 2013/Apr/09
Guatemalan transgender woman lives in 2 worlds, 2012/Sep/25
Guatemalan Transgender Woman Lives Double Life, As A Male Schoolteacher And Female Prostitute, 2012/Sep/21
Discrimination Undermines AIDS Prevention, 2011/Dec/13
Gay Guatemala News & Reports, 2009/Jan/01
