Mexico News Reports 2007

Mexico City – The northern state of Coahuila, a mining and ranching region south of Texas, approved gay civil union Thursday, becoming the second area in Mexico to give legal status to homosexual partnerships.
Legislators in the state Congress voted 20-13 for a bill that gives gays greater rights than a similar law backed by Mexico City last November.

“It is more like a civil marriage,” said Silvia Solis, a gay rights activist in the capital. She said Coahuila would grant social security benefits to both members of a homosexual union, an important demand of gay campaigners.
The law was promoted by Coahuila's Institutional Revolutionary Party, which rules the state.

Coahuila once formed a state with Texas, which was part of Mexico before the United States annexed much of what is now the U.S. Southwest in the mid-19th century.

The Argentine capital Buenos Aires legalized same-sex unions in 2002, in a move hailed as a first in Latin America.

Associated Press
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/01/30/ap3378503.html

January 30, 2007

2
Gay Man From Mexico Wins U.S. Asylum

An immigration judge who previously denied a gay man's asylum bid on the grounds that he could conceal his sexual orientation if he returned to his native Mexico reversed the decision Tuesday. In allowing Jorge Sota Vega to remain in the United States, Judge John D. Taylor said that gays should not be required to dress or act a certain way to avoid persecution and that Vega's lawyers proved he would be at risk if he were deported to Mexico.

Vega's case attracted attention from national gay rights groups when Taylor denied his application and said that Vega could live safely in Mexico because he did not look gay and could hide the fact that he was. "It seemed to us this is a real double standard," said Jon W. Davidson, legal director of Lambda Legal. "Courts don't deny asylum to someone based on their political beliefs by saying, 'If you just didn't tell other people what you believed, you would be fine.'"

Vega, 38, lived in Tuxpan and Guadalajara before he fled to the United States. He said in his 2004 asylum bid that he was beaten by police and told by authorities in Mexico he would be killed. Now a New York resident, Vega appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The San Francisco-based court sent the case back to immigration court last year

statesman.com
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/mexico/entries/2007/01/29/transgendered_in_coahuila_1.html

January 30, 2007

3
Transgendered in Coahuila

by Jeremy Schwartz
On a recent swing through Saltillo, Coahuila, to report on the state’s new gay civil union law, I got a tour of Saltillo’s gay underground from activist Aida Badillo of the Eux, Arte y Sida group. We toured the city’s first openly gay nightclub as well as a clandestine after-hours spot frequented by many closeted Coahuila residents who don’t want to be seen in public. We ended on the barren outskirts of Saltillo, at the depressing Zone of Tolerance, a walled off area of legal prostitution found outside many Mexican cities.

Here’s a snippet that didn’t make it into the story:

On a bitterly cold Saturday night, four transvestite prostitutes huddled around an empty bar in Saltillo’s Zone of Tolerance. Even within Coahuila’s gay community, the transgendered are marginalized and abused, says Badillo, director of a Coahuila AIDS education organization. Badillo explains that transgendered residents in Coahuila face basically two career choices: hair stylist or sex worker.

Things are particularly extreme for poor transsexuals, Badillo said. Lacking money for proper operations, many will inject their backsides and chests with cooking oil. Some die in the process.

A transvestite named Juanis, who said she was in her 30s and was born in a small ranch town, was excited about Coahuila’s legalization of gay civil unions.

“We always leave the house worrying about what’s going to happen once we walk out the door,” said Juanis, who has short, frizzy blond hair. “Hopefully this will give us more respect and make us more sure of ourselves in front of society.”

A solitary client wondered in and the workers asked him if he would take advantage of the new law and “marry” a gay partner. The man said he would like to, but his family wouldn’t accept it.

Reuters
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/01/AR2007020101396_pf.html

February 1, 2007

4
Lesbians form Mexico's first gay civil union

Monterrey, Mexico (Reuters) - Two lesbians have formed Mexico's first gay civil union in a landmark ceremony in one of the world's most Roman Catholic countries. Dressed in black jackets, Karla Lopez and Karina Almaguer, both 29, became Mexico's first gay "civil partners" on Wednesday, in Coahuila, a mining and ranching region bordering Texas.

"It is time we Mexicans begin to discuss these type of questions, without taboos, without prejudice," David Sanchez, the only openly gay federal congressman, said on Thursday. "It's a very historic moment." Last year, a Catholic bishop in Coahuila said long-term gay couples needed legal protection, but many in Mexico's Catholic Church strongly oppose gay civil unions. The law recognizing gay unions, which was passed on January 11, gives homosexual couples similar rights to heterosexual married couples.

"The most important part is the right over property," said Armando Luna, deputy legal director of the Coahuila state government. "They can decide if the worldly goods that they have or acquire remain as personal property or if they are added to the civil partnership," Luna said. Mexico is the world's second-biggest Catholic country, after Brazil.

Coahuila's civil union law also grants social security benefits to both members of a homosexual union, an important demand of gay campaigners. Coahuila, west of the city of Monterrey, once was part of a larger state that included Texas, which was part of Mexico before the United States annexed much of what is now the U.S. Southwest in the mid-19th century. Mexico City legislators backed a similar law in November, which takes effect in March. Gay couples in the capital plan to form lines at each municipal office in a show of strength on the first day of civil unions there.

Sanchez, a leftist deputy, said he will introduce a bill to amend the constitution to help transsexuals officially change their sex. Under the bill, transsexuals would be able to get new birth certificates that showed they were born as the gender they choose.

(Additional reporting by Gunther Hamm)

BBC NEWS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/entertainment/6419069.stm

March 05, 2007

5
Mexican singer breaks gay taboo

A Mexican pop star has revealed to fans he is gay, breaking a taboo in a country where it is highly unusual for celebrities to make suchstatements.

Christian Chavez, 23, belongs to RBD, a band that emerged from popular TV soap Rebelde (Rebel). He said he did not "want to keep on lying" about his life, after pictures emerged of him with a man apparently getting married in Canada. The announcement had taken "a lot of bravery", one Mexican columnist wrote.

Yuriria Sierra asked in Excelsior newspaper: "Why has no Mexican public figure... felt comfortable enough to openly express their sexual preference?" Mexican gay rights activist Sergio Villarreal said he considered the singer to represent "a new way of seeing things, less prejudiced and more open".

"Christian Chavez's decision symbolises this new way of seeing life, and raises hope of a more inclusive future with more respect for differences."

'Tolerance' appeal

The star, known for his ever-changing hair colours, was apparently pictured signing documents and exchanging rings with a man in 2005, the year in which gay marriages became legal in Canada. Chavez said the photos showed a part of him that he had not been willing to discuss previously "in fear of rejection, of criticism, but especially for my family and its consequences".

"I ask them from the bottom of my heart, not to judge me for being honest and to feel proud of who they are" Christian Chavez, to his fans "Although I'm scared and filled with uncertainty, I know that I can rely on the support of my fans.

"Their love is bigger than all of this. I ask them from the bottom of my heart, not to judge me for being honest and to feel proud of who they are and never make the same mistake I did." He added: "Tolerance to diversity!"

RBD have been successful across Latin America and have also gained fans among the Spanish-speaking community in the US. The group made the news in February 2006 when three people were crushed to death outside an autograph-signing session in Brazil. Thousands of fans had surged through security barriers in Sao Paulo.

Copley News Service
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20070305-9999-1n5gaylaw.html

March 5, 2007

6
New law propels gay rights in Mexico, State moves boldly with civil unions as nation watches by S. Lynne Walker
Saltillo, Mexico – Gabby and Ana are in love. So are Marco Antonio and Juan Carlos. Under a sweeping new law allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions, they are planning to turn their love into a legal commitment. Legislators in the dusty northern border state of Coahuila have stunned Mexico by giving same-sex couples property and inheritance rights long reserved for married heterosexuals. It is a first for this predominantly Roman Catholic country, a measure so swift and so bold that it surprised even the gay community. All of a sudden, gay rights are on the national agenda.

Since Coahuila's Legislature voted 20-13 to pass the law in January, Julieta López, the congresswoman who introduced the legislation, has received calls from her counterparts in states stretching from Chihuahua to Chiapas. Even Puebla, a deeply religious state whose capital boasts 365 Catholic churches – one for every day of the year – is considering gay rights legislation. “There is going to be a domino effect across the country,” said David Sánchez, 45, an openly gay federal congressman with the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD. “This movement cannot be stopped.”

Mexico City already had passed a gay civil union law that goes into effect March 16, but it took seven years to get that legislation through the City Council. Coahuila's law took three months from the day it was introduced until the day it went into practice. And unlike Mexico City's law, once same-sex couples have registered in Coahuila, the state protects their rights no matter where they live in the country. “This does not have to do with morality. It has to do with legality,” said López, a psychologist who is a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. “As human beings, we have to protect them as they are. It has to do with civil liberty.”

Gay couples from throughout Mexico have begun showing up at the state registrar's office, encouraged by an open invitation extended by Coahuila's ambitious young governor. Humberto Moreira, 40, a PRI member, is the first governor in Mexico to appoint a top official to handle the politically sensitive issues of diversity and inequality. What is most surprising is that Coahuila's law has drawn little opposition in this very Catholic, very conservative country. Bishop Raúl Vera, who heads the Catholic Diocese of Saltillo, has declined to condemn the law. While Vera insists that “two women or two men cannot get married,” he also sees gays as a vulnerable minority.

“We cannot be arch-conservatives and say, 'Don't do that,' ” Vera said. “Today we live in a society that is composed in a different way. There are people who do not want to marry under the law or in the church. They need legal protection. I should not abandon these people.” Vera's stance outrages conservatives.

“We are dealing a death blow to the family,” said Esther Quintana, state president of the conservative National Action Party, or PAN. Quintana, who is a lawyer, argues the legislation is not only flawed but redundant, because Mexican law already protects property rights regardless of sexual orientation. Further, she said the legislation is weak because it allows one partner to dissolve the union without a legal challenge from the other. The PAN, which voted in a bloc against the law, plans to challenge it in court. For Quintana, the new legislation is part of a larger strategy by gay groups to push for more rights.

She worries it is only a matter of time before public schools begin teaching children about homosexuality. “In this second phase, they will begin this indoctrination of children that homosexuality is normal,” Quintana said, her voice rising with anger. “What comes next? Permitting homosexuals to adopt children.” She says gay groups have initiated a nationwide campaign to push Mexican society to first accept homosexuals, then see them as victims. Finally, Quintana said, “all of us who are in favor of the family will be Satanized as intolerant, the worst of the worst.”

“We are not condemning homosexuals. They are people like you and me,” Quintana said. “But we do not agree that their relationship should be put on the same level as marriage.”

Years of hostility

Only recently have gays begun to step out of the shadows in Coahuila. In this desert state of tumbleweeds and cowboy hats and ranchera music, public displays of affection between two men or two women were not only frowned upon, they were potentially dangerous. A few weeks before the law was passed, Saltillo police beat a woman they accused of kissing another woman in public. In another incident, two men suspected of being gay were jailed. Many in the Catholic Church also have been hostile toward gays.

“When we had our first weekend retreat, a priest told me, 'Send them home at night or there will be an orgy.' That mentality is so pervasive,” said the Rev. Robert Coogan, who works with Saltillo's gay community. Coogan, a 54-year-old New Yorker, defends the rights of his gay parishioners. “Some of the other priests tell me I should not let them cross dress,” Coogan said one recent Saturday as he watched a talent show staged by a gay youth group supported by the church. “But once you tell them that God loves them unconditionally, then you can't tell them, 'But God doesn't love you like that.' It doesn't work.” Once a month, Coogan celebrates a special Mass for gays.

“I think now is the time that gay people can embrace their orientation without shame in Mexico,” he said. Still, gays in Coahuila continue to confront discrimination in the workplace, in their social lives and in their own families. “Yes, there are laws that prohibit discrimination . . . but we have to educate society little by little,” said Noé Ruiz, 27, an unemployed schoolteacher who helps run the gay youth group. “We are going forward with firm steps, but we are not going to run.” Many of Ruiz's friends have suffered when their sexual orientation became public.

Deyamira Martínez, 29, a math teacher at a private Catholic junior high school, has been targeted by parents enraged over her appearance on a local television program last month to talk about life as a lesbian in Saltillo, Coahuila's capital. “Everything good about me has been erased,” Martínez said. “I do not drink. I do not smoke. I have had only four partners in my life. I am not going to damage their children.” Sergio Cazares is afraid to tell his mother he is gay.

“I don't care what other people say,” Cazares, 21, said as he held hands with his partner outside a gay bar in Saltillo. “The thing that hurts me the most is that when I say that I am going to live with him, my mother will reject me. The law has made things better for us as a couple, but not with our families.” Despite these challenges, gays are determined to make a place for themselves in Mexican society. After living together for six years, Gabby Padilla, 34, an accountant, and her partner, Ana, plan to register under Coahuila's new law.

“It's kind of a marriage,” she said. “You say that you love her, that you'll care for her and never separate. Then there's a huge fiesta. Just like a wedding.” Marco Antonio Mata and his partner, Juan Carlos, who have been living together for nine months, plan to register in December. When Mata was 17, he helped start the gay youth church group, which is named after a saint. Mata, 21, a marketing student who works part time as a sales manager, exemplifies Mexico's new generation of gays: outspoken about his sexual orientation, articulate about his role in society. “People wanted us to be invisible,” he said. “Now, we are raising our hands and saying that we want to be part of society. We are saying that we exist.”

Changing attitudes

With an estimated 10 million gays in Mexico, politicians suddenly are scrambling to meet the demands of a potentially powerful voting bloc. The PRI is talking about including gay rights provisions in its national platform for the first time in the party's history. “The country is totally changing,” said Sánchez, the PRD congressman. “This is going to help to change the culture, to reduce homophobia, to reduce aggression against gays.”

Tomorrow, Sánchez plans to introduce legislation that would allow transgender and transsexual men and women to change their gender and their name. In September, he plans to introduce Mexico's first gay marriage legislation. Although he doesn't think it will pass, &Sacuteanchez said it will “accelerate the discussion of the issue.” For the momentum to continue, Sánchez said gay men and women must follow his lead and participate in the political process. “We have to run for Congress, we have to run for the state Legislature, we have to run for mayor,” he said. “And in the future, why not the presidency?

The Dallas Morning News
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/world/16912397.htm

March 15, 2007

7
In Mexico, gay couples ready for civil unions

by Laurence Iliff
Mexico City - Like many getting hitched for the first time, Antonio Medina is more than a little nervous about Friday's ceremony - not to mention the intense media scrutiny. Because unlike any other Mexico City resident before him, Medina is joining in a civil union with another man. "Right now, we are in the eye of the hurricane and we are going to be closely watched," said Medina, 38, a prominent journalist who covers social issues like sexual diversity. "After four years and three months, we are happy. I don't know if we will be old men walking together, but either way, it is also our right to divorce." Friday is D-Day in the latest culture battle in Mexico as hundreds of supporters of the capital's "living partnerships law" are set to cement their unions in a celebration that has some Dallas activists as pleased as their Mexican counterparts.

"It's helping out our cause locally by having our mother countries stand up for us," said Jesse Garcia, spokesperson for Valiente, a Dallas/Fort Worth-based Latino group that works for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights - alluding to similar laws in Spain, Argentina and elsewhere. "Dallas is 40 percent Latino and in 10 years it will be 50 percent Latino. This is forcing the issue to the dinner table and doing so in a positive way because it is something the government is sanctioning." Conservative lawmakers from Mexico's ruling National Action Party, or PAN, and bishops from the Roman Catholic Church have vowed to campaign against any type of same-sex unions.

"We should not insult homosexuals or discriminate against them or hurt them, but we should not legalize something that is anti-natural," said Guillermo Bustamante, president of the National Parents Union, which is working to overturn the civil union laws. At stake is a family-oriented, macho culture that is being threatened by globalized youths who are adopting U.S. lifestyles for better or worse, many on both sides of the issue agree.

Just in the last month:

_Pop star Christian Chavez, a member of the group RBD that is red hot in Latin America and the U.S., became the first Mexican star to publicly declare he is gay.

_The Mexican Supreme Court ruled that soldiers with the HIV virus cannot be forced out of the armed forces.

_The Mexico City government agreed to allow conjugal visits for homosexual prisoners.

And a majority of Mexico City legislators said they would quickly decriminalize abortion. The proposal would make abortion legal in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. Dallas gay activist Jesus Chairez, who writes the Internet blog "Si Soy Gay" (http://sisoyglbt.blog.com), said people like himself who often visit Mexico might end up living south of the border permanently.

"I wish we had it in Texas because it (a civil union) really shows a commitment . . . that you're not taking the relationship lightly," he said. "When I go to Mexico City and fall in love, now I may have somebody ask me to get married." The Mexico City law, the first of its kind to be passed in Mexico, has already inspired a similar one in Coahuila. The northern border state's law took effect first, in January. Two women from Midland, Texas, were among the first to get hitched there after proving they were in Mexico legally. Texas does not recognize the law, although the rest of Mexico does.

In conservative Coahuila there have only been four unions, while nearly 600 couples have stated their intention to make use of the Mexico City law. Both laws allow the couples some of the rights of marriage, such as inheritance and hospital visits, but not adoption or joint custody of children. They also allow couples to take advantage of anti-discrimination laws that protect them in the workplace and when seeking housing, for example. The unions can be dissolved, just like a divorce.

Manuel Nava, a publicist, plans a civil union with his boyfriend later this year, but thinks the Mexico City law is too limited because it is only recognized in the capital. "But the important thing, of course, is to continue moving forward," said Nava, 40. That's what causes the greatest fear in the Catholic Church, which claims 90 percent of Mexico's 105 million people.

"What the church is against is that they want to equate homosexual unions with marriage," said Hugo Valdemar, spokesman for the Mexico City archdiocese. "It's our point of view that this is a law created out of thin air and poorly thought out." Some neighborhood groups in the Mexican capital are trying to get the city to prohibit same-sex commitment ceremonies in public areas like parks because they say they set a bad example for children. But Medina, the journalist, said same-sex couples are keeping an extremely low profile, which is why he and partner Jorge Cerpa Velazquez, 31, are spending so much of their time talking to the media. No one else wants to.

"What we want are rights," said Medina, adding that "marriage" in a Mexican context is a religious concept that many gays don't believe in. Tito Vasconcelos, a prominent gay activist, businessman and artist, said the widespread support being given to pop star Chavez by his fans could mark a turning point, given his impact on youth culture. Chavez declared that he was gay after photos surfaced of his civil union ceremony with another man in Canada. The singer said he was being blackmailed and so decided to go public.

"It would be important for him to register (his civil union) here," said Vasconcelos, who also plans to tie the knot today. "It's great that he accepts his homosexuality, but that would be the next step."

The China Post
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/archives/international/2007318/104911.htm

March 18, 2007

8
Mexico City unites first gay couple

Mexico City, AP - An economist and a journalist became the first couple united under Mexico City's new gay civil union law, kissing while a string orchestra played "Besame Mucho" and police cordoned off streets around a white wedding tent filled with guests. The new law, which took effect on Friday, grants same-sex couples inheritance rights and social benefits similar to those enjoyed by married heterosexual couples. It reflects a growing acceptance of homosexuality in what has traditionally been a macho society, as well as a willingness by Mexico City -- the second municipality in the country to legalize same-sex unions -- to join the international debate on gay marriage.

After dating for four years and three months, journalist Antonio Medina, 38, and economist Jorge Cerpa, 31 were united in front of the government offices for Mexico City's Iztapalapa borough, signing documents under a banner that read "Civil Union Law: Your right to choose." Dozens of supporters, including several couples who plan to register their own same-sex unions soon, waved rainbow flags, showered the couple with flower petals and yelled "Bravo!" Firecrackers exploded nearby.

"With this law, a history of exclusion comes to an end," Medina said. "Today, the love that before did not dare speak its name has now entered the public spotlight." City officials also praised the law. "Love now has one fewer obstacle," said Mexico City lawmaker Victor Hugo Cirigo, one of the biggest supporters of the new statute, which activists have been seeking for the past five years. Medina and Cerpa were to spend the weekend celebrating at a Mexican beach, although they plan a longer honeymoon to Canada in September.

The left-dominated legislature of Mexico City, a semi-independent zone with some of the same powers as states, passed the law in November. The capital was the first in the predominantly Roman Catholic country to approve such a law, but a similar measure later approved in the northern state of Coahuila went into effect first, at the end of January. On Jan. 31, a lesbian couple officially registered their union, which is being celebrated by liberal lawmakers but condemned by the ruling National Action Party.

Coahuila state lawmakers from the conservative party of President Felipe Calderon have filed a court challenge claiming that gay unions violate constitutional provisions protecting the family.

The Catholic Church in Mexico also has spoken out forcefully against the law. But that has not discouraged the more than 100 lesbian and gay couples who gathered on Valentine's Day in Mexico City's central plaza, the Zocalo, to announce their intentions to register their unions.
Lending support to the cause, singer Christian Chavez of the Mexican pop group RBD announced earlier this month that he is gay after photos of him kissing and exchanging rings with another man in Canada surfaced on the Internet. "I don't want to keep on lying and lie to myself because of fear," Chavez said in a statement posted on RBD's Web site. He received an outpouring of support from fans, who lauded his courage.

MYSA.com
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/mexico/stories/MYSA031707.07A.Gay_unions.305baf4.html

March 16, 2007

9
Same-sex couples register their unions in Mexico City

by Marion Lloyd, Houston Chronicle
Mexico City — Under a giant white tent, a journalist and a banker became one of the first same-sex couples to legally register their union in the Mexican capital Friday. It was a euphoric, rainbow-flag-waving ceremony that marked a new law allowing domestic partnerships to formalized — passed by the Federal District, the area of Mexico City proper that's home to some 8 million people, against opposition from the Catholic Church and conservative groups. The law provides guarantees regarding inheritances, pensions and other issues.

The district followed Coahuila state in northern Mexico, which authorized civil unions in January. But just a handful of couples in that border state have asserted their new rights, deterred by deep-rooted homophobia in the conservative ranching state, gay rights activists said. The activists now hope that the Federal District, considered the most socially liberal area of the country, will set an example nationwide. On Valentine's Day, 583 prospective couples registered their intent to join in civil unions during an outdoor ceremony in the capital's giant central plaza.

"It's a great step on the path to full recognition of our rights," said Antonio Medina, 38, a journalist and gay rights activist. He and his boyfriend of four years, Jorge Cerpa, a 31-year-old banker, formalized their union before more than 100 invited guests, including friends, legislators and other activists.

The law, enacted in November, gives gay couples the legal right to inherit property and pensions and share financial responsibilities. The law is also open to heterosexual couples who prefer not to get married and can formalize platonic relationships such as an elderly person and a caregiver. Most of the city's boroughs began accepting applications on Friday, while officials in Iztapalapa and a few other boroughs allowed candidates to apply early in order to hold kick-off ceremonies. In addition to Medina and Cerpa, at least two other couples formalized their unions Friday. Candidates are required to pay a $4 fee, provide proof that they are not married and wait an average of 10 days for confirmation. Unlike the Coahuila law, which is open to all Mexicans, the Mexico City legislation is restricted to capital residents.

Currently, at least four states are debating civil unions laws, and activists say it's only a matter of time before the measures pass nationwide. But church officials have vowed to block the measures.

"The Catholic Church doesn't discriminate against homosexuals," said Hugo Valdemar, a spokesman for the Mexico City archdiocese, the world's largest. "But you can't equate heterosexual marriage with homosexual marriage, which the church opposes." Gay activists note that the new law provides far fewer rights than marriage. For example, civil union holders cannot adopt children, take out joint bank loans or access their partner's medical benefits.

sun-sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-amexico26xmar26,0,5959545.story

March 26, 2007

10
Abortion, same-sex civil unions split Mexico - Plans collide with nation's Catholic roots

by Oscar Avila, Chicago Tribune
Mexico City – With the bells of Mexico City's cathedral pealing above her, Judith Salgado joined protesters last week who called on God's strength to defeat an attempt to liberalize abortion laws. Salgado marched to City Hall with a sign that read: "We are the majority." At a city office earlier in the week, Carmen Cortes had thanked God as she and her female partner entered into a same-sex civil union the second day after a new city law took effect. As they held hands, Cortes proclaimed the ceremony proof of a changing Mexico.

The different world views of Salgado and Cortes reflect a deep moral divide straining Mexico as the world's second-largest Catholic nation contemplates public policies at odds with the church's teaching. Leftist lawmakers in Mexico City and in the federal Senate are pushing measures that would legalize abortion in the first three months of pregnancy. Hundreds of abortion opponents, led by Mexico City's Cardinal Norberto Rivera, marched Sunday to oppose the measure.

As Mexico City's same-sex civil unions landed on the front pages last week, gay activists encountered conservative opposition as they vowed to spread the practice nationwide. The debate over such thorny questions has challenged a country that clings to its religious roots but also embraces the modernity of Western culture.

"For many, the changes are welcome. For a large percentage, they aren't," said Alejandra Elizabeth Nunez, an official with the city registry who ratified Cortes' civil union. "But this is something historic that is happening in our Mexico." Tito Vasconcelos, an actor and member of a coalition that lobbied for civil unions, said he felt like a proud parent on graduation day as he received word of couples applying. The northern state of Coahuila also approved the practice this year, and Vasconcelos has consulted with activists trying to expand the practice nationwide. Even though newspaper opinion polls found a majority willing to accept same-sex unions, Vasconcelos said homophobia is still a reality in this often macho society.

"These measures have created a lot of uneasiness. If we end up encountering hostility, we cannot be quiet. We have to expose it and then resolve it," he said. Guillermo Bustamante, president of the National Parents Union, a pro-family group, said the legalization of same-sex unions and abortion are part of an "aberrant" and "anti-natural" agenda that does not value life. Conservative groups have been especially mobilized by a proposal from Mexico City lawmakers to allow abortions in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. The current law in Mexico bans abortions except in cases of rape or when the mother's life is in danger.

Last week, leftist senators proposed a wider-reaching measure to legalize abortion nationwide. The measure is considered a long shot because of opposition from Mexico's two other major parties and from more conservative parts of the country. Women's groups in recent weeks have testified before lawmakers about the dangers they face. The government estimates 100,000 illegal abortions are performed each year nationally, but researchers put the number at 500,000 to 1 million.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6922140.stm

30 July 2007

11
Mexico allows gay conjugal visits

The prison system in Mexico City has begun permitting gay prisoners to have conjugal visits from their partners. The city authorities accepted a recommendation by a human rights commission which said the visits would help to end discrimination.
The decision follows a complaint by a man who said he had been refused permission to visit his partner in jail on the grounds they were homosexual. A 2003 Mexican law bans discrimination based on sexual preference.

"The Mexico City department of prisons and rehabilitation has allowed the first conjugal visit to an inmate with a sexual orientation other than heterosexual," the city's human rights commission (CDHDF) said. It was, the commission said, " an important step in terms of non-discrimination regarding sexual preference". Prisoners are allowed conjugal visits in many Mexican jails, and most do not require the visitor to be married to the inmate.

Mexico City's centre-left government has taken a series of controversial decisions, including allowing same-sex civil unions and legalising abortion, despite strong opposition from conservatives and religious groups.

Enkidu
http://www.enkidu.netfirms.com/art/2007/200807/e_2008_023_a.htm

August 25, 2007

12
"Gay Mexico City is coming of age"

Mexico City,(LIOWLB/Enkidu Magazine): Global Gay and Lesbian Tourism is booming and now the city authorities of Mexico City have finally discovered the growing importance of this market segment. Matt Skallerud, President of IGLTA ((International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association), was in Mexico last week, signing an agreement (a "Strategic Alliance") with Alejandra Barrales, Minister of Tourism in the Federal District (Mexico City). IGLTA is the world's leading travel trade association committed gay and lesbian tourism and Lars Ivar Owesen-Lein Borge, general director of Enkidu Magazine have interviewed Matt Skallerud about Mexico City as a gay-friendly destination and the future of the Pink Market in general.

LIOWLB: What are, in your opinion, the advantages of Mexico City as a tourist destination?

MS: Mexico City is one of the few cities in North and South America with a strong European flavor... Of course more on the Spanish side of European culture, but European nonetheless. The only other city I find with such dynamism is Buenos Aires. With that culture comes some of the best restaurants, museums, nightlife and more one would come to expect from a first class city.

LIOWLB:. Do you perceive of Mexico City as a gay-friendly destination?

MS: Yes, I do.

LIOWLB:.Why?

MS: It seems that Mexico City is coming of age, so to speak, in terms of its acceptance of gays and lesbians. I do understand from talking with locals that outside of the Zona Rosa most gay people are still hesitant to hold hands in public, etc., but in general, that's the way life is in most cities in North and South America as well. Also, the number of gay establishments available to gays & lesbians, as well as a growing local GLBT business networking climate, seems to indicate that Mexico City is definitely on a strong path towards greater acceptance of gays & lesbians and thus a more and more welcoming gay friendly destination.

LIOWLB:. How long have you stayed in Mexico City, and what are your impressions of the city?

MS: I stayed a week, and the last time I was in the city was 14 years ago. Gay life has grown a lot in those 14 years.

LIOWLB:. Have you had any opportunity to experience the gay scene of the city? What were your impressions?

MS: I thought it was fantastic. There was a different scene every night of the week... Something to be expected in a city so large, vibrant and dynamic.

LIOWLB:.. You are a highly successful pioneer in the development of internet sites focusing on the gay & lesbian market segment, and we would therefore like to ask you how do you perceive the future of the global "pink market" in general? How do you think the gay and lesbian market will develop in the future?

MS: Yes, absolutely. Once a market can be defined and established by any media, be that television, print or Internet, there will always be more and more pioneering companies seeking to reach that market through these media.

LIOWLB:. What are the characteristics of the gay and lesbian consumer community today? What makes this consumer community "different" from straight consumers?

MS: I've heard this said many times during my stay in Mexico City - "Straight by Day, Gay by Night". It's cute. But it shows what we all know... That gay & lesbian travelers are as diverse as any other traveler. Some wish to go to museums... Others to beaches... Others perhaps come to go shopping. The one thing we all have in common is the social side of our character, which happens to be gay in this case. So we enjoy socializing and meeting other gay people, whether that is in a restaurant, a bar or any other GLBT social setting.

LIOWLB:. Mexican companies are still extremely hesitant to advertise and participate both in the local Diversity Press as well as in Community events like the Pride Parade. What is your advise to Mexican companies that consider approaching this market segment, but still have not taken the step?

MS: They will usually be hesitant because they are concerned about possible backlash by more conservative segments of their consumer demographic. I think they'll find that although there could be some initial backlash, they will find that the positives of making outreach to the GLBT consumer (double income, no kids) will far outweigh any small negatives that the more conservative consumers may throw their way.

LIOWLB:. Will you come back to Mexico City to follow up to the recent agreement with the city authorities?

MS: I would like to come back before Christmas for sure... Just trying to pick the right dates.

LIOWLB:. Thank you very much.

IGLTA official homepage: http://www.traveliglta.com/

TheStar.com
http://www.thestar.com/Travel/article/253478

September 08, 2007

13
Learning Spanish . . . with a gay twist - Mexico school offers special courses for gay and lesbian students

by Julia Steinecke, Special to the Star
Cuernavaca, Mexico - Our teacher, Lety, is a sturdy butch lesbian with a ready smile. She stands beside a whiteboard and covers it with words and pictures to illustrate Mexico's derogatory but colourful gay and lesbian slang. Mariposa is the word for butterfly and for a gay man. Lesbians are thought to wear only blue jeans, so their nickname is Levis – in Spanish, Livais or quiniento y uno, 501. I never thought I'd learn these things in a classroom, but this is no ordinary Spanish school. Cetlalic, or the Tlahuica Centre for Language and Cultural Exchange, takes its name from the original inhabitants of the city whose own language is seriously endangered. The centre was founded in 1987 as an alternative to the mainstream schools that draw thousands of tourists to Cuernavaca.

Cetlalic favours the methods of popular education where rote learning is replaced by participation and dialogue. Special-theme programs run throughout the year, including four gay and lesbian courses. "Twenty-five years ago, I met Holly Near," says school director Jorge Torres, referring to the American lesbian singer, "and she had a big influence on me." The staff, most of whom were straight, went to workshops to learn about gay and lesbian realities, and 11 years ago, the first LGBT program was launched. Now, students have options in January (the Winter LGBT Program, which I visited), June (In/Visibility: Lesbian Lives in Mexico and Coming Out: The Gay Men's Experience in Mexico) and September (Opening Doors Gay and Lesbian Program). The slang we are learning today seems crass compared to the lofty ideals of Cetlalic, but it shows what Mexican gays and lesbians have to contend with.

Lety writes phrases on the board, waiting for us to figure them out. Le gusta el arroz con popote: "He likes his rice through a straw. "Blechhh!" say some students, while others laugh. The discussion ends with us teaching some English slang to the teachers. We go back to our homestays, armed with more insights into Mexican life. My host is a lesbian who lives with her four dogs in a comfortable house in the north end of the city. We go out to meet her younger girlfriend and my host tells me that at 25, she had a long-term relationship with a 55-year-old woman, so now she's enjoying the other side of an inter-generational match.

Most Cetlalic students choose the homestay option and every morning, I hear them raving about the hospitality, great Spanish conversations and delicious cuisine. In the evening, some agonize about their protective house mothers who want to know what time they'll be home. The school has more than a dozen gay, lesbian and bisexual hosts. The other students in my program are mild-mannered American gays and lesbians: a couple of retired schoolteachers, a corporate guy who likes to sketch, some activists and a youth worker/drag king. Most are visiting Mexico on their own, combining education and travel. We all bond immediately and spend most of our free time together, exploring the city, talking politics and laughing.

Most of them speak a halting, correct Spanish, while I blab rapidly, making mistakes everywhere. We study in open-air classrooms surrounded by gardens of fruit trees and ferns. Students from all the programs learn together by language level. My teacher, Roberto, acts out the words and reveals the subtleties of Mexican culture. I've never had so much fun learning the subjunctive. Morning classes are followed by afternoon charlas (discussions) and outings. One is to the home of Pascal Roy, a gay Québecois artist living in a sun-drenched villa filled with his paintings. I'm particularly taken with El Cazador, (The Hunter), which shows a child in a shady forest, wearing rubber boots, carrying a butterfly net, surrounded by ghostly blue elephants. We also chat with his friend, Lina Rodriguez, a local lesbian photographer and filmmaker working on a movie about women accused of witchcraft in Spain.

Other speakers come to the school, like Trini Gutierrez, who talks about the history of Mexico's gay and lesbian movements. It's interesting to learn that the very first lesbian group met in the home of legendary activist Nancy Cárdenas, who lived near Cuernavaca. Little did they know how much their movement would grow and flourish and that someday travellers would journey to this city from all over the world to study Spanish and be part of their gay and lesbian community.
___________________________________________________________________________
Julia Steinecke's trip was subsidized by Mexico Tourism Board, La Villa Hidalgo and Cetlalic.

MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20647865/site/newsweek/

September 17, 2007

14
Gay Rights Gain Ground Around Globe, Now mature in the west, gay power is growing worldwide, even in the land of machismo

by Joseph Contreras, Newsweek International
After eight years together, Gilberto Aranda and Mauricio List walked into a wedding chapel in the Mexico City neighborhood of Coyoacán last April and tied the knot in front of 30 friends and relatives. Aranda's disapproving father was not invited to the springtime nuptials. For the newlyweds, the ceremony marked the fruit of the gay-rights movement's long struggle to gain recognition in Mexico. The capital city had legalized gay civil unions only the month before. "After all the years of marches and protests," says Aranda, 50, a state-government official, "a sea change was coming."

The sea change spreads beyond Mexico City, a cosmopolitan capital that is home to a thriving community of artists and intellectuals.The growing maturity of the gay-rights movement in the West is having a marked effect on the developing world. In the United States, the Republican Party is in trouble in part because it has made a fetish of its opposition to gay marriage. At least some gays in big cities like New York question why they are still holding "pride" parades, as if they were still a closeted minority and not part of the Manhattan mainstream. Since 2001, Western European countries like Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain have gone even farther than the United States, placing gay and lesbian partners on the same legal footing as their heterosexual counterparts. And now, the major developing powers of Asia, Latin America and Africa are following the liberal road—sometimes imitating Western models, sometimes not—but in all cases setting precedents that could spread to the remaining outposts of official homophobia.

In Mexico, the declining clout and prestige of the Roman Catholic Church have emboldened gay-rights activists and their allies in state legislatures and city councils to pass new laws legalizing same-sex civil unions, starting with Mexico City in November. The rising influence of tolerant Western pop culture has encouraged gay men and lesbians to proclaim their sexuality in gay-pride marches like the one in the Brazilian city of São Paulo in June, which drew 3 million participants, according the event's organizers. It was the largest ever in Brazil. Western models also helped inspire South Africa to legalize civil unions in November 2006, thus becoming the first country in the developing world to do so. In China, the trend goes back to the climate of economic reform that took hold in the 1980s, ending the persecution of the era of Mao Zedong, who considered homosexuals products of the "moldering lifestyle of capitalism." Among left-wing movements in many developing countries, globalization is a favorite scapegoat for all of the planet's assorted ills. But even those who resist the West's basically conservative free-market economic orthodoxy are quick to acknowledge the social liberalism—including respect for the rights of women and minorities of all kinds—that is the West's main cultural and legal export. "I think it helped that Spain and other parts of Europe had passed similar laws," says longtime Mexican gay-rights activist Alejandro Brito. "These types of laws are becoming more about human rights than gay issues."

Key people have hastened the trend in some countries. Some activists single out a few political celebrities for de-stigmatizing their cause, including Nelson Mandela, who readily embraced British actor Sir Ian McKellen's suggestion that he support a ban on discrimination on the basis of sexual preference in South Africa's first post-apartheid constitution, and former prime minister Tony Blair, whose government was the first to recognize civil partnerships between same-sex couples. They also point to activist judges in Brazil, South Africa and the European Court of Human Rights, who have handed down landmark rulings that unilaterally granted gay, lesbian and transgender communities new rights. These include a judicial order that gays be admitted into the armed forces of European Union member states. The biggest and perhaps most surprising change is in Latin America, the original home of machismo. In 2002, the Buenos Aires City Council approved Latin America's first-ever gay-civil-union ordinance, and same-gender unions are the law of the land in four Brazilian states today. Last year an openly homosexual fashion designer was elected to Brazil's National Congress with nearly a half a million votes. In August a federal-court judge in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul broke new legal ground when he ordered the national-health-care system to subsidize the cost of sex-change operations in public hospitals, thereby putting sexual "reassignment" on par with heart surgery, organ transplants and AIDS treatment as medical procedures worthy of taxpayer support. By the year-end, Colombia could become the first country in Latin America to grant gay and lesbian couples full rights to health insurance, inheritance and social-security benefits. A bill containing those reforms is working its way through the National Congress at present. And even Cuba has turned a corner. In the 1960s and early 1970s homosexuals in Cuba were blacklisted or even banished to forced-labor camps along with Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholic priests and other so-called social misfits. HIV patients were locked away in sanitariums as recently as 1993. Several Cuban cities now host gay and lesbian film festivals. The hit TV program on the island's state-run airwaves last year was "The Hidden Side of the Moon," a soap opera about a married man who falls in love with a man and later tests positive for HIV.

The push for "more modern ways of thinking" about minorities, feminists and homosexuals has roots that go back to the political ferment that shook the region in the late 1960s and 1970s, says Braulio Peralta, author of a 2006 book on gay rights in Mexico, "The Names of Rainbow." But it has gained in recent years, due in part to troubles in the Roman Catholic Church, which includes eight out of 10 Mexicans and long stood opposed to any attempt to redefine marriage laws. Last November, the Mexico City Legislature took up the civil-union law just as the country's top cardinal, Norberto Rivera Carrera, was facing charges that he had sheltered a Mexican priest accused of sexually abusing children in California. The prelate chose to stay under the radar as the vote loomed. "The Catholic Church was facing a credibility crisis," says longtime Mexico City-based gay-rights activist Brito. "So many of its leaders including Rivera knew that if they fiercely opposed the gay-union law, the news media would eat them alive." The change in attitudes is most vivid in the sparsely populated border state of Coahuila, an unlikely setting for blazing trails on gay rights. The left-wing political party that rules the national capital has made few inroads here. Yet soon after the state's young governor, Humberto Moreira Valdés, was elected in 2006, he backed a civil-union bill modeled on France's pacts of civil solidarity, and in the state capital of Saltillo the progressive Catholic bishop added his support. The 62-year-old prelate, Raul Vera, says he was comfortable doing so in part because the bill stopped short of calling for same-sex marriage. "As the church I said we could not assume the position of homophobes," he says. "We cannot marginalize gays and lesbians. We cannot leave them unprotected."

That seems to be the prevailing consensus in South Africa's ruling party. The constitution adopted by South Africa after the African National Congress (ANC) took power in 1994 was the world's first political charter to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. In November 2006, the national Parliament overwhelmingly approved a civil-union bill after the country's constitutional court called for amendments to a 44-year-old marriage law that denied gay and lesbian couples the legal right to wed. In pushing for approval of the Civil Union Act, the ruling ANC shrugged off both conservative opposition parties and religious leaders, some of whom accused the government of imposing the morality of a "radical homosexual minority" on South Africans. President Thabo Mbeki had been blasted by gay rights activists in the past for trying to downplay his country's raging HIV/AIDS epidemic, but on the issue of same-sex civil unions his government stood firm. The sweeping terms of the 2006 Civil Union Act placed South Africa in a select club of nations that have enacted similar laws and that, until last year, included only Canada, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands. But there are glimmers of change in other nations. China decriminalized sodomy a decade ago and removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in 2001. Police broke up a gay and lesbian festival in Beijing in 2005 but took no action last February against an unauthorized rally in support of legalizing gay marriage. The Chinese Communist Party has established gay task forces in all provincial capitals to promote HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. And in April a Web site launched a weekly hour-long online program called Connecting Homosexuals with an openly gay host. It is the first show in China to focus entirely on gay issues.

Tolerance, however, by no means spans the globe. Homosexuality remains taboo throughout the greater Middle East. In most of the Far East, laws permitting gay and lesbian civil unions are many years if not decades away. In Latin America, universal acceptance of homosexuality is a long way off. Jamaica is a hotbed of homophobia. Even in Mexico, the first couple to take advantage of Coahuila's new civil-union statute were fired from their jobs as sales clerks after their boss realized they were lesbians. The new Mexico City law grants same-gender civil unions property and inheritance rights, but not the right to adopt children. Even Mexican gays who still struggle against daily bias see signs of improvement, however. In 2003 José Luis Ramírez landed work as a buyer at the Mexico City headquarters of a leading department-store chain, and things were going swimmingly until he brought his boyfriend to a company-hosted dinner with clients. "My boss's face just dropped," recalls Ramírez. Ramírez was subsequently denied promotions and left the company last year. But sexuality "isn't an issue" with his current employer, a new household-furnishings retailer.

Tolerance is now the majority, at least among the young. A 2005 poll by the Mitofsky market-research firm found that 50 percent of all Mexicans between the ages of 18 and 29 supported proposals to allow gay marriage. Karla Lopez met Karina Almaguer on the assembly line of a Matamoros auto-stereo factory. The two became the first Mexican couple to marry under the civil-union bill; Lopez, now 30, is a mother of three. She urges more gays and lesbians to follow her example and come out publicly. "I felt strange at first because people would judge us and look at us from head to toe," she says. "But I now feel more secure and at ease." If more political leaders, clergymen and judges act to legitimize folks like Karla Lopez, the new mood of tolerance will surely proliferate across the planet in her lifetime.

With Monica Campbell in Mexico City, Mac Margolis in Porto Alegre, Karen MacGregor in Durban, Quindlen Krovatin in Beijing and Anna Nemtsova in Moscow

news.ncmonline.com/news
http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=664d98f64bd1f1bec97b67ba401c0b14

October 04, 2007

15
Gay Couples Cross the Border for Love

La Opinión, News Report, Claudia Núñez, Translated by Elena Shore

Editor's Note: American same-sex couples, who used to travel to Canada and other countries to get married, now have a new wedding destination: Mexico. Spanish-language newspaper La Opinión examines the phenomenon that has many gay couples crossing the southern border.

Los Angeles – Among the thousands of dreams that cross the border every day, there is a new and controversial one: that of same-sex couples seeking a space where their union is legally recognized -- in Mexico. The phenomenon is not new, experts say. Up until several years ago, dozens of American couples traveled to the other side of the world, from Spain to South Africa, with the sole dream that in some corner of the world their union could be legal. Now, this dream is closer than ever, and only requires crossing the southern border. Since the border state of Coahuila became the first and only state in Mexico to approve same-sex civil unions on Jan. 11, more American couples are now seeking refuge under this law.

Current statistics show that of the 55 civil unions, or “pactos civiles” as they are called in Mexico, that have been performed in Coahuila, three were foreign couples and a fourth was between a Mexican and an American citizen. “Considering that it’s a new institution and that the approval of gay unions has not been a peaceful struggle in this state, the response has been impressive. The couples – not just Mexicans, but foreigners too – have been able to find in this region an alternative way to legalize their union,” Armando Luna Canales, undersecretary of legal affairs for the government of Coahuila, told La Opinión.

The fact that some American states don’t recognize same-sex unions, or their limited legal validity, is the primary motive that leads gay American couples to get married in other countries. However, there are also sentimental reasons that, in the majority of cases, have as much or more influence as the legal questions. For Jason Howe, a resident of Southern California, the “domestic partnership” agreement enforced in California leaves much to be desired with respect to what he and his partner consider to be a true marriage, so he plans to formalize their union on the other side of the border.

“Since my partner and I signed the domestic partnership contract offered in California, we got to thinking, 'Is this really what we want?' From the moment we opened the door at the secretary of state’s office in Sacramento, we found out that in this country we’re simply carrying out a formality, filling out paperwork as cold as going to get a driver’s license at the DMV,” he said. “We didn’t know that Mexico offered this option. We had always thought that we could go to Spain to have our wedding,” he added.

Howe dreams of having a more intimate and romantic ceremony, an option that California does not offer gay couples. “In Coahuila, civil unions are carried out with as much affection as any other marriage ceremony. We know that for them, like for any couple that loves each other, the union is more than the legal process. They are looking for laws and for the world to recognize and respect their love,” said Luna Canales.

Those who sign the civil union contract have the right to inherit, define and administer their wealth, social security, and alimony. The process costs approximately $150, which covers the fees of the civil registrar and the notary that certifies the union. The civil unions performed in a neighboring country are legally valid in at least 19 American states, according to legal expert Jennifer Pizer of the organization Lambda (Legal Defense and Education Fund), which represents gay couples from California to Washington, D.C.

“What’s happening in Mexico is a very interesting phenomenon that reflects modern life,” she said. “Although we haven’t yet seen a legal case in which a couple (in the United States) demanded the same rights they got in Mexico, we are based on laws. These unions are valid and respected in California and in any other state that recognizes the civil rights of same-sex unions.”

As in California, Mexican civil unions cannot be called marriage, but a new bill to be introduced next month in the Coahuila state Congress could grant the state’s civil unions the legal status of marriage. According to Coahuila’s undersecretary of legal affairs, this amendment is very likely to pass and, beginning next year, gay marriage will be openly practiced in the Mexican state of Coahuila.

“For us, as Hispanics," said Jesús Nava, a gay rights activist in Southern California, "it is very important for them to allow us to unite in marriage. It’s a value we grew up with, not just a whim, and if we have to travel halfway across the world in order to achieve it, we will – because it will be worth it to know that in some corner of the world, my partner is legally my husband."

Up to now, only Canada, Belgium, Spain, South Africa and the Netherlands legally approve marriage between same-sex couples. In 2005, California approved a law that extended the institution of marriage to same-sex couples, but the law was vetoed by the state governor and 61 percent of the electorate under the argument that the definition of marriage is a union between a man and a woman.

Gay City News
http://www.gaycitynews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18956671&BRD=2729&PAG=461&dept_id=568860&rfi=6

October 25, 2007

16
Gay Mexican's Asylum Denied

by Arthur S. Leonard
Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendlyThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, based in New York City, has ruled in an unpublished decision that the current level of anti-gay persecution in Mexico is not sufficient to justify granting a withholding of removal for a gay immigrant who claimed to fear persecution if returned to that nation. The ruling, which affirmed a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), reversed what had seemed a trend toward granting the claims of sexual minority refugees from Mexico. Earlier cases had focused on effeminate men, transvestites, and transsexuals, but the documentation of social hostility and police harassment of people perceived as gay or lesbian had appeared relatively strong in prior case law. In this new case, the court painted a sunnier picture.

A gay Mexican asylum applicant had not filed a petition within the statutory one-year period after his arrival so that route was doomed from the start. However, "withholding of removal" is a mechanism that offers a second bite of the apple if it can be shown that an immigrant is more likely than not that to face persecution if returned home. Documenting past persecution could create a presumption that he has a reasonable fear of the same in the future, but all this applicant was able to provide was his claim that evidence showed gay men were subject to persecution in Mexico, justifying his fears. The court wrote that the applicant "does not argue that he will be singled out for persecution, but challenges the BIA's finding that there is no 'pattern or practice of persecution of' homosexual men in Mexico.' Our review of the record evidence leads us to conclude that substantial evidence supports the BIA's finding."

Acknowledging the BIA's observation of "numerous disturbing incidents of violence against gay men," the court agreed with the Board that "the evidence does not unambiguously militate in favor of a finding that these incidents are in any way 'systemic, pervasive, or organized,' thus giving rise to a pattern or practice of persecution." As well, the court found, there is no evidence the Mexican government engages in repression of gay men; instead it "appears to be taking affirmative steps to combat discrimination and violence against homosexuals."

The applicant "failed to show the objective likelihood of persecution needed to support his claim for withholding of removal," the court concluded. The applicant also filed a claim under the international Convention Against Torture, but given the assessment of the climate in Mexico, that too failed. The court rejected the applicant's argument that he was disadvantaged in his initial appearance before an Immigration judge by his attorney's inability to attend, finding there is no constitutional right to counsel in a "civil" proceeding. No judicial notice was taken of the dramatically different outcomes in such complicated proceedings that result from an immigrant applicant having to represent themselves. The applicant was without counsel before the appeals court as well.

The court also rejected the Mexican man's appeal that he be allowed to have his case heard in California, where he currently lives, rather than New York, where the case was originally filed. It found no reason to conclude that the venue could prejudice the outcome, despite the fact that many of the decisions upholding asylum claims by gay Mexicans have come from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco.

The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/living/travel/story/479956.html

April 06, 2008

17
Gay travel: Merida, Mexico

by Troy Petenbrink
Cancun might seem like the obvious pick for gay travelers to eastern Mexico, thanks to its flashy gay discos and hedonistic reputation. But 200 miles west in Merida, the capital of the Mexican state of Yucatan offers a welcome alternative for gay visitors who appreciate a serious dose of Mayan culture with their cocktails. When the Spanish came to the Yucatan in 1542, Merida was a thriving Mayan city called T'ho. They promptly destroyed it, taking the stone of its great pyramids to build the Cathedral of San Idelfonso, which still stands in the city's main plaza. The violent founding of Merida is visible in the 27 murals by Fernanco Castro Pacheco that grace the second-floor walls of the plaza's neoclassical Palacio de Gobierno.

What those large-scale paintings don't reveal is Merida's modern role as a magnet for American expats -- many of whom are gay and have opened restaurants, hotels and shops throughout this city of 1 million. ''When I left a two-decade career in dance, my partner and I started looking for a home in Mexico,'' says John Traux, who visited Merida with his partner of 18 years on a friend's recommendation and fell in love with its accepting people. ``We wanted to purchase a house before all the U.S. baby boomers retired, relocated and pushed up the prices.''

That was five years ago. The couple bought a colonial six-bedroom home in Merida's historic Santiago neighborhood and opened Angeles de Merida, a bed and breakfast catering to gay travelers. Angeles was recently sold to a husband and wife from Washington who welcome gay guests. Truax and his partner remain in Merida, where he now raises funds for Brazos Abiertos, a U.S. based nonprofit organization that operates HIV prevention and treatment programs in the Yucatan. Although Mexico has only recently become more accepting of homosexuality and supportive of gay rights -- Mexico City recognized civil unions in November 2006 and the northern state of Coahuila followed suit in January 2007 -- Merida has long been known for its tolerance. The city has a strong Catholic influence, but the city's history of trade with Europe is believed to have led to its generally progressive attitude.

For former New Yorker and gay chef David Sterling, Merida represented not only an opportunity to leave behind the crowded streets of Manhattan for quaint, music-filled neighborhoods, but also an adventurous culinary frontier. In 2003, Sterling moved in and opened Los Dos, the first cooking school in Mexico dedicated exclusively to the cuisine of the Yucatan. His interactive classes include a tour of the sprawling, colorful Merida market, where Mayan history lessons mingle with shopping for fresh ingredients, followed by meal preparation and a lively feast. ''It is a whole world unto itself with a wholly unique cuisine,'' Sterling says.

Checking In

During the past decade a number of gay-owned/gay-friendly guesthouses have spread across Merida. The properties were typically large, private homes in Merida's historic center that were abandoned when their owners move to the suburbs. Now owned by expatriates, the houses have been restored and upgraded with air conditioning and Internet. Casa Santiago offers four bedrooms each with its own bath, a swimming pool and well-landscaped courtyard. Los Arcos has two private poolside garden guest rooms separate from the main house. The main residence is filled with the owner's extensive private art collection with many pieces from local artists. For a full-service hotel, look to Hyatt Regency, which consistently earns high marks for its gay-friendly corporate policies; the modern 300-room Merida location is in the business district.

Dining Out

It may have taken 1,000 years, but today's top chefs from Douglas Rodriguez to Bobby Flay are paying homage to Yucatecan cooking. However, just as Merida has been influenced by other cultures, so has its food. At the beautiful downtown hotel Villa Maria, a gay chef from Austria not only makes tasty Yucatan lime soup for patrons of its atrium terrace restaurant but also a great Wiener Schnitzel. Nectar, a five-star restaurant located on the northern end of the city (near the Plaza Fiesta shopping mall), serves amazing Yucatecan dishes with strong European influences. Other gay-popular choices: Trotter's, where steak, tapas and wine are a winning formula, and La Pigua, a fabulous seafood restaurant.

Dance Clubs

Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays are when the gay crowd comes out to play. (Thursdays draw the largest local crowd because there's often no cover charge.) Although signs of gay life are visible throughout Merida, the city's gay nightlife is still relegated to the outskirts of town; to the south are Pride and AngeLuz, and to the north is Scalibur -- each a 30 minute cab ride from downtown Merida. The setting is similar at all three: tables and chairs surround a stage that plays host to drag shows and male dancers for the first half of the evening. Between and after the performances, the stage doubles as a dance floor. As with any city, the popularity of the clubs change often but they each have their fans and attract regular crowds. Don't plan to arrive before midnight.

Cultural Immersion

Schedule a walking tour or horse-drawn carriage ride through downtown Merida to take in the Cathedral of San Ildefonso, the oldest cathedral in the Americas, and the Paseo de Montejo, often called Mexico's Champs Elysee, which is lined with opulent colonial mansions.Merida's location in the middle of the Yucatan also makes it an ideal departure point for excursions to the Mayan ruins at Uxmal, a tour of the ancient, cavernous underground Cenotes of Cuzama or a boat ride among the flamingos at the Celestun nature preserve.

Troy Petenbrink is a writer for www.outtraveler.com.