A Colombian court ordered an influencer to post content against homophobia and transphobia.The ruling was in response to a video he made, and then deleted, on YouTube.In the video, he said he’d shoot a gay son and sexually assault a trans child.
Thanks for signing up!
Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you’re on the go.
download the app
An influencer has been ordered by Colombia’s top constitutional court to post social media content highlighting the harm caused by homophobia and transphobia after he said he would shoot his son if he found out he was gay.The ruling said that Luis Villa, a 23-year-old who goes by WestCOL online, was ordered to share the posts with his over two million Instagram followers and 650,000+ YouTube subscribers after comments he made in a video in September 2022.In the YouTube video, which has since been deleted, he said he would put “17 holes” in his son if he found out he was gay, according to court documents.
Villa also said that if a son of his were to come out as transgender, he would use a stick to sexually assault him, the ruling said.The ruling came in response to a complaint made by José Francisco Montufar Rodríguez, an LGBTQ+ advocate and lawyer, in which Montufar Rodríguez alleged that the video constituted discrimination and hate speech, according to the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.In a comment to Business Insider about the ruling, Montufar Rodríguez said: “I feel very happy.”He added: “It is a history-making sentence in my country.”In addition to the posts, the Colombian court ruled that Villa must also attend a course on LGBTQ+ rights, El Tiempo reported.Although Villa later published a video apologizing for his comments, the court ruled that his large social media following meant that the reach and magnitude of his words were “serious,” the newspaper said.According to the ruling, Villa alluded to his comments as dark jokes.It’s not clear if Villa has children. The influencer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.LGBTQ+ rights in Colombia are considered some of the most advanced in the region, with laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation, and passports that include the gender options male, female, and X.
