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by Wendy Patterson
When 24 homosexual transvestites turned up dead in the southern state of Chiapas in 1991, it sent a chill through Mexico's gay community.
"I felt alarmed, scared," recalled Jose Maria Covarrubias. "And then angry; I wanted to do something." Covarrubias, who heads the Gay Cultural Circle, a Mexico City- based gay rights group, traveled to Chiapas to pressure police authorities to find the killers.
That never happened. Nine years later, murders of homosexuals -- almost all of them men -- continue, as does the impunity of those who commit the crimes. From 1995 to 1999, there were 190 killings of gays, according to a report last year by the Citizen's Commission Against Homophobic Hate Crimes, an independent group comprised composed of prominent Mexico City citizens. The report says 99 murders occurred in the Federal District of Mexico City, 42 in the adjoining state of Mexico, 20 in Veracruz and 29 elsewhere.
The victims' average age was 28. "There is no location in the country where you can be openly gay without being harassed," David Fernandez, a Mexico City human rights activist said in a 1997 report for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. "Ordinarily, that does not involve a risk to one's life, but often it involves astonishing degrees of hostility." The violence against gay men -- lesbians are typically less overt about their sexuality and less likely to be victims of violence -- was tacitly acknowledged by a U.S. federal appeals court this summer that overruled a decision by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.
The Pasadena court granted asylum to a gay cross-dresser named Giovanni Hernandez, saying it was not safe for him to return to his country after he had been repeatedly beaten and raped by Mexican police. Robert Gerber, Hernandez's San Diego lawyer, said the decision was a landmark because it is the first case in which a federal appeals court ruled that sexual orientation is grounds for asylum.
Tom Ammiano, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, says the Hernandez case "gives legitimacy to how bad (conditions) are for gays in Mexico. The gay movement in Mexico is primarily focused on civil and human rights, starting with, `Don't kill us!' "
Last month, Ammiano met with gay and human rights activists on a six-day visit to Mexico sponsored by the San Francisco-based organization Global Exchange. "Many more gay people are in the closet (in Mexico) because they don't have the protections we have -- at least on the books -- against employment and housing discrimination," Ammiano said. Many also do not reveal their sexuality for fear of shocking family, friends and co-workers.
Most Mexicans are Roman Catholic, and the church teaches that homosexuality is a sin. Also, violence against gays is considered more acceptable in a culture rooted in machismo -- a hyper-masculine ideal. Despite these deep-seated problems, most activists agree that gays in Mexico have made significant strides in the past several years. In 1997, Patria Jimenez, an openly lesbian legislator, was elected to the federal Chamber of Deputies. In 1998, Mexico City's government repealed legislation that gave law enforcement officials the legal framework to arrest homosexuals.
Moreover, gay pride parades have spread from Mexico City to Guadalajara, Monterrey and other major cities. Gay bars are becoming more common, and the nation's two largest television networks -- Televisa and TV Azteca -- have replaced stereotypical gay characters with positive gay roles on its popular soap operas.
"I think this has had a big impact on housewives watching these shows at home," said Arturo Viramontes, a gay actor. "They are the mothers that may have to face a gay son or daughter."
Yet Mexico currently has no legislation to penalize hate crimes. Fifteen of Mexico's 31 states still have provisions that consider homosexuality a "transgression against morality and public decency." That means open displays of affection can result in police harassment or extortion. A violation of public morality can result in a prison term of three months to nine years.
Just last month, most newspapers covered the story of a privately operated swimming pool in the city of Aguascalientes that displayed an entry sign that read: "No Dogs, No Homosexuals." Gay groups eventually forced the pool manager to remove the sign, but not before city official Jorge Alvarez Medina told reporters that he would fire all gay employees discovered working for the city.
"Homophobia is more in your face" in Mexico, said Ammiano, who presented a resolution last month before the Board of Supervisors urging President-elect Vicente Fox to include gay rights "as an integral part of his national policy."
"Mexicans I met were eager for us to do something in the United States," Ammiano said. "One person told me Fox will understand English better than Spanish," referring to the power of U.S. activist groups and media.
Alejandro Brito, editor of a special monthly supplement on gay issues for the daily newspaper La Jornada, says homophobia is "institutionalized" in Mexico. As an example, Brito points out that even though there are 200,000 people with HIV and nearly 50,000 documented cases of AIDS, there has been no educational campaign directed specifically at gay men -- the group most affected by the epidemic.
Some gay activists hope Fox, who takes office Dec. 1, will be the first national leader to address discrimination based on sexual preference. Others are dubious because of the pro-Catholic, conservative pedigree of Fox's National Action Party (PAN). The party opposes homosexuality on moral grounds and some of its mayors have adopted laws that reflect that view.
Fox himself has also made homophobic comments to describe an opponent during the past election. On the stump, he called Francisco Labastida a mariquito, or "little fag," and lavestida, a play on words of Labastida's last name that means transvestite.
But since his historic triumph ended the 71-year rule of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Fox has changed his tone. During an official ceremony before the country's electoral commission, he said: "We are going to construct a free Mexico where intolerance has no place; where no one is persecuted for their ideas, political or religious beliefs, lifestyle or sexual preference."
Gay activists hope he means what he says. They are well aware that Fox is the key player during Mexico's growing democracy. La Jornada's Brito, however, predicts that violence against gays is likely to increase. "Gay people have not been very visible in Mexico," he said, "but as we become more visible, there will be more violence."
(C) 2000 The San Francisco Chronicle via Bell&Howell Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved.
Source : Obtained from gaywired.com
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