As Reported by Change.org, Paola Ziritti is unthinkably brave to speak publicly about the “clinic.” She endured physical assault, sexual abuse, and a constant battery of insults. Guards would even throw buckets of cold water and urine on her. For two years, this was Paola’s waking nightmare… because she’s a lesbian. The “doctors” and guards at the clinic were trying to “cure” her.
Paola lives in Ecuador, where these so-called clinics are terrifyingly common — although the government shut down 27 this year, 180 clinics remain open, and most of the prisoners there are women. (Some gay men and transgendered people are in the clinics as well, but far fewer.)
Paola’s parents knew they were sending her to a forced confinement clinic, but they had no idea how awful it would be. Once Paola’s mother realized what she’d done, she tried to get her daughter back, but the clinic said no. The process to free Paola took a year.
A few incredibly courageous Ecuadorian women are fighting back — they call themselves Fundacion Causana. The women of Fundacion Causana started a petition on Change.org demanding that Ecuadoran Minister of Public Health Dr. David Chiriboga Allnut investigate and shut down all 180 remaining clinics that torture women to “cure” them. Please sign the petition right now.
Fundacion Causana does direct-service work on the ground to save women from the clinics, but they say it’s not enough. They need the unbridled support of the Ecuadoran government to get all of the clinics shut down.
So far, the government has only shut down a small cluster of clinics in one region of the country. Ecuador’s government officials need to know that we are watching and will not stand idly by while women are imprisoned and tortured.
Please sign Fundacion Causana’s petition demanding that the Ecuadoran Minister of Public Health investigate and shut down every “clinic” that tortures members of Ecuador’s LGBT community:
Thanks for being a change-maker,
- Weldon and the Change.org team
P.S. More than 5,000 campaigns are started every month by Change.org members. Here are some of the top petitions that need your support right now:
- 28% of human trafficking victims are brought to emergency rooms at some point in their captivity – New Jersey Nurse Morgan Hennessey started a petition asking her hospital, Meridian Health System, to train nurses to spot human trafficking victims.
- Hundreds of people in Raleigh, North Carolina want to demonstrate as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Stacie Borello started a petition asking her state capitol to allow protesters to Occupy Raleigh without being arrested.
- Andy Matum is a British veteran who wants to stay with his wife in America — but immigration officials are trying to deport this loving husband and father. His friend, Jennifer Towns, started a petition to keep Andy in the US with his wife.
- A US Marine veteran was allegedly harassed for being a lesbian while seeking treatment at a military hospital. Her friend Jessica Gerson started a petition asking for the Veterans Administration to investigate and fire the allegedly homophobic nurse.
- Ohio State University is a prominent educational institution — but students at the school started a petition demanding the school stop making merchandise produced in sweatshops in El Salvador.
