Thousands marched in Mexico City on Monday to protest the death of Jesús Ociel Baena, a prominent LGBTQ+ activist and also Mexico’s first non-binary magistrate. Baena was found dead, along with their partner, on Monday morning. According to state prosecutor Jesús Figueroa Ortega, there was no evidence of a third party entering their house, and it seemed like the deaths were caused by murder-suicide according to an initial investigation.

This statement was faced with severe criticism by LGBTQI+ activists, who allege there is a history of officials diminishing the deaths of LGBTQI+ people in Mexico. The UNCHR, along with the National Observatory of Hate Crimes Against LGBTQ+ in Mexico, reported that at least 43 LGBTQI+ people were killed in the country between January and April 2021. There is a significant probability that the true number is much higher, according to these experts.

Alejandro Brito, director of LGBTQ+ rights group Letra S, was reported by many news outlets as saying that Jesús Ociel Baena had received many death threats because of their identity that authorities should not ignore. Letra S also called for “local authorities to investigate exhaustively and without prejudice what happened.”

Jesús Ociel Baena was open with their non-binary status and advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community, posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “I am a non-binary person, I am not interested in seeing myself as a woman or a man, that is an identity, it is mine and for me, for no one else.” 

Arturo Zaldívar, former Chief Justice of the Mexican Supreme Court, posted his sadness regarding Jesús Ociel Baena’s death, reportedly saying that Mexico “lost a powerful voice for equality and the rights of LGBTI+ people.”