As someone who truly loves Mexico City, but is based (for the time being) in Brooklyn, NY, I was thrilled to realize that this week (Sept. 8-15) is the fifth annual Celebrate Mexico Now Festival here in New York City. From their website: Celebrate México Now, a groundbreaking citywide festival, offers an introduction to the vanguard of [...]
Posts under ‘culture’
Queer Community and the City
Machas and gays in Mexico City have to deal with weird looks when it comes to public displays of affection. Statements such as “children shouldn’t see two men/women kissing in the subway” or “it is okay that the y love each other, as long as they do it in private” are examples of homophobia in [...]
Luzónica
Great machas in a great city. This is the best definition of Luzónica, a group of young queer women based in Oaxaca City, who seek to sensitize Oaxacan society about sexual diversity through arts and cultural expressions. Carina, Yiyi, Cois, Lety, Sofi—all of them between 19 and 30 years old—decided to create this group to [...]
2nd Annual Rock and Sexual Diversity Film Festival
Today is the opening night of the Second Annual Rock and Sexual Diversity Film Festival, which features film screenings, musical performances, a fashion show, and several dance parties. According to co-organizer Artemisa Téllez, the festival aims to create a space that is welcoming for the GLBT punks, emos, darketos (goths), and others who may not [...]
A Pink Car Named Desire
Sexy glances, veiled smiles, subtle movements and coded signs. Desire between men—and sometimes women—made public in the smallest space of the city is what you can observe in the last car of certain Mexico City subway trains. Also known as the vagón rosa (pink car) or cajita feliz (happy, little box, the Spanish term for [...]
“Lo que se ve no se pregunta”: Christian Chávez
Decades had to pass by before a mainstream Mexican musical artist dared to talk openly about his homosexuality–and with not as much criticism as one could have expected. Compared to Juan Gabriel and Fabiruchis’ stories, shaped by ambiguity and lies, Christian Chavez’s coming out story is an example of how much easier is to deal with homosexuality [...]
TTTrans Festival in Mexico City
For those interested in knowing about trans culture in Mexico City, we invite you to the First Festival of Trans Culture. Sexuality, Politics and Health. It will be celebrated from May 14th to 16th, at Contempo Cinema. Some luminaries of the Mexican trans/gay scene will be there, like Alejandra Bogue, Hazel Davenport and the transmigrated-Spanish [...]
“Lo que se ve no se pregunta”: Fabiruchis
His mistake was not paying up. His punishment was having to see his bloodied, unrecognisable face on the covers of tabloids all over the city. This was the ironic story of Fabian Lavalle, a.k.a. Fabiruchis, the host of Mexican gossip show La Tijera. Fabiruchis was forced to face a flood of gossip and speculation about [...]
“Lo que se ve no se pregunta”: Juan Gabriel
When asked directly about his sexual orientation during a TV show broadcasted all across Mexico, singer Juan Gabriel made one of the most definitive statements about homosexuality, private life and its links to the hypocritical sectors of Mexican society. Indeed, in the Mexican mainstream there is a moral double standard that accepts the existence of [...]
Public Displays of Affection
Something that I began noticing on my first trip to Mexico City and that still grabs my attention is the necking that seems to be taking place on benches, lawns, and (occasional) street corners throughout the city. Kissing does not adequately describe these fits of public love-making: these are not gentle pecks exchanged before parting, [...]