On this day, October 5, in 1513

Spanish conquistador Vasco Nunez de Balboa ordered the slaughter of 40 transgender men in the village of Quarequa, in modern day Panama. After Balboa saw that this group of men dressed as women and had sex with other men, he had them torn to pieces by his war dogs. Many pre-conquest civilizations in Latin America practiced homosexuality or gender crossing as a normal part of life. As these nations were colonized by Spain, severe penalties were placed on these behaviors including public executions and burnings and eventually homosexuality became stigmatized and feared. The effects of colonization on indigenous people are intense and have uprooted whole value systems and cultures.