LGBTQI+ and Women’s Rights Reporting Initiative in Latin America

¡Exprésate!

The IWMF’s ¡Exprésate! LGBTQI+ and Women’s Rights Reporting Initiative supports the production of high-quality journalism by and about women and LGBTQI+ people in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. Established with the generous support of the Foundation for a Just Society, this Initiative allows the IWMF to expand its support of journalists and nuanced, inclusive reporting in Latin America by providing fellowships with a focus on gender and sexual diversity.

From 2024 to 2025, the IWMF will select 120 journalists in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico to participate in the ¡Exprésate! Initiative. The IWMF previously trained 60 journalists in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico in 2023. The selected journalists will complete our training course on Periodismo más incluyente (More Inclusive Journalism), as well as physical and digital safety training workshops for journalists in the region. They will also have the opportunity to apply for reporting grants to fund LGBTQI+ and gender-focused stories.

Our course seeks to teach journalists how to accurately, inclusively and safely cover issues that disproportionately impact women and LGBTQI+ people in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. Our five training modules cover topics ranging from the current media landscape and coverage of LGBTQI+ and women’s issues, to appropriate and inclusive language and best practices for journalists, human rights from a gender perspective, a regional analysis of LGBTQI+ and women’s rights and the influence of religion and power on society. Participants learn how to better identify expert sources and develop theoretical tools to advance their reporting, as well as put their knowledge into practice. The course is led by a team of local media trainers and is supported by expert voices on LGBTQI+ and women’s rights, in addition to well-known journalists from Latin America with experience reporting on these themes.

The Initiative also supports the production of in-depth reporting on women and LGBTQI+ people and forms mentorship relationships between grantees and experienced editors in the region. Journalists who complete the Periodismo más incluyente course are eligible to apply for individual and collaborative reporting grants, ranging from approximately $800 to $4,000 USD, which include additional support from mentors. Through this combination of journalism training, open dialogue, collaboration, funding, and mentorship, the IWMF seeks to reshape mainstream media narratives about women and LGBTQI+ people in these four countries.

Trainer Bios

Guatemala

Daniel Villatoro García is a journalist. He coordinates the Latin American Journalism Initiative about LGBTQI+ people with the IWMF. He is the Regional Manager at IREX, a global organization that supports media and promotes stronger informational ecosystems. His work can be seen in outlets like Univisión, ProPublica and Radio Ambulante (United States), Plaza Pública (Guatemala), Poder (Mexico) o InfoBae (Latin America) and in his book “El registro de la violencia contra las personas LGBTI”. In recognition of his work, he was a human rights fellow at Columbia University (2021-2022) and won the “Journalist of the Year” Lifetime Achievement Award from the One Young World Global Youth Forum in 2022. He won the TRACE Award for Investigative Journalism and the Journalistic Excellence Award from the Inter American Society of the Press, on two occasions. He was a finalist for the Gabriel García Márquez and Roche Awards, the Iniciativa Idea de Innovación en Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos, and the Interntional Center for Journalists and The Wall Street Journal. His areas of work are narrative, data and social innovation, as well as discrimination based on sexual orientation.

El Salvador

María Luz Nóchez has been a staff journalist for El Faro since 2011 and has coordinated the Opinion section since 2019. She specializes in covering arts and culture, minority groups (the LGBTI community and indigenous people), and violence against women. In 2017, her piece “A paradise for child molesters” won the Latin American Award for Investigative Journalism from the Journalism and Society Institute and Transparency International. She has a bachelor’s degree in Communication Sciences.

Honduras

Dunia Orellana is a journalist, documentary filmmaker and director of Reportar sin Miedo, the first media outlet focused on issues on women, LGBTQI+ and human rights in Honduras. Her articles have been published in Reporteros de Investigación, En Altavoz, Presentes, Criterio, Anfibia, El Tiempo and Univisión, among others. She has directed and filmed documentaries about the LGBTI community in Honduras, as well as land defenders and indigenous populations. She is a scholarship recipient of the Summit Foundation, Fundación Gabo, ICFJ and IWMF. “Las 280 muertas de Vicky” served as documentation for the IDH Court to conduct a trial that convicted the State of Honduras for the systematic murder of LGBTQI+ people during and after the 2009 coup. In 2023, her feature “Cómo vi morir de sida a mi padre y hermano” was selected for the anthology of the book “Criaturas fenomenales” of la Caja Book.

Mexico

Guillermo Osorno is a journalist and writer. He studied journalism at Columbia University. He has been a media entrepreneur and founded the magazines Travesías, dF por Travesías and the website horizontal.mx. He was the editor of the magazine Gatopardo. He is the author of the book Tengo que morir todas las noches, una crónica de los ochenta, el underground y la cultura gay (I have to die every night, a chronicle of the eighties, the underground and gay culture). He is currently the host of the program Por si las moscas, which is broadcast on Channel 22. He collaborates with The New York Times and Gatopardo.

Community Managers