In Mexico, significant progress has been made in promoting gender equality. This includes the enactment of national laws, increased public funding for gender equality, and the strengthening of gender-focused institutions. Mexico has implemented key policies and legal frameworks to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and more (LGBTQI+) individuals. Notably, Article 1 of the Mexican Constitution has prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation since 2011. Furthermore, conversion therapies were regulated at the state level in 2020, and same-sex marriage was legalised nationwide in 2022. In 2019, the first left-wing government of Mexico passed a Parity in Everything reform to ensure that women occupy 50 per cent of positions in all branches of the government across levels, improving women’s political empowerment. This has had positive effects on gender justice more broadly, and although implementation gaps remain, this was an important step in publicly legitimising feminist/queer agendas (Piscopo and Vázquez Correa 2023).
Despite these advances, organisations operate in an environment that remains adverse for women and LGBTQI+ people, especially in the face of increased polarisation, neoliberalism, and austerity measures (Carballo Corrales 2023; Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad (IMCO) 2022; Unidad de Investigación Aplicada 2021). Structural violence against women is prevalent, with an estimated 70.1 per cent of women over the age of 15 having experienced some form of violence (INEGI 2022), and ten women murdered every day (Levitin 2023).
In terms of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), although (following a 2023 Supreme Court ruling) no pregnant person can be prosecuted for having an abortion, most states have yet to enact legislation granting access to the procedure (Razo 2024). Additionally, Mexico ranks as the second-highest country in Latin America for hate crimes (Cortés 2023), while 37.3 per cent of LGBTQI+ individuals reported at least one instance of discrimination in 2022 (INEGI 2023). Most Mexican states do not allow trans*[i] children or adolescents to modify birth certificates in accordance with their gender identity (González 2022).
More recently, there is significant opposition from anti-gender fundamentalist groups. For example, in 2016, they organised large-scale mobilisations against the presidential initiative to recognise same-sex unions (Bermúdez-Barrera 2021). Considering the issue of sexuality and reproduction, in 2017, the Freedom Bus, originally from Spain, arrived in Mexico to spread messages opposing gender identity and sexual education (Careaga Pérez and Aranda 2020). Conservative and religious groups, under the banner of the ‘blue wave’, have also mobilised to challenge progress on reproductive rights. They organised protests during key political debates aimed at expanding access to abortion at both national and local levels (EFE 2021). Neo-conservative groups have also mobilised against the nationwide inclusion of SRHR in school curricula (Bernal Lugo and Valtierra-Zamudio 2024). Given this context, this document examines the strategies employed by eight collectives to counter rollback against women’s rights and LGBTQI+ rights.
Landscape of anti-rollback actors
The primary focus of the eight organisations is on gender-based violence (GBV), such as elaborating reports and data about violence against cis women and LGBTQI+ people. The second key area of their work is sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI); they provide training to schools and health professionals to support trans* children and adolescents. They also work to promote legislation and gather evidence in support of LGBTQI+ rights. They address issues related to intersectional identities by working with indigenous or incarcerated women. Some of the organisations address sexuality and reproduction, particularly by promoting a legal framework for accessing safe abortion. Five organisations primarily engage in advocacy and research, with two providing direct services. They operate at national and sub-national levels, except one that functions online. Five are grass-roots organisations; three consist of professional researchers and activists from non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Counter-rollback strategies
Most organisations focus on building an evidence base to influence policies and legislative initiatives. For instance, the National Hate Crimes Observatory against LGBT people provides state-specific data on these crimes (Fundación Arcoiris 2024a). In 2020, Fundación Arcoiris reported that the Observatory established connections with six state governments to promote proper registration and monitoring of hate crime cases. Other organisations produce reports on sexuality and reproduction, such as access to abortion, obstetric violence, etc. (Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida (GIRE) n.d.). Research has also concentrated on the discrimination faced by cis women and LGBTQI+ individuals in education and the workforce (EQUIS 2024b), as well as online violence (Luchadoras 2020). Finally, Intersecta, Casa Frida, EQUIS, and Fundación Arcoiris (among others) have provided reports for Mexico’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) mechanism that reviews countries’ human rights performance (EPUMx 2024).
Protests are a key strategy of response to rollback. For instance, the Marea Verde (Green Tide or Green Wave) grouping of abortion rights movements seeks access to legal abortion in Mexico, expressly in response to governmental inaction in this regard. They organise demonstrations, often on significant dates, such as September 28, the Global Day of Action for Legal and Safe Abortion, and March 8, International Women’s Day. They also conduct large-scale actions, including public space interventions, media involvement, and social network activism (Abrigo 2023). A few organisations use online strategies, including (for instance) the #EsFamilia (#Thisisafamily) campaign, which supports the human rights of LGBTQI+ families. La Clicka is another campaign that uses interactive comics to offer information and resources for preventing and addressing online violence (Luchadoras 2023).
Some organisations also engage in service provision, including offering legal services on sexual and reproductive rights (such as abortion and obstetric violence) as well as assisting in cases of digital violence (Luchadoras 2024; GIRE n.d.). They also provide legal guidance for accessing and authorising identity documents for trans* children and adolescents (Infanciastrans 2023b). Another notable initiative, Casa Frida LGBTQI+, provides shelter, health care, and psychosocial support to LGBTQI+ individuals facing violence (Casa Frida 2023). The Association for Transgender Children provides training and capacity building to school staff and health professionals in providing care to trans* and non-binary students (Infanciastrans n.d.; 2023a). EQUIS strengthens the capacities and leadership of local judges, and promoted the creation of the National Network of Judges for the Delivery of Justice with a Gender Perspective in Mexico (EQUIS 2023).
Building coalitions and networks to address diverse issues is another prevalent strategy. For instance, Fundación Arcoiris is involved in activities with multiple organisations, such as the International Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex for Latin America and the Caribbean (ILGA), and Mexico City’s Advisory Council on Public Policy and LGBTI Human Rights (Fundación Arcoiris 2024b). EQUIS is part of the Network of Mayan Promoters of Justice project, which seeks to enhance access to justice for indigenous women (EQUIS 2024a). Another critical example is the Green Tide, comprising several feminist organisations, NGOs, and groups of trans* and non-binary people, among others (Abrigo 2023). At the international level, there have been two ‘Green Wave gatherings’, where activists from the Americas joined together to learn from each other to advance reproductive freedoms (Cervantes Martínez 2024). At a state level, diverse community-based organisations are part of the Green Tide (Pereda and Olvera 2022).
The legal and policy domains are also crucial sites of intervention. In 2023, following legal actions by feminist organisations, Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice decriminalised abortion at the federal level across the country, mandating that federal public health institutions provide the service free of charge (GIRE 2023; Guillén 2023). Organisations have also made efforts to legalise the voluntary termination of pregnancy at the regional level, leading to positive results in states such as Jalisco and Puebla (Alín 2024; Santos 2024). In 2018, diverse organisations took steps so that the UNHRC, during the UPR, recommended that the Mexican government keep a record of hate crimes against LGBT people (Fundación Arcoiris 2020). In 2020, EQUIS presented an amicus curie before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in the case of Vicky Hernández, a trans* woman, sex worker, and human rights defender murdered in Honduras. In mid-2021, the IACHR published a ruling condemning the Honduran government and applied the Belém do Pará Convention for the first time in the case of a trans* woman (EQUIS 2023). Groups like GIRE also use strategic litigation to challenge conservative gender norms (GIRE 2019).
Gaps and areas for future research/work
Much of the data available on counter-rollback efforts pertains to challenges to women’s and queer rights and equality posed by state actors. There are thus some gaps around how collectives are organising to resist backlash from non-state conservative and religious groups. There is also a dearth of systematic research on what works in relation to countering rollback, and a lack of documentation of efforts to sustain gains in the face of more continuous (rather than episodic) forms of rollback.
Notes
[i] We use trans* to indicate the inclusion of gender identities such as non-binary, gender-fluid, agender, etc., alongside transsexual and transgender.
Credits
This Country Brief was written by Maria del Pilar Grados Bueno. It was supported by the project Rapid Scoping Review – The Nature of Feminist and LGBT+ Movements in a Range of Selected Countries, funded by UK International Development from the UK government. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of IDS or the UK government’s official policies.
First published April 2025.
Suggested citation: Grados, M. (2025) ‘Rapid Scoping Review 2025: Mexico’, Countering Rollback Country Brief, Brighton: Institute of Development Studies, DOI: 10.19088/IDS.2025.029
© Institute of Development Studies 2025.
This is an Open Access brief distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited and any modifications or adaptations are indicated.
