Puerto Vallarta Council Advances LGBT+ Proposals
The Puerto Vallarta Municipal Council on Sexual and Gender Diversity has completed its first working session, with four proposals placed before the group. The meeting began a coordinated effort to bring LGBT+ community members into municipal decision-making. Representatives of several City Hall departments sit alongside six LGBT+ civil-society members. Their purpose is to draw on members’ experiences to identify needs and develop initiatives with the municipal government, allowing varied perspectives to shape public policy.
One proposal would establish a police-assistance protocol for LGBT+ people at a station in the Zona Romántica. Puerto Vallarta does not yet have a specific municipal protocol for that purpose, although comparable models exist in other municipalities in Mexico. The proposal would give Public Safety officers tools to respect each person’s gender identity and expression, including in cases where a transgender person’s official documents do not yet show their name or gender identity. The police corporation has already discussed the issue, and the proposed training would receive technical support from the Jalisco State Office of Sexual Diversity. The Council will seek to formalize the police protocol.
The bylaws also permit specialized committees. Using that provision, Víctor Manuel Espíndola Villegas proposed a committee for Vallarta Pride 2027, scheduled for May 20. The group would plan the event and bring additional community voices into its work; its proposal seeks to reinforce Pride’s social, cultural and activist dimensions. The proposal identifies Puerto Vallarta’s Pride event as important for tourism and as a festival, and the Tourism Department may allocate resources to Pride.
Adriana Batista proposed that women of diverse sexual orientations, transgender people and non-binary individuals account for at least 50% of participants in Council calls for participation and activities. Batista was proposed as a liaison to bring in more women, who are currently underrepresented in these settings. Greater representation would require wider recruitment and connections with more community sectors. The proposals aim to create safe spaces for women, transgender people, non-binary people, bisexuals, gay people and people with other diverse identities to participate, be heard and contribute to a more inclusive Puerto Vallarta.
Carlos Ernesto Plascencia Ramírez, Puerto Vallarta’s deputy director of Sexual Diversity, presented a plan for a Cross-Cutting Annex on Sexual Diversity in the 2027 Budget. It would identify and earmark portions of resources departments already assign to LGBT+ programs and activities, without increasing municipal spending. The annex would formalize support already supplied by various agencies. The proposal will go to the Municipal Treasury and then to the City Council for possible inclusion in the 2027 Budget. The Subdirectorate for Sexual Diversity was recently established and has no dedicated budget; its activities have so far relied on cooperation with other municipal departments and administrative support.
“Distintivo I” is a call for tourism service providers committed to inclusion and will launch in October. Its training covers sexual diversity, services for people with disabilities and services for members of indigenous communities. Details, requirements and the application process will be announced when the official call is published. The goal is to carry Puerto Vallarta’s recognition as a welcoming destination into staff training and services for all visitors.
The proposals will follow the appropriate institutional process after being presented to the Council. Initiatives needing regulatory or budgetary decisions will go to the City Council for review and a vote, while municipal departments will implement them after the relevant processes are complete. The Council will help develop and monitor each proposal, and the Health Department may develop programs for the LGBT+ community. The proposed Pride working group will focus on planning the event and incorporating more community voices. Visitors can follow the next public milestones by watching for the October launch of “Distintivo I” and the May 20 date scheduled for Vallarta Pride 2027.