The Daily Signal - Former Mexican Lawmaker Convicted of 'Gender-Based Political Violence' Speaks Out

Episode Date: February 21, 2024

Mexican authorities convicted civil society leader and former Mexican Congressman Rodrigo Iván Cortés of "gender-based political violence." His crime? Criticizing a man who identifies as a transgender woman. Cortés sits down with The Daily Signal's Mary Margaret Olohan to share his story. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At Desjardin, we speak business. We speak equipment modernization. We're fluent in data digitization and expansion into foreign markets. And we can talk all day about streamlining manufacturing processes. Because at Desjardin business, we speak the same language you do. Business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us. And contact Desjardin today.

We'd love to talk, business. This is the Daily Signal podcast for Wednesday, February 21st. I'm Mary Margaret O'Lean. Rodrigo Yvonne Cortez is a former Mexican lawmaker who is convicted of gender-based political violence by Mexican authorities for criticizing a man who identifies as a transgender woman. I sat down with Rodrigo to discuss this conviction and what it means for free speech in Mexico and around the world. Stay tuned for my conversation with Rodrigo after this. This is Mike Althe Harage Foundation. I know how the left and the deep state operate, because I've seen it from the inside.

When I was working for the Trump administration, I learned how the left made our lives miserable and how they continued to think they could play by their own rules. Well, now we're taking all of these tricks and tactics that were deployed against the Trump administration and turning them against the Biden regime. Through the work of the oversight project, we're exposing the left for what they are and embarrassing some actors responsible. We're using strategic foias and fearless litigate. to force these bureaucrats to deliver documents they'd prefer to never see the light of day.

But for our work to be successful, we need patriots like you to stand with us. You can take action now. Visit heritage.org slash oversight to learn more. There's no time to waste. Rodrigo Ivan Cortez, you are a former Mexican congressman and a civil society leader who was convicted of gender-based political violence. What is gender-based political violence? It's a tricky term.

It's not based in the Mexican constitution or in Pacto of San Jose or in the Declaration of Human Rights. It's a term that comes from United Nations, but in the soft law. It's not a hard law. And you could have some tricky interpretations because in one sense, you could find these kind of terms in a law that tries to defend the real woman. Right. Real woman. Not the person who ascribe himself as a woman. It's a real woman.

That was the purpose of that terms in one law. But right now, these terms are used to promote and impose the gender confusion ideology. It's really scary. And can you tell us how this unfolded for you? So you were, in my understanding, you were combating a law that had to do with men identifying as women. Can you tell us about that? Yes. I was in Congress when a transsexual legislator, part of the transsexual permittarian

group of the regime, Morena's regime. I was talking with the vice president of the Congress, and she was informed that a legislator dressed like a dragg pope or dragg bishop. Drag pope? Yes, like this, to present this bill. So she asked to bring her the content of that bill. And as I was with her, she showed. me the content and the content is to criminalize the teachings of the Bible in marriage and sexual morality. Laben it as a hate speech. So she was worried.

She's a friend of mine and she said, this is awful. And we tried to see what could be done. So some members of the Congress, friends of mine, decide to get up and get out of the parliament in the moment that this transsexual comes dressed like that to present this. And I decided to stay and to make a statement for social media. So I denounce this behavior because they ask for respect. but they don't give respect. Right. This person comes into the Mexican parliament dressed as a drag pope, introducing legislation saying that these biblical principles of sexuality and marriage should be criminalized.

Yes. And they're saying that deserves respect. That's wild. It's wild. So I say it's not okay. This goes against the universal decriminal. of Human Rights, Pacto of San Jose, and our Constitution. Because in our Constitution and all the rest of the international treaties are in favor of freedom of speech and religious freedom.

So this goes against. And I also explain that a transsexual legislator is a man who ascribes himself as a woman. And I rise my voice also against the behavior, recent behavior of this transsexual group. Because before enter the floor days before that, they get high with drugs. Okay. In order to promote that the drugs must be legalized. And other day, they publish in their social media oral sex videos. with their clients.

Wow. In order to promote the legalization of prostitution. They describe themselves as sex workers, right? Yes. Well, they don't use that word. They use a very aggressive word, but with proud. They have this special pride for... Right, they're not embarrassed about it at all.

No, embarrassed about it. And I said that it is not right to a popular representative to do things like that. Right, for an elected lawmaker to be talking about their sexuality or their sexual activities so publicly seems very inappropriate. And with videos.

With videos. So pornography. Yes. So I rise my voice for that. But also because days before this happened, the transsexual parliamentary group attack the president of the Congress.

Santiago-Cril Miranda. Right. It is an elderly man. And it's the president. And they take him off his place as a president, take his bell, his microphone, with physical violence. That physical violence was from men because they are men. They used that, this. And this was because another friend of mine, Gabriel Cuaddon,

member of the parliament, there to oppose their bill, another bill, or initiative of bill, that tried to establish change of sex without limits from birth without limits. So they were trying to establish a way for someone to change their stated sex on their birth certificate? Well, it was like an ambiguous thing, but it was clear that it was, change of sex. Okay. But Quadri said that is not okay. At least put that if you want to change your sex, you must be 18 years old.

Okay. Or since 18 years old. That starts the rage of these people and that concludes in the violent take of the seat of the president of the Congress. And I say, that is not okay. Okay, well, this transsexual group sued me make this demand at the Electoral Institute, the Electoral Institute without hearing me, say, he is guilty, and sent the case to the Electoral Tribunal. Wow.

The Electoral Tribunal is supposed to deal with matters of elections. And we were not in any election. I'm not a candidate. The transsexual legislator is an exercise. It's not a candidate. So it wasn't a matter of an election. Well, they took it and they sentenced me. And when you see the sentence,

do you see that have nothing to do with the Constitution? Right. They use the terms in a, very ideological way. There is a crime that don't exist even in the law, that it's transmisogynia. The law that they said was mentored to prevent violence against women, real woman. And they say, I commit transmisogynia. But the transmisogynia is not in any law.

Wow. So what's the punishment for it? for violating this faux law? It's nonsense because first they sentenced me to deconstruct myself. How could

I do that? How could I deconstruct myself? So what does that mean? You have to take classes or you have to listen to these activists? Then, because this is the first line, you must deconstruct yourself.

Okay. Then they put me fines, economical fines, then they put me in a list with a long title that it's ignominious, like a violent gender offender against

a woman, but with more words. And they intend that this list prevent you that you could be named by any public position in the municipal level, state level, or federal level.

So because these lawmakers decided that you're guilty of gender-based political violence, you cannot be a lawmaker in any kind of elected position. Or in a public administration. So these are in litigation because we don't know where this is going to end, but the intention to be in that list is exactly that. You cannot be named. You could not be elected. You cannot have a public voice as a representative or as a public director of any public institution.

And other thing is that you must take about 10 or 15 gender normalization programs. So it is amazing because I'm philosopher as a professional. So if you could define truth, Truth is the adequation of the mind to the reality. And when you speak this adequation, you're saying the truth. Well, this sentence prohibits you to tell the truth. Right. And impose you to say the contrary, to say a lie.

Because it is no adequation of the mind to your reality when you say, I am a woman, but in reality you are a man. Right. So, this sentence imposed to you to say the lie and prohibits you to say the truth. But another thing is you cannot defend the religious freedom. You cannot even criticize the legislative work of a transsexual. Because if you do that, then you are a discriminator and you are a criminal. And there is some factors that say in the sentence that are outrageous. It's factors that make this grave crime.

And they say these factors are one, because Rodrigo Ivan is male. That's it. Only for being male, this is a factor to make this crime worst. Second, because I'm Catholic. Third, because I'm white. I'm not white. But what's the meaning of this in Mexico? Right.

The color of your skin, I'm not one, but they say that means. And because I'm ethereosexual, that makes this crime worse. When you see another crime, it's a, if you kill someone with machete, that make it worse. but with this. Right. To be men or male, to be Catholic, to be ethosexual or specific color. How could this make anything worse? And it is surprising because during this trial, members of this tribunal express themselves in favor of the transsexual constantly.

gather with him and express that they're happy to deconstruct themselves for this. And during this trial, one of these members of the trial expressed that his duty, his labor as a member of this tribunal is not to give sentence accordingly to the Constitution, but to correct the Constitution. because the Constitution was made of a bunch of white, ethosexual men. Wow. So in effect, these lawmakers in Mexico are, it sounds like you're saying they're targeting you because you're Catholic, you're straight, you practice your faith, and you don't think that men can just become women. And you have been targeted by your government for this. Where do you go from here? I know you're represented by ADF International, right? What happens next?

Well, I'm very grateful because an institution like Alliance Defending Freedom take my defense. So just in recent days, ADF present my case before the Inter-American Human Rights System. And this starts with present my case against Mexican-Strax. state, they present it at the commission. First is the commission. And then is the court. So this is the next step to present it. We don't know how long this could take. But it's very important to have another instance because in Mexico, if the members of a jury, of a tribunal, don't follow the constitution, don't follow the pact of San Jose. don't follow the Declaration,

universal declaration of human rights, and they follow an ideology. We are in serious, serious problem. Right. Serious problem. It's incredibly scary. And do you think, you know,

I'm sure you've paid attention to U.S. politics, the cancel culture that follows many Americans for just saying a man is a man or a woman is a woman or men shouldn't be in women's sports, do you think Americans should be worried about whether that kind of policy will come here. Very worry. Very, very worry because what is happening is that in plain sight, before our eyes, the freedom

of speech has been canceled. I cannot say even the truth in my country. The freedom, the religious freedom is canceled. And they want to make the... the Christian teachings and the Bible itself as a hate speech. And they have another initiatives of a bill that with the label of symbolic violence, they consider that the Christian symbols are violence. And you must take it out from the public spaces.

Why are Christian symbols violent in as much as they relate to homosexuality or biblical teaching on marriage? What makes them violent? Hate speech is the key expression because if you are not submit entirely to this gender-confucian ideology, you have hate speech. And I start to understand what this really means. It's not hate speech because the Bible don't have. hate speech. It's the speech that they hate that must be banished, cancel. So this is the real meaning.

I discuss with a local parliamentarian in Campeche and a debate. And because they want to approve this symbolic violence, meaning Christian symbols. And as he went out of arguments, he said, we make this because our line, political line of the National Executive Committee of Morena told us. And they told us because it is important to follow the line of Gramchi. I am a philosopher, so I know that. Gramchi is an Italian philosopher, communist, that makes another way to promote communism in Catholic Italy in the first part of the 20th century. And he promotes a cultural socialism and he said that you must change the culture, you must change the common sense of the people in order to put,

out God from public spaces and you must put out God from the conscience of people. So you must work to counter the egemony of

Christianity and create a new egemony that it's the not Christian or against Christian narrative or culture. So when this local parliamentarian that I'm sure he didn't read or knows

Gramch's philosophy because I write some things about that. I tell him, just let me quote the philosopher that you are referring. And I say the quotations of these jail not books, that is the name of one of his writing, telling

exactly this. And as I far I have a priest and pastors as a public. They were like, what? The ideal is that? Yes. So the ideal is removing Christianity

from the public space and replacing it. And the conscience of the people. And the conscience and replacing it with ideology. Yes. And in this case is gender ideology that presents a fight or a dialect between the freedom,

the good against the hate of speech of Christianity. Wow. So you have obviously been through so much ever since you spoke up about this. Does it make you wish that you didn't say anything, or are you glad that you spoke up? As far as I, a Catholic, and I believe that Christian teaching are important. It's not that I'm glad to say it, but I feel confirmed because you must be sure that you are in the good fight. so at least I feel that I'm in the good fight. And as far as I see that they are taking things to upside down principles, values, laws, terms, I think I must give my testimony. I don't know if I'm going to win.

So far, I'm not. But at least I'm saying the truth. I'm expressing myself. and I care about the religious freedom because I'm seeing that they have in the local level and in the federal level, more, much more initiatives of bills that goes against the freedom of speech, the religious freedom, the freedom of the parents

in order to teach their children accordingly to their ethic and religious conviction or principles or back. I could give you examples of all of these, but against. They're going for this freedom as they go for their family. They don't want marriage. They want to destroy marriage. They are constantly trying to destroy marriage. They go against the life of the people.

They are saying, one time, okay, let's put one week, two weeks, three weeks, 14 weeks. it is for abortion. For abortion. And they say, let's say in this case, another case. So we are seeing in the capital before the Efe, the city of Mexico, and now the city of Mexico. Now the proposal is to have abortion without any

restriction during nine months. Which is what Democrats in the United States have been advocating for as well. Yeah. And now in this year, the Supreme Court that are so twisted to and the Morena's legislator and some of the opposition too are trying to take out abortion as a crime. Put it out completely. So the Mexican expression is China Libre. You could commit abortion without any any repercussion

totally free because it's not going to be a crime anymore if this issue starts in February between February and April we could have that in Mexico so they're going against life they're against family and they're against the fundamental freedoms

and with speed they're going fast so based on what you just told us when you go home now Are you concerned about whether you are safe or your family is safe when you face these charges and you know what you're telling us about how these legislators are targeting marriage and the family and life? Yes. It is something that we have to consider because some months ago that I made this press conference and that I expressed myself against some issues like this of the regime in the very, very morning, about two or three in the morning, my car was attacked all the front and the sides. And when I was hearing these things just at the entrance of my house, I was thinking, should I go out? Because I think it's about four people. Wow.

I think not. Wow. So you're standing in the doorway of your house and there's four people outside smashing up your car. Yes. So I say, perhaps it's not good idea to go out. But it was exactly the day that I made this press conference. And I say, well, let's try to take care of what is in my hands and try to do what I think it's right.

Well, Rodrigo, we're so glad that you're fighting to do what is right. And we're so grateful that you shared your story with us. Thank you so much. No, thank you. And that'll do for today's episode. Thanks so much for listening. If you haven't gotten a chance, be sure to check our evening show right here in this podcast feed where we bring you the top news in the day.

Also, make sure you subscribe to The Daily Signal wherever you get your podcast and help us reach more listeners by leaving a five-star rating in review. We read all your feedback. Thanks again for listening. Have a great day and we'll be back with you all at 5 p.m.

for our top news edition. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. Executive producers are Rob Luey and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and Samantha Asheras. designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. To learn more, please visitdailysignal.com.