BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — An anti-corruption referendum in Colombia drew millions to the polls Sunday but fell just short of a required participation threshold to push forward measures aimed at improving transparency and stiffening penalties for white-collar criminals.

Nearly 11.7 million Colombians cast ballots overwhelmingly in favor of seven initiatives proposed to stamp out corruption in the upper echelons of power, failing to draw the 12.1 million voters needed to pass the initiatives, according to quick-count results from over 99 percent of polling stations.

Proponents nonetheless hailed the higher-than-expected turnout as a forceful message from citizens: Enact laws now that put an end to special privileges for lawmakers and make public spending more efficient.

“This historic vote, this decisive victory by free citizens, gives a clear and strong mandate to the government and congress,” said Claudia Lopez, a former senator and vice presidential candidate spearheading the referendum.

The referendum included questions like whether to hand down tougher penalties on corrupt officials who now often serve out sentences in multi-million dollar homes; whether term limits should be imposed on lawmakers, and whether the salaries of members of Congress should be reduced by 40 percent.

Colombian law currently sets senators’ salaries at about $124,000 per year, more than what parliamentarians make in countries like Holland, Sweden and France.

Most Colombians agree corruption is a plague that needs to be exterminated, but not everyone agreed that a vote was the best way to do so. The referendum was boycotted by judges over fears it would lead to wage cuts in the judicial branch since a law states salaries for top magistrates should be the same as those of lawmakers.

“We already have lots of anti-corruption laws,” Hermens Lara, a Bogota municipal judge who is director of the Board of Judges and Magistrates of Colombia, said before the vote. “The problem is implementing them.”

Newly elected President Ivan Duque and most of Colombia’s main political parties backed the measure, but did little to promote it or to lure voters to the polls.

Some experts questioned whether the changes would do anything to curb corruption elsewhere, such as within the judiciary or police.

“Some of the proposals have no impact on corruption,” said Marcela Anzola, a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank. Still she said that passage would “give greater legitimacy to anti-corruption initiatives and send a strong message to politicians.”

According to Colombia’s inspector general, corruption in the country is equivalent to 4 percent of gross domestic product each year. One recent study by Transparency International found that 63 percent of companies in Colombia feared losing business if they did not engage in bribery.

That face of corruption in Colombia marks a stark change from the days when cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar was elected to Congress and his rivals in the Cali Cartel helped elect a president. Just a little over a decade ago, scores of congressional members were also charged or investigated for ties to right-wing paramilitary groups.

But today, experts say the biggest threat comes from white-collar criminals.

One example is the expansion of an oil refinery in Cartagena, which ended up costing more than double its projected $3.3 billion price tag due to what authorities described as mismanagement and graft by officials who were in cahoots with contractors.

The referendum would have given Colombia’s Congress a year to pass legislation implementing the proposals or force Duque to do so by decree.

The measures needed approval from 12.1 million voters — or roughly a third of the 36 million registered voters. Turnout in the country’s recent presidential election barely reached 50 percent, while a 2016 referendum on a peace deal with leftist rebels to end a half century of fighting barely drew 13 million votes.

Lopez said she began to push for the referendum after Congress repeatedly rejected anti-corruption bills that her party had proposed.

“Corrupt politicians will never vote to place limits on themselves,” said. “That’s why this referendum is the best tool we have to tackle corruption.”

Lopez and her supporters tried to overcome voter apathy with the help of a famous satirist, recording a campaign video that shows Lopez and a handful of middle-aged congressmen dressed up as reggaeton singers who riff that corruption is the “cancer of Colombia” and must be stopped.

Julian Ramirez, an 18-year-old political science student in Bogota, said he has been campaigning for the anti-corruption referendum since last year, when activists collected 4 million signatures to get officials to fund the vote.

“Fighting corruption should be something we can all unite under,” Ramirez said. </s> Por decisión unánime de 7 votos contra cero, la Corte Constitucional zanjó el debate al rededor del cobro de un impuesto del 5 por ciento a productos de higiene femenina como los tampones y las toallas higiénicas.



La Corte avaló la ponencia de la magistrada Gloria Ortiz, quien estuvo a favor del demandante en que este impuesto era regresivo y que iba en contra de la igualdad y la equidad, pues se estaba gravando un producto de necesidad básica de las mujeres, lo que les impone una carga tributaria solo por el hecho de nacer mujeres. Ese impuesto quedó establecido en la reforma tributaria del 2016, que bajó el gravamen que tenían las toallas, tampones y protectores del 16 al 5 por ciento. Este miércoles declaró inasequible el artículo que le pone impuestos a esos productos.

"Esa norma viola el derecho a la igualdad ya que quedaron gravados algunos bienes de primera necesidad para las mujeres colombianas. Las ciudadanas de este país serán gravadas con IVA, solamente por el hecho de haber nacido bajo el sexo femenino", había expresado en su momento Danilo Andrés Virviescas, analista de comercio exterior, quien demandó la ley 1819 del 2016 de reforma tributaria.



Aunque el impuesto que en su momento se impuso a esos productos generó debate, en el proyecto de Ley de Financiamiento, que en estos momentos se tramita en el Congreso, las compresas higiénicas y tampones quedarían exentas de IVA.



Los principales argumentos por los que la Corte falló a favor de quitar este impuesto fueron que las toallas y tampones se relacionan con la dignidad de las mujeres y otras alternativas de higiene femenina son mucho más costosas. Además de que es un producto que solo es consumido por mujeres, lo que genera una discriminación indirecta.

Las toallas y tampones son productos insustituibles para mujeres de escasos recursos económicos en la actualidad, se relacionan con la dignidad de las mujeres y otras alternativas son más costosas FACEBOOK

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Según la magistrada Ortiz, "este es un producto insustituible para mujeres de bajos recursos en los momentos actuales, esto no significa que el legislador en el futuro no pueda hacer una análisis sobre las situaciones o avances en la tecnología en materia de salud o higiene para las mujeres”.



Añadió que la medida era necesaria pues en muchos lugares del mundo las mujeres incluso “no pueden ir al colegio o al trabajo en los momentos en los que se encuentran menstruando”.



Al debate habían llegado conceptos como el de la Procuraduría, que se había mostrado a favor del impuesto del 5 por ciento para toallas, tampones y protectores.

Para el Ministerio Público la diferencia entre hombres y mujeres en este asunto es relevante porque "los sujetos no pertenecen al mismo género, y en consecuencia no son comparables en lo atinente a la norma acusada, por lo cual en este aspecto la diferencia de trato es constitucionalmente válida".



En su concepto enviado a la Corte, la Procuraduría afirmó que distinto sería si existiera un bien de primera necesidad utilizado solo por miembros del género masculino, que hubiera sido objeto de un tratamiento tributario marcadamente diferente al ítem de toallas y tampones. Con lo que, según ese organismo, el impuesto sería desigual si a un producto de necesidad básica masculino no se le hubieran cobrado impuestos.



Mientras que en la otra orilla del debate estaba la Defensoría del Pueblo, también un organismo de control y que pedía tumbar ese tributo considerándolo discriminatorio.



En su concepto enviado a la Corte, ese organismo aseguraba que el impuesto a toallas y tampones es discriminatorio ya que "gravar estos bienes implica incrementar su costo y, por tanto, reducir la posibilidad de acceso de los mismos, en particular para las mujeres y niñas con menos capacidad adquisitiva".



La Defensoría también argumentó que este impuesto impacta en el derecho a la salud de las mujeres, educación y participación social, e incrementa la brecha de género dándole más garantías a la población masculina, lo que desconoce los compromisos del Estado para eliminar estas diferencias. Por eso le había pedido a la Corte que le ordenara al Congreso eximir a las mujeres de este gravamen.

JUSTICIA </s> BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombians are voting Sunday in a first-of-a-kind referendum that aims to curb corruption in a country where white-collar criminals are fast replacing drug gangs and paramilitary groups in penetrating the upper echelons of power.

The referendum seeks to slash the salaries of Colombia's Congress members and to bring laws that make public spending more efficient and transparent.

But while most Colombians agree that corruption is a plague that needs to be exterminated, some believe putting it to a vote is not the best way to do so.

The referendum has been boycotted by Colombia's judges over fears it will lead to wage cuts in the judicial branch since a law states that salaries for top magistrates should be the same as those of Congress members.

"We already have lots of anti-corruption laws," said Hermens Lara, a Bogota municipal judge who is director of the Board of Judges and Magistrates of Colombia. "The problem is implementing them."

Newly elected President Ivan Duque and most of Colombia's main political parties say they back the measure, but they have done little to promote it or to lure voters to the polls.

Voters on Sunday will be asked seven questions that include whether to hand down tougher penalties on corrupt officials who now often serve out sentences in multi-million dollar homes; whether term limits should be imposed on lawmakers, and whether the salaries of members of Congress should be reduced by 40 percent.

Colombian law currently sets senators' salaries at about $124,000 per year, more than what parliamentarians make in countries like Holland, Sweden and France.

The measures focus on Congress and some experts question whether the changes would do anything to curb corruption elsewhere, such as within the judiciary or police.

"Some of the proposals have no impact on corruption," says Marcela Anzola, a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank. Still she said that passage would "give greater legitimacy to anti-corruption initiatives and send a strong message to politicians."

According to Colombia's inspector general, corruption in the country is equivalent to 4 percent of gross domestic product each year. One recent study by Transparency International found that 63 percent of companies in Colombia feared losing business if they did not engage in bribery.

That face of corruption in Colombia marks a stark change from the days when cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar was elected to Congress and his rivals in the Cali Cartel helped elect a president. Just a little over a decade ago, scores of congressional members were also charged or investigated for ties to right-wing paramilitary groups.

But today, experts say the biggest threat comes from white-collar criminals.

One example is the expansion of an oil refinery in Cartagena, which ended up costing more than double its projected $3.3 billion price tag due to what authorities described as mismanagement and graft by officials who were in cahoots with contractors.

The referendum would give Colombia's Congress a year to pass legislation implementing the proposals or force Duque to do so by decree.

Getting the minimum number of votes to make the results binding, however, is a tall order.

The measures need approval from 12 million voters — or roughly a third of the 36 million registered voters. Turnout in the country's recent presidential election barely reached 50 percent, while a 2016 referendum on a peace deal with leftist rebels to end a half century of fighting barely drew 13 million votes.

Campaigning for the referendum has been spearheaded by Claudia Lopez, a former senator and vice presidential candidate for the center-left Green Party.

Lopez said she began to push for the referendum after Congress repeatedly rejected anti-corruption bills that her party had proposed.

"Corrupt politicians will never vote to place limits on themselves," Lopez told The Associated Press. "That's why this referendum is the best tool we have to tackle corruption."

Lopez and her supporters have tried to overcome voter apathy with the help of a famous satirist, recording a campaign video that shows Lopez and a handful of middle-aged congressmen dressed up as reggaeton singers who riff that corruption is the "cancer of Colombia" and must be stopped.

Julian Ramirez, an 18-year-old political science student in Bogota, said he has been campaigning for the anti-corruption referendum since last year, when activists collected 4 million signatures to get officials to fund the vote.

"Fighting corruption should be something we can all unite under," Ramirez said as he walked around a central Bogota neighborhood handing out flyers. </s> BOGOTA (Reuters) - A referendum vote on seven anti-corruption measures failed to meet quorum in Colombia on Sunday, nullifying the results even though each of the measures, including a reduction in lawmakers’ salaries and term limits for public posts, got at least 99 percent support.

Corruption has become a hot topic in the country in recent years as security has improved and Colombians have increasingly turned their attention to headline-grabbing cases, including vote-buying, graft to obtain public contracts and the extradition of the country’s anti-corruption czar for allegedly taking bribes.

Graft costs the country $17 billion a year, equivalent to 5.3 percent of GDP, the country’s comptroller has said.

To be valid each question needed just over 12.1 million votes cast. With 99 percent reporting, just 11.6 million people had voted, under a third of the 36.4 million eligible voters.

Each of the seven questions, including bans on alternative sentences like house arrest for corruption, forcing elected officials to publish their tax returns and a three-term limit on local and national lawmakers, had more than 99 percent support.

The referendum also asked if monthly salaries for lawmakers and other high-ranking officials should be limited to the equivalent of 25 minimum salaries, or nearly $6,600. Lawmakers currently earn more than $10,500 per month, compared with a minimum wage of about $260.

“Yes” was supported by many leftist and centrist lawmakers. A faux reggaeton video starring politicians encouraging people to vote yes was widely shared on social media this week.

Right-wing President Ivan Duque, who promised during his campaign to clamp down on graft with term limits and stiffer sentences, supported the referendum and has called corruption a “cancer.”

However, several members of his party, including Alvaro Uribe, who is his mentor, an ex-president and current senator, said they preferred to support anti-corruption proposals in Congress instead.

Uribe, whose administration was dogged by corruption probes, is now under investigation by the Supreme Court for alleged witness tampering and bribery.

Supporters of the vote said it showed Colombians were fed up with continued scandals and wanted to hold politicians to account.

“We were five cents short, but this has shaken the traditional political class,” Angelica Lozano, a Green party senator who campaigned for “Yes” said on local radio. “Citizens want a real and genuine change in political practices.”

“Yes” lawmakers will present a suite of laws based on the seven measures in Congress this week, the “Yes” campaign said. </s> BOGOTA: Colombians are voting on seven anti-corruption measures in a referendum on Sunday, including a reduction in lawmakers’ salaries and term limits for public posts, as graft scandals continue to spark outrage.

As security in the country has improved in recent years, Colombians have increasingly turned their attention to headline-grabbing corruption cases, including vote-buying, graft to obtain public contracts and the extradition of the country’s anti-corruption czar for allegedly taking bribes. Corruption costs the country $17 billion a year, equivalent to 5.3 percent of GDP, the country’s comptroller has said.

The issue was a hot topic in the June presidential election, as candidates responded to popular outrage with a raft of reform promises. At a polling station in northern Bogota, every voter approached by Reuters said they backed the yes side. It is widely expected that many opposed to the measures will not vote.

“It’s not fair we invest so much in congressional salaries when there’s so many families who don’t earn even two minimum salaries,” said Miriam Huerte, a 54-year-old house cleaner. ‘Yes’ is supported by many leftist and centrist lawmakers. A faux reggaeton video starring politicians encouraging people to vote yes was widely shared on social media this week.

Right-wing President Ivan Duque, who promised during his campaign to clamp down on graft with term limits and stiffer sentences, supports the referendum and has called corruption a “cancer”.

However, several members of his party, including Alvaro Uribe, who is his mentor, an ex-president and current senator, have said they prefer to support anti-corruption proposals in Congress. Uribe, whose administration was dogged by corruption probes, is now under investigation by the Supreme Court for alleged witness tampering and bribery. </s> An anti-corruption referendum in Colombia failed to pass on Sunday after narrowly falling short of a required one-third quorum.

Nearly 11.7 million of nearly 36 million registered voters turned out to vote on seven measures designed to battle corruption and improve transparency. A threshold of 12.1 million voters was needed to make it binding.

Read more: Colombia's peace deal: Where is the peace?

However, of those that cast a vote nearly 99 percent supported the proposals, sending a clear message to political elites that the public wants corruption to be taken seriously.

"We were five cents short, but this has shaken the traditional political class," Angelica Lozano, a Green party senator who backed the measure told local radio. "Citizens want a real and genuine change in political practices."

Had the referendum passed, the measures would have slashed lawmakers' salaries, imposed a three-term limit and forced elected officials to publish their tax returns.

Other provisions would have applied stricter sentences for corruption offenses and banned alternative sentences like house arrest for graft. The proposal would have also targeted graft in the private sector by banning companies convicted of corruption from securing contracts from the public sector.

The new president, Ivan Duque, had supported the referendum although some in his conservative party were against it.

In a televised speech, Duque called for lawmakers to support anti-corruption reforms.

"Together we'll defeat those who ransack public resources, together we'll build the future that Colombia deserves," he

 said, urging citizens to also report corruption.

Senator and Green Alliance leader Claudia Lopez, who led the push for the referendum, urged the government to take action.

"This historic vote, this decisive victory by free citizens, gives a clear and strong mandate to the government and congress," she said.

Turnout in Colombian elections are usually low. Voter turn out in the last election was 50 percent and a 2016 referendum to end a half-century war with FARC rebels only drew 13 million voters.

Corruption among politicians, officials and business is rampant yet implementation of existing laws is weak.

Colombia's inspector general has estimated the cost corruption at around 4 percent of the country's gross domestic product each year.

Transparency International has found that nearly two-thirds of companies worry about losing business if they do not pay bribes. </s> Colombia has failed to approve a set of rules, which would toughen penalties for corrupt officials, after a referendum on the anti-graft measures fell short of a required participation threshold.

Nearly 11.7 million Colombians voted on Sunday in favor of 7 proposed anti-corruption measures against the upper layers of power.

The plebiscite, however, failed with just 470,000 votes short of the 12.1 million votes needed for approval.

“Ninety-nine percent of those of us who voted support the initiatives,” newly-elected President Ivan Duque said in an address to the nation.

Green Party Senator Angelica Lozano, who supported the measures, also said, “We were five cents short, but change is unstoppable and here there was a shaking of the traditional political class.”

The measures included seven proposals, from cutting high-ranking officials’ salaries to imposing term limits and eliminating house arrest as a punishment.

Under the current rules, the officials found guilty of graft often serve their sentences in the form of house arrest in their multi-million-dollar homes.

While mostly aimed at cracking down on abuses by public officials, the initiative would have also made private contracts with the state more transparent, and banned companies convicted of corrupt practices from dealing with the public sector.

Judges had banned the vote, claiming there were already enough laws to eliminate corruption.

"We already have lots of anti-corruption laws,” Hermens Lara, a Bogota municipal judge who is director of the Board of Judges and Magistrates of Colombia, had said before the vote. “The problem is implementing them.”

Institutional corruption is rife in Colombia, weakening the public trust in government.

One university study found that, from 1991 to 2011, corruption cost Colombia 4 percent of its GDP. </s> BOGOTA (Reuters) - Three women were killed and nine wounded after an explosive device detonated in a restroom in a busy upscale shopping center in Colombia’s capital on Saturday.

Rescue personnel and an ambulance are seen behind yellow tape outside the Andino shopping center after an explosive device detonated in a restroom, in Bogota, Colombia June 17, 2017. REUTERS/Jaime Saldarriaga

The Andino shopping mall in an exclusive area of Bogota was evacuated after the blast, which occurred around 5 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) in the women’s toilet. The commercial center was packed with people buying gifts ahead of Father’s Day celebrations on Sunday.

Police said the device was placed in a toilet bowl in the second-floor restroom. President Juan Manuel Santos denounced the attack and promised to bring those responsible to justice.

“We won’t let terrorism frighten us,” Santos said from inside the shopping center.

“Bogotanos should feel safe and protected. We won’t let our guard down but we mustn’t panic. That’s what terrorists want.”

One of the victims was a 23-year-old French woman who had been volunteering in a poor area of the city, Bogota Mayor Enrique Penalosa told reporters.

Streets surrounding the shopping center were closed and buildings cleared as ambulances raced to the scene and security officials tried to establish who was responsible for the blast. Bomb squad specialists combed the area for additional devices.

Photographs on social media showed a woman slumped against the wall in a pool of blood and what appeared to be a shard of metal piercing her back. In front of her was another woman with her leg torn apart above the knee.

Another image showed the destroyed toilet cubicle with a blood-splattered handrail and debris strewn over the floor.

Santos ordered an investigation into the incident.

Security has improved in Bogota over the past decade as police and military increased surveillance and put more armed officials on the streets. At one time all bags were checked at the entrance to shopping malls, but that has been vastly scaled back in recent years.

Sniffer dogs still check cars at parking facilities in the capital.

A peace accord signed last year with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country’s biggest guerrilla group, raised confidence bomb attacks might cease.

The country’s second-largest insurgent group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), in February exploded a bomb in Bogota, injuring dozens of police.

The Marxist ELN, currently negotiating peace with the government, in a tweet condemned the attack against civilians.

Authorities said there have been threats of attacks in Bogota by the so-called Gulf Clan, a group of former right-wing paramilitary fighters who traffic drugs. </s> Amid a mass of colour and pounding Latin rhythms, revellers at this year’s Bogotá Pride march waved banners stating “not one step back”. They were among tens of thousands who took to the streets to celebrate and support Colombia’s LGBT community.

Many annual Pride marches that were once solemn protests against repression have become celebrations of now-existing rights or progress, reflecting the strength of LGBT communities.

In Bogotá, for example, the capital of a macho and socially conservative country, there has been surprising progress in LGBT rights.

In March, Angélica Lozano Correa, a former member of the Bogotá city council, became the first openly LGBT person to be elected to the country’s Senate. In 2016 the country’s government passed laws allowing same-sex couples to adopt and marry, and the previous year it granted transgender people the right to change their identity on official government documents – policies which have allowed more equality and openness.

But while these laws and political representation might suggest Bogotá is “friendly” and tolerant of the LGBT community, the issue is not clear-cut. This year’s Bogotá Pride march was marked by an undertone of resistance to and fear of the right-wing government of the new president, Ivan Duque.

Duque openly opposes the LGBT-inclusive peace agreement his predecessor, Juan Manuel Santos, signed with leftist rebels Farc in 2016. Activists claim he is also against same-sex marriage and adoption rights.

“Although the government promised there would be no setbacks to LGBT rights, the appointment of several anti-LGBT officials, cuts in resources for public policies and the continued strengthening of radical religious movements that promote hate speech and misinformation against the LGBT population are worrying,” says Marcela Sánchez, director of Colombia Diversa, a leading LGBT rights organisation.

Indeed, determining a city’s attitude towards the LGBT community is complex. Studies that try to do this often look at political or legal metrics such as freedom to marry, or laws protecting against discrimination.

Equaldex, a collaborative knowledge base for the global LGBT movement that maps the legality of homosexuality, identifies a number of factors including freedom to change gender and to adopt – although it hasn’t ranked countries or cities in order of best to worst.

An index from the Human Rights Campaign looks at municipal services, law enforcement and the city leadership’s public position on equality across the US.

Seventy-eight out of 506 US cities had a “perfect score” of 100, for reasons such as introducing trans-inclusive health benefits to city employees, as in Brookings, South Dakota. Birmingham, Alabama, obtained a full score for passing comprehensive nondiscrimination ordinances, along with other cities such as Cleveland in Ohio, a state that had previously prohibited same-sex marriage and civil unions.

However, the Human Rights Campaign clearly states its index does not and cannot reflect a city’s friendliness.

Other global surveys have tried to assess friendliness by covering public attitudes, access to nightlife and personal safety. A 2017 survey by the housing website Nestpick ranked the best LGBT cities by asking thousands of people how friendly they felt their city was based on safety and nightlife. Madrid, Amsterdam and Toronto came out as the top three.

“Modern strongholds for LGBTQI culture remain in western Europe and Canada,” says Merryn Johns, editor and chief for Curve, a lesbian-focused magazine in New York.

Arguably the size of the LGBT population in urban areas could reflect the level of friendliness, as “many LGBTI folk head to cities from rural areas because of the promise of a freer, more tolerant life there,” says André du Plessis, executive director of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association.

A study of US metro areas found San Francisco has the biggest proportion of LGBT residents in the country at 6.2%, followed by Portland and Austin. San Francisco has often been called the “gay capital of the world” for its culture of tolerance and vibrant scene.

But even when cities seem progressive on the surface, the lived experience of members of the LGBT community can tell a dramatically different story.

“For a certain social strata [sic], Cape Town and Johannesburg are gay meccas, but at the same time black lesbians living in poor areas there are dealing with violence and targeted rape,” says Graeme Reid, director of the LGBT rights programme at Human Rights Watch.

A study in 2017 found that four in 10 LGBT South Africans know of someone who has been killed for “being or suspected of being” LGBT. Black members of this community are twice as likely (49%) as white people (26%) to know of an LGBT person who has been murdered.

Even in London and Paris, which both have a reputation of being queer-friendly cities, hate crimes have increased in recent years. A report from Stonewall in 2017 found that 25% of London’s LGBT community had experienced harassment or assault.

Brazil’s second-largest city, Rio de Janeiro, has been branding itself as an LGBT tourist destination for years. It has made huge efforts in providing anti-bullying projects aimed at students, and has outlawed discrimination in nightclubs. However, the last year has seen record numbers of violent attacks against the queer community.

And with a newly elected far-right government, there are fears it could get worse.

“With the election of an openly homophobic president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has infamously said he would rather have a dead son than a gay son, Rio’s reputation as a destination city may falter, and violence increase,” Reid says. “Rio is seen as a liberated city, but also has high levels of [homophobic] violence.”

Conversely, in some countries with backward and dangerous attitudes to the LGBT community, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, discreet but vibrant underground scenes can thrive. This is even the case in Russia, where activists say two people were killed last week and nearly 40 detained, as part of a new homophobic crackdown by police in the Chechnya region.

“You’ll find a gay scene in many places that may surprise you,” says Ed Salvato, an LGBT travel expert. “Some places like Moscow and St Petersburghave vibrant gay communities, despite the homophobic laws there.”

In Dublin, an exciting scene exploded out of a staunchly Catholic country.

“Dublin is like gay Disneyland now, and that wasn’t the case 20 or 30 years ago,” says Prof Andrew Reynolds, founder of the University of North Carolina’s LGBTQ Representation and Rights Research Initiative.

“With the last couple of referendums, Ireland and Dublin have embraced their new presentation as an inclusive, progressive and loving place.”

When Reynolds visited Ireland in 2016, many from the LGBT population told him stories of growing up in conservative coastal towns and moving away due to prejudice. The country was the first to legalise gay marriage by popular vote, in a 2015 referendum with a yes vote of 62%.

He says: “They went to Australia. They went to America. Now they’ve come home.”

The political glass ceiling has broken for many LGBT people across the world, which inevitably has ripple effects on the community.

Minneapolis made US history last year by electing Andrea Jenkins, the first openly trans woman of colour to office in 2017. The gay stronghold of Palm Springs, California, has elected an entire city council that identifies as LGBT. And in November, Jared Polis became the first openly gay man to be elected as a US state governor.

In Poland, one of Europe’s most Catholic and conservative countries, voters in the small city of Slupsk this year elected a gay atheist mayor, Robert Biedron. Just a few years ago, Biedron was attacked on the streets of his city because of his sexuality.

In Kathmandu, Nepal, Sunil Pant became Asia’s first openly gay federal-level elected official in 2008, resulting in a spate of public scrutiny.

“I think that the spinoff is that Kathmandu is a lot more gay-friendly than it was before,” says Reynolds. “Whilst it is not perfect by any stretch, like Bogotá, it is a place now that I feel like is much more friendly and accepting – and that’s obviously coming from a place where the Hindu religion was not helpful before.”

As the most direct representatives of citizens, city officials are uniquely positioned to understand and address the needs of their communities, says Xavier Persad of the Human Rights Campaign, pointing to “the need to provide for one’s family without the fear of being fired, to secure housing without the fear of eviction, and to participate in community life”.

“When cities enact LGBTQ-inclusive protections,” he adds, “they send a clear message that they value and welcome everyone, attracting the country’s top talent and spurring economic growth.”

Ultimately, even the most progressive laws and equal representation at political levels do not necessarily reflect the efficiency of enforcement, or indeed capture the lived experience of discrimination and fear many LGBT people face every day.

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The Constitutional Court of Colombia unanimously rules to strike down a five per cent tax on feminine hygiene products on gender equality grounds.