A prominent Mexican magistrate who was the country’s first citizen to be granted a non-binary passport has been found dead, authorities said, prompting protests in the capital and anger among the LGBTQ community.
The body of Jesus Ociel Baena “and that of another person were found in a house” in Aguascalientes on Monday, the state prosecutor’s office said.
But prosecutors ruled out the possibility of a third person at the scene, saying the death could be related to a “personal matter.”
An investigation has been launched to determine the cause of both deaths, officials said.
Protesters gathered in Mexico City, disputing the authorities’ account and chanting “Crime of passion, national lie.”
Other protests popped up around the country.
“We ask the public prosecutor’s office to provide results quickly” in the probe, said former Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, a candidate in the 2024 presidential election.
Baena, 38, became the first non-binary magistrate to serve on a Mexican electoral tribunal in October 2022, and was reportedly the first non-binary magistrate in all of Latin America.
Baena received the country’s first passport that did not mention the holder’s gender on May 17, with Mexico’s former foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard hailing it a “historic day.”
At the end of July, Baena said authorities were offering protection following “multiple attacks” and social media “death threats.”
Rights advocacy group Letra S took to X, formerly Twitter, to urge Mexican authorities to investigate “thoroughly and without prejudice what happened.”
