Can a facade of gay-friendliness help build a foundation?

The legislature of the state of Puebla voted this week to name May 17th “el Día Estatal Contra la Homofobia.” Though the measure appears to be purely symbolic, according to El Universal, supporters hope it will help lay the groundwork in the fight against homophobia in the notoriously conservative state of Puebla.

Brahim Zamora Salazar, president of the Democracy and Sexuality Network of Puebla (Red Democracia y Sexualidad), was quick to criticize the federal corollary of this day, vaguely named the Día de la Tolerancia y Respeto hacia las Preferencias (Day of Tolerance and Respect for Preferences):

“If the federal government–because of its homophobic and intolerant beliefs–insists on ignoring the problem by using a euphemism, then we in the states will push initiatives that do name the problem and spell it out in plain letters: homophobia is a problem in our society that needs to be named, condemned, and attacked.”

So, kudos to the 31 state legislators who voted for the measure, and let’s hope it’s the beginning of other, more meaningful legislation. If the comments on El Universal’s article are any indication, there is clearly still a lot of work to be done.

Gutiérrez García has been following Arce closely: in the last Encuentro de Diversidad Sexual in Oaxtepec, Morelos he denounced the “Matutino Express” as a space where words such as puñal (faggot) or depravado (degenerate) were used to talk about gay men. The issue is still in process, so we don’t know how it will be solved yet.

Some people in Facebook have expressed that the whole issue will give Arce higher ratings, instead of helping the GLBT community to defend our rights. Well, we all know how powerful language can be, and how it can drive people to commit unmentionable atrocities.

Meanwhile, Arce’s reaction has been to deny that he is homophobic: “I never imagined that there would be such controversy, and I don’t care, here [in his program] I say what I think, and I don’t take the time to see if people agree or not.” “I’m not homophobic, I have my opinion… I respect human life, to young guys and the others (homosexuals) do as you want, I don’t care. But yes, what is natural is man-woman, nothing else”.

Please, someone help this guy!

This year, the gay parade in the Distrito Federal will be different. No queens and no kings showing off their dresses on a stage. Neither no ambassadors, nor sponsors targeting the gay community. The motto is Dignity and Pride.

Over the years, many political groups, and participants as well, have complained about the exaggerated festiveness of the parade. From their perspective, much of the political meaning of this act has disappeared–transforming it into a carnival where enterprises with mischievous intentions find the best chance to place their products in the largest GLBT community of Mexico.

To outline some of the context, the critics appear in a year of midterm congressional elections, when some Mexicans have joined to the voto nulo movement. This pacific protest promotes to deliberately render the ballots, and show how angry  the citizens are with the corruption that poisons the Mexican government. At the same time, less than a month ago Agustín Estrada Negrete was subject of a major expression of  homophobia from the government of the State of Mexico, which is a clear example of how the political system is rotten to its core. In this regard, only Enoé Uranga, one of the two openly-gay females candidates, has supported Estrada so far (the other is Lol Kin Castañeda).

So, this parade will probably show if modesty and solemnity are useful political weapons. If you want more information about all the ups and downs of the organization, check out directly with Red Orgullo 31, the group in charge of the logistics.

Gay Parade in Mexico City. Saturday, June 20th, 11 a.m., from the Ángel de la Independencia on Reforma Av. to Centro Histórico.  At 3 p.m. there will be a political public statement and some live music.