Presidential Cabinet appointment: Continuing with his LGBT-friendly record, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa announced this week that Carina Vance Mafla, who is a lesbian, would take the reigns of the country's Health Ministry. The appointment followed the resignation earlier in the month of the previous health minister over criticism he had failed to modernize a health system that has been mired in inefficiency.
Vance made no mention of her sexual orientation when she was introduced to the press on Wednesday nor did the press ask about it. Instead, the press picked up on it a day later after the Ecuadoran LGBT-advocacy organization Equal Rights Now (Igualdad de Derechos Ya!) released a press statement calling her a "lesbian activist" and saluting her appointment as a historic first.
In the statement, the organization goes on to say that they hope the newly appointed minister will pay attention to current delays in the distribution of HIV medications, create guidelines to prevent discrimination against LGBT individuals at hospitals and health centers and take action on shutting down illegal religious "clinics" that promote "cures" for homosexuality.
Background: It's not as if Vance is unwilling to talk public about being gay. In the April 2010 issue of the Ecuadorean magazine Cosas she describes coming to terms with her sexuality after a harrowing experience that happened on a bus when she was just thirteen years old.
Born in Oakland, California, Vance lived in Europe during her teens. In the article she describes hanging out with her first crush and holding hands with her as they rode a public bus in Europe. She says that she stopped holding hands the moment she realized a group of guys in their twenties had noticed the gesture.
Vance says that one of the men got closer and started spitting at them while a second man sat behind them and shouted insults. When she turned around to confront the guy shouting homophobic epithets, he punched her in the face. She thought she would be safe the moment she got off the bus but she was wrong.
"They followed me home, kicking me and shouting at me," she says, "for me, it was a matter of pride that kept me from running, so I just walked on forward even as they continued to kick me. [The experience] not only helped me to become fully aware of my sexuality but also made me aware of the societal reaction to it."
Vance would then move to Quito with her family where she attended high-school but says that she felt it was impossible for her at that particular time to live openly. She decided to move back to the United States after graduation where she spent twelve years finishing college and graduate degrees.
"When I returned [to Ecuador] in 2004, it shocked me to see the gay flag prominently displayed at a university" she says.
Vance realized just how much Ecuador had changed for the better and told the magazine that she now lived in Quito happily and openly without fear of being attacked.
"Lesbian torture clinics": In 2008, I wrote about a two-part investigative report in Ecudor's El Universo which exposed a network of 140 illegal "clinics" that promised to "cure" gays and lesbians and turn them straight ("Ecuador: Kidnapping, torture and confinement at ex-gay therapy centers").
The articles earned the paper a prestigious journalism award and led to calls for the government to shut down the so-called clinics.
Most recently, the "clinics" gained renewed attention when U.S. based online activism petition sites Change.org and AllOut.org launched calls in November for the Ecuadorean government to shut down the "lesbian torture clinics" at the request of Ecuadorean lesbian-rights organization Fundación Causana.
The "clinics", as reported, actually don't discriminate based on gender when it comes to their zeal to convert the gay away and, to their credit, the government took some action last September when they shut down 30 clinics back in September.
After ten years of outcry, the nation of Ecuador - through the Ministry of Public Health - has entered into a commitment with civic organizations and society in general to deconstruct the belief that homosexuality is an illness and root our the use of torture in these clinics. We extend our thanks to all the men and women who signed our petition. It has been invaluable to have this support in starting to change this reality.
That is amazing news but this is what is just as amazing:
The online petitions that Change.org and AllOut.org posted were addressed to Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and the former Health Minister David Chiriboga Allnutt. That Health Ministry seat, of course, is now held by Carina Vance.
Well, it turns out that at the time Vance gave that interview to Cosas on coming to terms with her sexuality, she just happened to be the Executive Director of Fundación Causana.
In other words, the agreement that Fundación Causana announced with the government probably has a lot to do with tremendous international pressure. But in an amazing turnaround of events, it's probably also due to the fact that the woman who previously led the agency leading the drive against the clinics is now the country's Health Minister.
Abelardo Araya, one of the leading LGBT-rights advocates in Latin America, has passed away at 42 years of age.
Friends and relatives found Araya dead at his apartment on
Thursday after not hearing from him for a couple of days. Police have
ruled out foul play and believe that he died of a heart attack. Araya
had recently spent a few weeks at a local hospital for ailments related
to high blood pressure, heart problems and diabetes.
La Nación says that Araya developed his thirst for activism while living in Ecuador in the 1990's. When he returned to Costa Rica in 1998 he became the coordinator of a program offering support to parents and relatives of gay and lesbian children at the Latin American Health Prevention and Education Institute.
He would later launch Movimiento Diversidad (the Diversity Movement), a non profit LGBT-rights organization which sought to visibilize the Costa Rican LGBT community and increase its political power.
Speaking to Telenoticias 7, Marco Castillo, the organization's attorney and a close friend of Araya's said that while members of the LGBT community already had begun to organize, Araya was the first person in Costa Rica to organize public LGBT conferences and offer invitations to media to cover the events.
Araya had last appeared on Telenoticias 7 on December 29th when he announced that members of the LGBT community would provide entertainment to the public during the end of the year bullfighting ceremonies. Yet another way that Movimiento Diversidad sought to give the community a public face.
One of Araya's biggest political battles was promoting the legal recognition of same-sex partnership rights. In 2006, several legislative leaders sought his counsel in authoring a bill that would make civil unions legal for same-sex couples in Costa Rica. Several versions of the bill have been drafted but have failed to get much traction to this date.
In May of 2011, Movimiento Diversidad also provided support for two gay couples who went to court and demanded the right to marry. The court ruled against the couples but the action drew so much attention that Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla was put on the spot.
Former Costa Rican José Meino del Rio, one of the sponsors of the 2006 civil unions bill, showed up at yesterday's wake to talk about the integral part that Araya played in moving these bills forward. Addressing Araya's mother directly, Meino del Rio spoke of the hateful homophobic insults her son had endured from the religious right.
The [2006] bill and others that have been introduced since then have created a national debate in which we heard, in effect, the voice of hate from the religious leadership. Pay it no mind, Mrs. Araya. Have no doubt that wherever [Abelardo] is, he is looking at us. And, from there, he is saying "Have faith! Push forward! Do not let them win, do not give up! Let my death not be forgotten as an example because no one dies as long as someone remembers you'.
Tico Bears, of which Araya was a proud member, posted a video of Meino del Rio's remarks which I have excerpted above.
Even after death, homophobia in media: On a related matter, as news of Araya's death hit social media yesterday, people on Twitter were outraged by a story on Araya's passing posted without a byline in a Costa Rican MSN News affiliate.
The post, which has since been removed but can be read in a cached version here, was shocking in its homophobic insensitivity.
Saying
that Araya had spent years fighting for "the so-called rights a same
sex couple could enjoy," the writer chalked up his recent ailments as
"just one additional problem that added to his suffering."
He goes on: "Araya
had already spent more than ten years leading of these kind of
people, a group that has grown larger than it ever should as the days go by; nevertheless, even though it's all sorrow to them,
they will have to let the days pass and then sit down to figure out who
might become the new captain of their Love Boat."
Kölbi,
The cell company that runs the MSN News page on which the article was
posted later apologized and said that the site had inadvertently reproduced content from a separate site not affiliated
with the cell brand of MSN News.
"Kölbi reiterates
the respect we have for sexual diversity and expresses our deep sense of
solidarity with Mr. Araya's friends and family," said a statement from the company,
"Kölbi commits itself to give absolute respect to sexual diversity, as
it has done in the past, on the basis of the corporate guidelines of our
parent company, the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity."
I
have a feeling that Araya would be proud that, even in death, his
legacy would lead to a national company restating their commitment to
respect the LGBT community in his country.
Rest in peace, Abelardo.
UPDATE:Tuanix Interactive Media, which provides content for Kölbi, has released their own statement apologizing to the Araya family, to Kölbi and to MSN for the homophobic column. They have announced that the author of the piece, Walter Carrera, was fired on the spot on the same day the company became aware of the column he had authored.
Photo:Juan Rodriguez, former president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (Screen capture).
One of the least reported stories about the success of the marriage equality push in New York in 2011 was the role of Spanish language media and its positive impact on passage of the law. In particular, the decade long support expressed editorial pages of the most widely read Spanish-language newspaper in the city, El Diario La Prensa.
Last year, as the legislative battle heated up, El Diario's pro-marriage equality stand drew the wrath of homophobic Pentecostal preacher and Democratic New York State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., a leading opponent of the bill.
In April announced a boycott of the paper and said that the paper would be forced to drop its daily circulation by 20,000 copies. He repeated the threat at several of the rallies he organized against marriage equality (video from one of the rallies here).
Editors stayed mum on the boycott most of the summer but a month after the law was signed into law, El Diario's Chief Editor and CEO Rossana Rosado appeared on NY1's "Pura Política" and spoke about the boycott's utter failure as well as the paper's longtime stand in support of marriage equality ("Was Reverend Ruben Diaz, Sr.'s homophobic boycott against NY's 'El Diario La Prensa' effective?").
Interviewed by Juan Manuel Benitez, Rosado also revealed why the marriage equality issue hit so close to home and become such a personal issue for her (video of full interview here):
One of the first gay weddings will take place at my home. It will be between our friends Nelson and Juan who have spent 36 years together and who will get married and - at last! - they'll have the right to do it in this State.
This was also the year in which my daughter revealed to us that she is gay. She is 17 years old and her friends, her cousins, our family, everyone has given her their full support. There has not been a single negative reaction. I think that's the world we should pass on to our children.
The gay couple who planned to marry at Rosado's home were Nelson Rodriguez - who works for El Diario La Prensa - and Juan Rodriguez - who served as the former president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party of New York.
Rodriguez and Rodriguez were among the hundreds of couples who lined up outside City Hall in Manhattan on July 24th - the first day gay couples could register for a marriage license. Bryan Llenas, who was covering the story for Fox News Latino, happened to take this great picture of the happy couple. They would get married a month later on August 20th (photo used by permission from Bryan Llenas and Fox News Latino).
A month later, in October, Juan Rodriguez (on the right) would die from cancer.
On a special 'Top Stories of 2011' episode of "Pura Politica", host Juan Manuel Benitez took a look back at El Diario La Prensa's stand on marriage equality. He ended the segment by honoring Juan Rodriguez' life (turn on annotations for an English-language translation):
This, ladies and gentlemen, was one of the many reasons why El Diario's editors supported marriage equality - and one of the reasons why Senator Diaz wanted to boycott El Diario.
---
In a lighter vein, in the same show, political pundit Gersón Borrero was invited to discuss the stories of the year. It might be a tad politically incorrect, but here was his take on Senator Diaz' opposition to marriage equality.
OMG.
Borrero, a former editor at El Diario, has been calling Diaz "Lucifer" for years. Diaz, to this date and to the Senator's credit, Diaz still takes his calls.
I have been doing a few interviews as of late and by that I mean who could forget my incredible tête-à-têtes with the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Michael Musto, Tim Dax and Lisa M?
Now comes the greatest interview of all: An interview with me!
Don't worry, I am not as infatuated with myself to have conducted the interview. It was just happy happenstance that my friend Enrique TorreMolina was gracious enough to reach out and ask a few pressing questions. Some excerpts:
Me on immigration: There is no reason why the wealthiest nation in the world cannot provide
opportunities for immigrants to develop their full potential regardless
of economic or educational background.
Me on blogging: Not every blog writer posts a daily entry or multiple daily posts. I’m
sure most people don’t even realize how much perseverance, dedication,
personal sacrifice and time it takes a blogger to keep up that sort of
blogging rhythm but it’s almost a Herculean task.
Me on gossip: For a while I tried to be snarky and gossipy because I felt readers
would enjoy it, but ultimately it wasn’t my style. I ended up erasing a
few posts where I felt I had dished out at a couple of celebrities. It
just made me feel dirty. Others do gossip much better than I do.
Me on Latino LGBT priorities: Sometimes the question about community “priorities” bothers me –and I
know you didn’t mean it that way– because it’s usually code speak for
‘your priority is not important, my priority is’.
Me on my which other blogs you should be following: It might be an eclectic list but...
Heck, I'll let you read the whole interview, and check out some of the blogs I gave props to, here: Blabbeando with Andrés Duque.
If I may say so, it's probably the most important interview you will read in your life.
Thanks, Enrique, for having the great taste to interview me! You rock.
A year ago, Argentina became the first country in Latin America to grant same-sex couples full marriage rights. Before this year is over, the Argentinean congress might very well pass a groundbreaking transgender-rights law extending health care protections to transgender individuals and making it easier for trans folk to change their ID's to better reflect their gender identity without requiring proof of gender reassignment surgery.
Getting to this point has certainly taken years of work by Argentinean LGBT organizations, activists, advocates and allies. It has also inspired some pretty amazing television and online video ads.
The second ad takes a similar take in a different setting...
The ads have actually been out for more than a year but somehow I missed them. You might also have missed a couple of really amazing ads I featured earlier.
The first one came as the ultimately successful marriage equality campaign was about to begin its final phase...
The most recent ad I featured is also a stunner and comes as advocates push for the transgender rights bill...
These are truly amazing ads. When I try to think of any LGBT advocacy ads from the United States that are similar to these I am at a loss. True, attitudes towards these issues might be different in Argentina than in the United States but does anyone know of any related ads produced in the U.S. that seem as immediate and vibrant as these ads?
Details are sketchy but a small group of Cuban exiles in Miami apparently held a protest against pop singer Ricky Martin for daring to take the role of "Che" in the new Broadway version of the play "Evita".
Once feared for instigating boycotts against any music band that dared to perform in Cuba or had any allegiances to Cuban-based artists, Vigilia Mambisa, as the group calls itself, has become a shadow of its former glory and has lost favor with newer Cuban-American generations who see them as out of touch with political realities.
Images captured at the event, which was held on Friday, November 11th, in the parking lot outside the Miami's American Airlines Arena, show a woman holding a sing that reads "Ricky Martin: Undesirable, not worthy of appreciation - Boycott". Signs on the steamroller read "Boycott Ricky Martin's music" and "Vigilia Mambisa - Freedom".
The same group has mounted similar protest against a number of music bands including Miguel Bosé, Juanes and Los Van Van. This is not even the first fictionalized "Che" they have boycotted. In 2008, they riled against the Steven Soderbergh movie about the life of Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
Ironically, according to Wikipedia, the character of "Che" in "Evita" was originally not even based on the Argentinean-born left wing revolutionary leader who helped Fidel Castro take over Cuba. Apparently it was later that Harold Prince suggested that actors play the character as such when he joined production at a later stage in the play's development.
It's also not the only protest mounted against Ricky Martin in Miami in the last twelve months. On December 18th of last year, a group led by a Hispanic evangelical church stood outside Miami's Univision studios claiming that an interview with the pop idol that aired on November 2nd had been pornographic, indecent and obscene (it had been none of those things) and, of course, promoted the gay lifestyle.
Other than their target, the two protests apparently had something in common: Neither seemed to attract much attention or press.
Previews for "Evita" with Ricky Martin, Elena Roger and Michael Cerveris begin on Broadway on March 12th.
NOTE: This entry has been cross-posted at The New Civil Rights Movement. Thanks to NCRM Editor David Badash for hosting the post there as well.
When President Barack Obama named Puerto Rican lawyer Mari Carmen Aponte as his choice to become the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador in 2009, the nomination ran smack into a wall set up by Republican Senators who simply refused to vote on a wide array of diplomatic candidates nominated by the president.
Facing an obstructionist Republican Senate, Obama waited until a congressional recess to pull several of the nominees out of the regular nomination process and use his presidential powers to appoint them as interim ambassadors. That meant that they could immediately start serving as diplomats but would have to eventually face confirmation hearings at the end of the next calendar year from the date in which they were appointed.
Among those who were appointed for interim posts on August of 2010 was Aponte.
On a related matter, on June 27th of this year U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held the third annual LGBT pride event to happen at the U.S. Department of State under her watch.
In an extraordinary speech before staff from the Department of State and members of the U.S. diplomatic corps, Clinton saluted their work on promoting respect for LGBT communities throughout the world. An excerpt from the full speech:
There is the tremendous work that our diplomats have been doing
in regional and international institutions to strengthen a shared
consensus about how governments should treat their citizens. And we’ve
made the message very consistent and of a high priority. All people’s
rights and dignity must be protected whatever their sexual orientation
or gender identity.
The very next day El Salvador's La Prensa Gráfica published an opinion piece by Ambassador Aponte titled "For an end to prejudice, wherever it exists". An excerpt from the article (full translation at the end of this post):
Last March, before the Human Rights Council at the United Nations, the
United States, El Salvador and eighty-three other nations signed a pledge to eliminate violence against members of the LGBT community; additionally, on May of 2010, Salvadorean President Mauricio Funes signed Decree 56
which prohibits all forms of discrimination by the government of El
Salvador on the basis of sexual orientation or identity. I applaud
efforts by the government of El Salvador in support of the LGBT
community both on the national and the international level.
The OpEd drew an immediate and furious rebuke from a small but powerful group of right-wing conservative religious leaders from El Salvador and other Latin American countries.
Aponte's article is essentially a cover for those so-called 'gay rights' which are actually an attempt to disguise an absolute imposition of the LGBT lobby's ideology on Catholic countries such as El Salvador - a position promoted by the Obama administration and by his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in particular.
It's a position taken as a ploy to impose gender ideology - which stems from the tenents of feminism and homosexual thinking - and use it to promote the idea that the differences between a man and a woman are merely social and not biological or based on nature.
As for the risks of such ideology being "imposed" on El Salvador by the United States? The actual statement released by the organizations made comparisons between the United States and the Roman Empire in the following way:
The fallen Roman Empire was considered to be modern and progressive. Babies were aborted, newborns were murdered, and - similarly - people would engage in homosexual, bisexual and incestuous relationships, pedophilia, zoophilia and orgies. Such decadence weakened said empire and led to its fall.
In the Tuesday, June 28th edition of La Pagina Gráfica, Mari Carmen Aponte wrote about the policies of the current U.S. president which which observe June as the month in which the United States commemorates LGBT pride.
She argued in favor of combating violence, hate and misconceptions about a specific community of individuals. She explained the efforts made by the current government she represents in understanding that the rights of homosexuals are Human Rights and described how [homosexuality] was no longer classified as a pathology or a perversion that should be corrected or silenced.
Nowhere in the text authored by the Ambassador did she refer to any intent by the government she represents to intervene directly in the culture, tradition and values of El Salvador.
Which brings us to this: As an recess appointee, Aponte must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate before the end of this year to be able to keep her post and, once again, Senator DeMint is the one leading the charge against her. But now, instead of the Cuban infiltrator charges, DeMint is questioning Aponte's strong support for the protection of LGBT communities in El Salvador.
From a November 8th confirmation hearing before the Foreign Relations Committee...
And a partial transcript...
I would like to ask unanimous consent to submit for the record an opinion piece published in El Salvador by Ambassador Aponte in June of this year. In her OpEd, Ms. Aponte, presuming to represent the view of all Americans, in strongly promoting the homosexual lifestyle, wrote that "everyone has the responsibility to inform our neighbors and friends about what it means to be lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender." The OpEd upset a large number of community and pro-family groups in El Salvador who were insulted by Ms. Aponte's attempt to impose a pro-gay agenda in their country.
I would also like to ask unanimous consent to submit, for the record, a response to the OpEd from a coalition of more than three dozen groups and a letter from Salvadorean groups to the United States Senate asking the Senate to oppose Ms. Aponte's confirmation and I quote "We respectfully request that Ms. Aponte be removed from her post as soon as possible so that El Salvador may enjoy the benefits of having a person as a government representative of your noble country."
I would like to apologize to the Salvadorean people on behalf of the United States and reassure them that most Americans share their values. Ms. Aponte's personal, professional and political contact over many years raises numerous questions of judgement. I will vote 'no on Ms. Aponte's confirmation and strongly recommend my colleagues do the same.
In an OpEd published the next day in the conservative website Human Events, DeMint singled out Aponte's praise for Hillary Clinton ("Aponte's Agenda").
Aponte praised Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her previous
remarks that “gay rights are human rights” and also noted gay pride
month is celebrated with “parades, festivals, and educational campaigns”
in the United States where the gay rights movement “celebrates its
identity throughout the country.”
That's right. Senator DeMint is urging the U.S. Senate not to appoint Aponte as U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador based on an OpEd in which she saluted the government of El Salvador for their own initiatives to protect their LGBT populations.
Aponte, who was at the hearing, defended herself against DeMint's accusations when she had a chance to reply. "The OpEd reflects the policies of the Obama administration, the Salvadorean government and sixty-three other countries," she said to La Prensa, "It was not drafted as an insult to anyone."
Salvadoran columnist Marvin Aguilar, in an OpEd column published in La Prensa on November 10th, described DeMint's attempts at getting rid of Aponte as follows:
Catholic fundamentalists in El Salvador, skipping over historical papal lessons, have begun a Christian crusade to cleanse El Salvador of Mari Carmen Aponte. They say she is a destroyer of national family values, that she promotes heinous sinfulness and, in adition, some say that she even likes the arts. Leave it up to us, the Latin American beggars, to be more papal than the Pope when it comes to defend conservative beliefs, customs and traditions which are - of course - shared by all Salvadoreans.
Love unites but hate also brings people together. That's the way that local Catholics with an European pedigree have built an alliance with Jim DeMint, U.S. Senator from South Carolina, who is - according to U.S. political analysts, the most conservative congressmember in the Senate. He is a member of the Tea Party and is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the U.S. Senate.
In sharp contrast to Salvadorean Catholic leader Archbishop Escobar Alas, DeMint has promoted prayer in schools; in contrast with people from El Salvador, he is in favor of abortion when the life of a mother is at risk; he does not want undocumented Salvadoreans living in the United States and is in favor of deporting them unlike other Catholics; he supported the Iraq invasion and when he finally visited Honduras in 2009, he met with Roberto Micheletti even though our country had not recognized his de facto government.
Nobody is perfect, least of all politicians whether they are from the U.S. or El Salvador, but... What is someone who is a Protestant Baptist and the son of divorced parents doing creating alliances with Salvadorean Catholics who sustain that divorce is a sin? What sexual agenda unites them against Mari Carmen Aponte?
Senator DeMint has publicly said that gays, single mothers, heterosexuals in civil unions as well as sexually active persons should not be hired as school educators. Similarly, he also has been and advocate that, if government does not have the authority or the legal tools to restrict homosexuality, it also should not be promoted through the legalization of gay marriage. And that is why he has echoed the tumultuous and sad complaints shouted to heaven by the increasingly strident Salvadorean Christian movement that has taken its lobbying activities to U.S. grounds.
Senator DeMint has said that his statements [on homosexuality] are based on his personal beliefs and should not be interpreted as issues he wants or should bring up as a Senator. It's surprising, then, that he is now opposing a column written by the U.S. Ambassador in La Prensa Gráfica which only sought to explain the vision of the Obama government as related to the gay community in the United States.
A tiny drop of fundamentalist fanatics cannot represent the ocean of Salvadoreans who respect the ways of other nations.
Covering last week's hearing, La Prensa also mentions that Marco Rubio, U.S Senator from Florida and Tea Party darling, asked Aponte if she had felt pressured to write the OpEd piece. Aponte reminded the Senator that she has written a regular opinion column for the paper and that she had written on LGBT issues specifically from a human rights viewpoint.
I have yet to find a full transcript or video of the hearing but Senate Republicans, in voting against Aponte, but her written testimony can be downloaded in PDF form here. Three former Salvadorean presidents traveled to Washington, DC, last month to support her confirmation ("Felix Rodriguez: In U.S. National Interest, confirm U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador", Miami Herald, Nov. 5, 2011).
I have translated Ambassador Aponte's "controversial" OpEd on LGBT rights. As you read it, please ask yourself who is seeking to impose certain values on El Salvador: Ambassador Mari Carmen Aponte of South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint.
Clearly for DeMint this is not only about Aponte. This is a rebuke against any attempt by the U.S. government to promote policies that extend human rights protections to LGBT populations throughout the world.
On May 31st, President Obama proclaimed June of 2011 as the pride month for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.
"The history of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community in the United States," says the President's proclamation, "is the story of our parents and children, our mothers and daughters, our neighbors and friends who continue the task of making our nation a more perfect union."
In the U.S., June is recognized as Gay Pride Month, a month during which the LGBT community celebrates its identity throughout the country through parades, festivals and educational campaigns.
When Congressman Barney Frank, who is openly gay, was asked why they should be proud of such a natural and innate human characteristic, he said "We are proud to stand up to hatred, prejudice and violence, specially when it is so difficult to stand up and say 'This is me'; To do so should make us feel extremely proud".
No one should be subjected to abuse because of who he is or who he loves. Homophobia and the brutal aggression that [gays] often endure are often based on a lack of understanding about what it truly means to be homosexual or transgender. We should work together too prevent negative perceptions through education and offering support to people who confront those who promote hate.
A year ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with great passion, stated "gay rights are human rights." In the same way, we believe people should not be stripped from their rights on the basis of their sexual preference or orientation. For that reason, the United States will continue to support the elimination of violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation on a worldwide basis.
Last March, before the Human Rights Council at the United Nations, the
United States, El Salvador and eighty-three other nations signed a
pledge to eliminate violence against members of the LGBT community;
additionally, on May of 2010, Salvadorean President Mauricio Funes signed Decree 56
which prohibits all forms of discrimination by the government of El
Salvador on the basis of sexual orientation or identity. I applaud
efforts by the government of El Salvador in support of the LGBT
community both on the national and the international level.
However, the responsibility does not only lie in the hands of governments. Everyone has the responsibility to contribute whether it's by confronting intimidation or violence when it happens in our schools or worksites, or by helping to inform our neighbors and friends about what it means to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. As our nations advance, we also experience an ongoing transformation on what it means to be a citizen in a democratic society. Together, as governments and as individuals, we can work to break the cycle of violence and discrimination.
It is the responsibility of each generation to bring our nations closer to fulfilling the promise of equality. Progress takes time, but history is on our side when we come together to demand an end to prejudice, wherever it exists, and to celebrate the great diversity of the Americas.
This week the Central American government of Honduras announced the launch of a special police unit dedicated to investigate crimes committed against members of the country's LGBT population ("Special unit will investigate crimes against 'gays'", La Tribuna, November 13, 2011).
The announcement follows years of local, regional and international criticism of the Honduran government's handling of a number of horrific crimes committed against the LGBT population in the past few years and, in particular, transgender women.
Of key interest in this announcement is not only that it's probably the first Latin American country to launch such an unit but also the direct and highly visible hand the United States government had in pressuring Honduras to investigate these crimes.
The protection of Honduran law extends
to all its citizens regardless of sexual orientation and the Lobo
Administration has repeatedly expressed its commitment to defend the
rights of all Honduran citizens. It
is in this regard that we call upon Honduran law enforcement
authorities to vigorously investigate these crimes, bring to justice the
perpetrators, and take all necessary steps to protect LGBT persons, who
are among the most vulnerable to violence and abuse in Honduras.
Then came statements in late January from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. President Barack Obama himself in which they alluded to the Honduran murders and offered assistance in the form of experts who could train local police officers on how to investigate the crimes ("United States to assist in the investigation of transgender murders in Honduras", Blabbeando, January 28, 2011).
In comments published yesterday by La Tribuna, Oscar Aguilar, the Spokesperson for the newly launched Sexual Diversity Unit of the National Investigation Chairmanship (DINIC), said that the unit would work closely with local LGBT-rights advocates and organizations.
"We know that many of these crimes are left unresolved due to a failure in determining the real causes why they were committed and that is the reason why the Sexual Diversity Unit was launched: To try to resolve them," he told La Tribuna.
In the interview Arce admits that officers have yet to be trained specifically on dealing with the LGBT community but highlights the unit's specific focus on investigating LGBT crimes. The Unit opened it's first office in Tegucigalpa on Monday and are concentrating on local crimes but Arce says that he hopes to expand their reach and open other offices in other regions of the country down the line.
I am a little weary about Arce's admission that the Unit's officers have yet to receive specific training on how to investigate LGBT-related crimes despite the public offers for assistance from the United States. It raises suspicion that the announcement might be more of a public relations effort to push back against international criticism rather than a full-faith effort to combat homophobic crime in Honduras.
It is still a remarkable example of how the United States can use pressure on Latin American governments to demand protections for their LGBT populations in a diplomatic but effective way.
Photo: DINIC Spokesperson Oscar Aguilar via La Tribuna.
It's been five years to the day since my friend Steven Mackin lost his battle with cancer. He would have been 32 yeas old this year.
Before he passed away, Steven asked me to write about him and post his photos on this blog so he would not be forgotten. I am not prone to observe annual themes on this blog but I always make an exception for Steven on this day.
In Steven's name, I ask you to Stand Up To Cancer. Better yet, if you have some time on your hands, please visit his hilarious, candid, sad, unpolitically correct and incredible LiveJournal blog "Things I've Found In My Butt".
Steven began writing as a way to document his struggle with cancer and, ultimately, he ended up leaving a testament of the amazing, funny and beautiful man he was while alive.
In 2007, the Associated Press featured his blog as an example of how people dealing with a terminal illness were using online diaries to leave a legacy behind ("Blogging at Life's End").
***START OF UPDATE (as of Oct. 14, 2011): Monica Trasandes from GLAAD reached out to me this afternoon and said that they brought up my concerns to the producers of "Noche de Perros". In response, the producers said they "get" why the clip might be considered offensive by some viewers and have made a decision to pull it off the air.
As for the English-language online version of the promo - as can be seen here - it turns out that a second person used basically to make the same joke as in the televised version happens to be openly gay and is one of the show's hosts. The producers have told GLAAD that they are more than thrilled to include an openly gay person as a host.
That's great of the producers but does the fact that the person is gay change the fact that he is still being used as the punch joke? If they found the televised version to be problematic, it should be clear why the online version is problematic as well. They should pull it offline as well. END OF UPDATE***
Lately I have been watching a great telenovela from Colombia called "Correo de Inocentes". It's airing on the Telefutura network which was launched by Spanish-language powerhouse network Univision to counter Telemundo.
On the Univision corporate site, they describe Telefutura as a "leader in cutting-edge content" and highlight the fact that it often beats Telemundo in their ratings - though not during prime time.
Imagine my surprise, then, when the following clip ran during the commercials as I watched the telenovela...
Promoting homophobia on television and lesbophobia to draw English-language advertisers? I have a feeling GLAAD will be knocking on Univision's door pretty soon.
While current Mexican president Felipe Calderón might have his hands full with the failing state he'll undeniably leave behind, he also leaves a homophobic legacy as the man who ordered his general attorney to challenge Mexico City's marriage equality law before the Mexican Constitutional Court --- and failed to get the Court to overturn the historic law.
Yesterday, at a government sponsored breast cancer awareness event, Calderón inadvertently stoked up his homophobic legacy by making a throw away comment that was quickly picked up online and turned into a widely shared Twitter hashtag.
At the event, President Calderón wore a pink ribbon.
Halfway through his speech, he made note of the ribbon and made sure the audience knew that the color pink symbolized breast cancer awareness and nothing else.
"No vaya a pensar otra cosa", he said with a sheepish smile (or "Don't go thinking it means something else" in English).
Picking up on those exact words, people on Twitter started using the #NoVayaApensarOtraCosa hashtag to make fun of Calderón's snide dismissal of all things pink and it quickly found traction and started spreading online.
By tonight it became clear that the Calderón camp knew it had a problem on their hands and that the "pink ribbon" issue threatened to overwhelm political discourse in the next few days.
In short, Calderón himself was acknowledging that the comment he made a day earlier had homophobic connotations.
As a Mexican friend wrote to me, the faux-pas wasn't necessarily something to lose sleep over, considering the hardships facing the Mexican government. But the easy way in which the Mexican president seemed to engage in homophobic sentiment was not something that should have been easily dismissed either.
Can you force someone to give an apology he or she does not believe in? Of course you can! It happens all the time in major showbiz or in sports.
Does it matter if the apology has been forced out of somebody if only to save face? Perhaps. But I'd rather the apology be sincere rather than half-assed or insincere.
This comes to mind because I took a decision last night to sever my ties with a website I have absolutely adored up to this point and has given this site major support as well (you no longer see their 'Partner Scoops' widget on Blabbeando anymore for one).
When quirky Latino gossip site Guanabee approached me a couple of years ago and asked if I was interested in being a "Featured Partner" I jumped at the chance. It's not that I got any monetary compensation from it but they often highlighted some of my posts which brought a lot of traffic to this site. The value of that traffic wasn't necessarily the number of hits on Blabbeando but the fact that they came from readers of a non-LGBT Latino site. In that sense, Guanabee helped to direct a lot of non-LGBT Latino readership to what happens to be a site with an LGBT-focus and I thought that was great.
As a gossip site, Guanabee does engage in campy humor sometimes and probably uses language that would not be used on other newsier sites. But, even within those parameters, yesterday I was alerted to a post that I felt went beyond the pale.
The CW is running a new show called H8R (pronounced "hater") where celebrities confront random people who hate them while attempting to win them over [...] We actually enjoyed the episode. In it Eva Longoria confronts a bitchy queen who fags out on her and her supposed self-Mexican hate
In the clip featured on Guanabee, a guy who comes across as an obnoxious twit goes all off on Eva Longoria's 'Latina-ness' and then gets all flustered and embarrassed when Eva Longoria shows up to challenge his views.
Call the guy an obnoxious twit, call the guy insufferable, but Baez instead calls him a "bitchy queen" who "fags out" when she shows up. This, on a site that is marketed to the general Latino public.
Up to this point, I've had a great relationship with the site's leading editors so I reached out to them to privately express my concern. In response, I was forwarded a message that Baez sent to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) when they made an inquiry about the post. In it, Baez stood his ground and argued that the informal tome used on the site and the fact that gays had appropriated terms such as 'queer' gave him the liberty to call someone a 'fag'. Baez also argued that he wasn't necessarily questioning the man's sexuality but, instead, he was calling him off on his intolerance.
That pissed me off even more so I wrote back again and tried to calmly explain, among other things, the fact that gays appropriating certain language does not mean it gives free reign for these words to be used at free will, by anyone, on any site or publication - or in day to day conversation.
I never got a response. Instead, Guanabee posted a follow-up last night titled "Gays, Do The Words "Fag" And "Loca" Offend You? GLAAD Says They Do"in which Baez defends the post making some of the same arguments he made in the response to GLAAD e-mailed to me and expanded on them.
I blew a fuse. And I quickly fired a Tweet severing my relationship with the site.
In the meantime, GLAAD, who alerted me to the post in the first case and had been exchanging messages with the editors as well, also reacted. They launched an action alert asking people to "Tell Guanabee.com you are not laughing". It mentions the actions I took last night.
In my anger I missed something in Marcelo Baez' latest post: For what I believe is the first time on the site, he tells his readers he is an openly bisexual man. In retrospective, it does explain his argument about appropriation of
words that are used to insult members of the LGBT community even though
I still don't agree he should have used the terms.
Does this make any difference? There was no mention of this on the original post that would have led anyone to assume that Mr. Baez was trying to appropriate such language as an openly bisexual man. Instead the words "fag" and "fagged-out" were used to denigrate the man in the CW show. I have since had an exchange with Marcelo on my strong feelings that it would have been wrong even if he had disclosed his sexuality in that post and I know he strongly disagrees with my assessment.
This morning, though, I woke up feeling something was missing from all of this. GLAAD's call to action will continue and sites, like this one, will begin to pick up on it. Guanabee and Marcelo will decide whether to stick to their guns and push back - or eventually apologize.
But in the larger context of things, I do see an opportunity here to expand the dialogue on usage of these terms in the Latino community as well as whether the fact that the person using the language is a member of the LGBT community changes these dynamics in any way (in some ways, the debate is similar to usage of the 'N'-word among African-American individuals where some African-Americans feel it's always wrong and others feel it's a way to appropriate the term and strip it from it's original intent to hurt someone based on one's race).
As things stand right now, I have asked to be removed from the Guanabee site. GLAAD is mobilizing against Guanabee. And Baez and Guanabee seem to be standing on their ground. I've had several exchanges with the editors of Guanabee throughout the day, including Marcelo, and they have expressed in no uncertain terms that they are sad to see me go, would love to continue the relationship, but understand my decision to go.
Part of me keeps looking at that post and the way the language was used, with or without the context that it was written by a bisexual man, and wonder how I can keep a relationship with a site that doesn't 'get' why I am so disappointment by the post.
Having said that, if Guanabee had been as homophobic as some are charging - and I am not talking specifically about GLAAD's reaction but that of individuals who might not have ever visited the site and are judging by this post alone - they would have never prominently featured this blog on their site and be so open to promote gay content on their site. It turns out, according to Marcelo, that he is the editor at Guanabee who promoted most of the Blabbeando content that made it on their site.
I know I don't often ask readers to comment and with such long posts, who is gonna bother reading this entry to this point. But, if you would please take a moment or two to comment, should I stay or should I go? Would working with Guanabee promote an editorial decision I do not agree with or would it provide a platform for their general Latino readership to continue having access to my point of view on the issue and on other issues as well.
Mexico's National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED) and the National Women's Institute (Inmujeres) have accused a Mexican ad agency working for U.S. giant Mars, Inc. of promoting homophobia, sexism and misogyny for a television ad promoting the Snickers chocolate bar brand.
In many ways the ad is similar to one of the most popular ads that ran during last year's Super Bowl in the United States, with a couple of major differences.
In the U.S. version you see a number of friends playing touch football when out of nowhere actress Betty White goes for the ball and gets tackled. This is the exchange that follows:
Guy #1: Mike, what is your deal man! Betty White: Oh, man, you've been riding me all day! Guy #3: Mike, you are playing like Betty White out there! Betty White: That's not what your girlfriend says!
Someone hands Betty White a Snickers bar and, after taking a bite, it becomes clear she'd been a guy called Mike all along. "You are not you when you are hungry" reads the tag line at the end.
In the Mexican version of the ad, pop singer Anahi takes Betty White's role. Here is my translation of the similar exchange that follows Anahi falling down from a bike:
Guy #1: What's your deal, Carlos! Anahi: Stop getting in my way! Guy #3: Every time you get hungry you turn into a sissy. Anahi: That's not what your girlfriend says!
And here is the actual ad:
In addition to adding Anahi, there is also the matter of one of the lines that was changed for the Mexican version: "Every time you get hungry you turn into a sissy."
In a joint statement released by CONAPRED and Inmujeres on September 12th, the government bodies say they received complaints about the ad and tried to reach the Effem Mexico ad agency to request the ads be removed and specifically call it misogynist, sexist and homophobic.
The ad agency has so far refused to remove the ads from the air arguing that they tested the ads with a number of women before the launch, none of whom thought it was discriminatory, and that versions of the ad have also ran in 15 different countries without anyone raising any concerns.
CONAPRED and Inmujeres argue that none of the women in the test screenings were experts on the issue and that the agency should have reached out to such experts before airing the ad.
"It's something that took us by surprise, since the campaign was launched in October [of 2010]" said the surprisingly unnamed Mars representative who is only referred to as "a director of the business agency".
She stretched her defense a tad much by arguing that the line "you turn into a sissy" was meant to refer to a character she played in the successful soap opera that launched her career --- and not necessarily an insult.
Ismael Flores, writing for one of my favorite Mexican blogs Vivir Mexico agrees with CONAPRED and Inmujeres. In an essay published on September 19th, he writes:
In middle school we all had a call to battle: "The last to arrive is a girl!" Then, as we went on to high school, the word "girl" turned into "fag". In college, when it began to matter conquering an improvised career, the phrase turned into "you turn into a sissy". And that's that's the way it has been with our language, changing from time to time, but staying true to its essence: The feminine as an insult, as something degrading, as an instrument of discrimination. Hence, there is nothing bizarre about CONAPRED's complaint.
Wenceslao Bruciaga, who has a blog at Milenio in which he often documents gay life in Mexico, has a different take:
According to CONAPRED, the sequence of images [in the ad] "reaffirms the framework of the inequality between men and women... and highlight the erroneous and discriminatory social perception against girls and women as persons who may assume the masculine domain as being normal."
Every time I listen to commentary such as this I get mixed emotions: I bust out laughing or get a knot in my stomach. It's similar to when I am asked to comment on my opinion or position regarding the usage of words such as 'puto', 'joto', 'maricón' [all can be translated as 'fag']. What am I expected to say? That it's discriminatory language? What about 'estupida' and 'babosa' [akin to using 'gurrl'], words used between gay men to communicate in the most intimate of circles... is it politically correct? Aren't they promoting the wrong common perception of women? Should we tell them to behave more like men? Sorry, I'm probably promoting the most retrograde of machismos.
The vicious circle of what's politically correct.
Bruciaga closes his essay by noting that while CONAPRED is going after the ad agency that handles the Mars contract in Mexico, in part, because of homophobia, they failed to follow up on hundreds complaints of homophobia against Mexican morning talk-show host Esteban Arce.
Arce famously went live on air on December 18th of 2010 and questioned whether homosexuality was 'natural', said he was afraid young men who were drug users were susceptible to 'letting themselves go' into homosexuality and, when told by a guest on the show that homosexuality was prevalent in animals, Arce argued that male dogs who mated with other male dogs probably suffered from 'animal dementia' or been forced to go without sex for a long time.
Arce remains on Mexican television with his show "Matutino Express", which - wouldn't you know it! - recently began airing on U.S. television through Spanish-language network Galavisión. As recently as September 5th, there he was telling AOL Latino he hoped to bring his "moral and religious values" to American television.
So what do you think? Are CONAPRED and Inmujeres right to slam Effem Mexico and Mars, Inc. over the ad as Ismael says? Or is this a case of political correctness gone a muck as Wenceslao argues? I'll let you be the judge.
UPDATE: In the original version of this post I translated 'nena' literally as 'little girl'. A Mexican reader tells me that a more appropriate translation is 'sissy', which somewhat explains the homophobic claims.
Last year few people noticed what I thought was a mini-trend: After a relative dearth in LGBT representation in the Latino music industry, several performers came out as gay or lesbian between the months of February and April (OK, maybe I was the only person who noticed).
Both Angelo Garcia and Rita Indiana say they never really hid their sexual identity from anyone and that it was media who suddenly took an interest on their personal lives. Ricky Martin and Lisa M., on the other hand, spent years building their successful careers in the Latino pop industry actively shaping a performing persona while assiduously avoiding talking about their personal lives.
Born Lisa Marrero Vázquez,
Lisa M. probably had the biggest commercial success of her career as a salsa singer in the late 1990's with huge hits like "Tu Pum Pum" and "Menéalo". But, artistically, she probably reached the professional high-point of her career with 2007's "Respect", a lavishly produced reggaeton album which also served as her last commercial release and contained the single "Hey Ladies".
On
Friday, I had the opportunity to speak to Lisa on the phone from Puerto Rico. In her first exclusive interview with an English-language venue - or an LGBT-venue for that matter - Lisa addressed
her decision to come out on Facebook last year, her relative silence since then and her plans to release a brand new single and album late this year or in early 2012 (for the original Spanish-language version of this interview click here).
Blabbeando: It’s been a little more than a year since you
decided to tell your followers on Facebook that you are a lesbian. What made you decide to do it and did
you feel scared at all when you finally came out?
Lisa M.: Well, look, when I actually did it, I was in Spain
and, before that, I had already been thinking of coming out in public. I wanted to come out, not because I had
any specific purpose, but because that was the purpose… to come out.
At that moment, all the stuff about Ricky Martin had
already surfaced. Obviously,
when Ricky takes something as delicate as his private life and decides to share
it with his fans, with his family and with the rest of the world, it was
something quite beautiful. And it’s not that I came out
because he did it but, basically, it was a ‘wow’ moment for me.
As a fellow artist, I saw it as an incredibly beautiful
moment and I felt it was the perfect moment to offer my support not only to him
but also myself and other artists who truly want to live their lives freely. So
I made the decision and I said ‘Look, I’ll write ‘I’m gay!’” And that’s what I
did on my Facebook page.
I’ll be very honest. I posted it without knowing or thinking
about any consequences or truly expecting it to get the reaction it got. In other words, first I wrote “I’m
gay!” - saying it like ‘Wow!’ - but I later I reaffirmed it by writing “I’m
gay” – no exclamation point. That’s when…
Blabbeando: Yes, because the first time you posted it I
imagine your followers didn’t know what to think about it, whether it was a
joke or something else. But the second time you posted it - that’s when people
reacted…
Lisa M.: Exactly, yes, the second time, when I reaffirmed
it, well, everybody did react, writing stuff like “WHAT!? WHAT DID SHE SAY!?
HOW!?”. It was such a tremendous
reaction that it made it to People en Español, it went all through the
internet, all throughout media… All of Puerto Rico basically just fainted
[laughs].
Yes, it was such a huge reaction that… I’ll be honest, the
reaction to Ricky was ‘Damn, Ricky, we sorta knew it or imagined it already’,
but he did have a reaction… but with me, being a woman and being Latina - and
I’ll put this out in the open - well, it probably turned off some people, but the
overall reaction was positive.
Thank God almighty it wasn’t something where I lacked people’s
support. On the contrary, the
reaction was very positive and I received a lot of positive feedback.
People, a lot of people – and I’m saying this because it
happened a lot during those first days, weeks and months – sent me messages. I
received a lot of e-mail messages from women congratulating me, married women,
who would say “Look, I am gay but I am married” and so, for me, it was a ‘Wow’
moment to realize so many people had taken umbrage in what I had said.
And I learned to take it more seriously each day and to give
it more respect. Respect towards me, as a person, and towards the public… and
so much respect towards the gay community, which has also given me so much
support.
Blabbeando: The reaction was immediate but you were in
Europe when it happened and pretty much unreachable for comment…
Lisa M.: Yes.
That’s the way I wanted it.
I wanted to feel a bit more prepared before being able to give a more
public response to the media. When
I took the decision and saw the consequences, I told myself ‘This has reached
another level, now it’s serious, it’s slipped from my hands and I will have to
treat it respectfully and carefully.’
So I held media at bay a little bit but, yes, I can tell
you that what took place with all the media was impressive. From the start, when I gave an
exclusive to an important radio show in Puerto Rico via telephone, and, of
course, now that I have returned to Puerto Rico from Spain and have begun to
address all media. And, thank God,
I have always enjoyed great respect from the press, now and at that moment, for
which I am thankful. They treated
me very well and understood my point of view and my way of loving someone and
they accepted it.
And let me tell you that today I feel it is so normal to
talk about it and to watch Ricky and his boyfriend, his partner, at the award
ceremonies, to see him be free and be able to express himself, his feelings,
you know? It’s a beautiful thing.
And that is the same way I feel.
Blabbeando: I know you received some homophobic messages
back in January but you seem to be saying it’s been the exception to the rule…
Lisa M.:. Yes…
Blabbeando: I also know you have worked with other reggaeton
singers such as Tego Calderón. It
was also interesting for me to see that there didn’t seem to be any homophobic
reactions from your peers.
Lisa M.: Yes, thank God, I’ve also had my peers come to me…
and everyone has remained in their place, everybody has treated me with
respect, everybody has accepted it well.
Look, Andrés, we are living during an era in the business
where it really doesn’t matter who you are, you know? It’s all about what you
can give. It’s as if people want a different life, a different way to share
things, they want something more positive, they don’t want to tear an artist
down or hurt them.
It’s my understanding that in the industry, right as of now,
it is not a taboo, it’s not a barrier, it’s not an illness, it is not something
that will hurt your fans.
Blabbeando: At the same time, there are female artists such
as La India and Ivy Queen who have faced false rumors about their sexual
identity and, in Ivy Queen’s case, even questions about her gender, just for
presenting themselves as strong women. What do you think about those
stereotypes?
Lisa M.: What has happens is that, obviously, we are
stronger women thanks to what we have done as artists, based on our personality
and the way we have handled our careers, you know? [We are] women with a
stronger character… fighters. And being fighters makes us stronger, it makes us
brave, and so we create that character, a warrior’s armor, from having to be up
front as women. And then that strength is reflected in our songs, they way we
interpret a song, the way we talk, how we dress, how we express ourselves, and that’s
what people see.
Blabbeando: Now, throughout your career you have launched
seven albums. The last one,
“Respect” (2007) was actually pretty great. But I know you have been spending time in Europe and Spain
and focusing more on a career as a club DJ under the name of DJ Miss M. Now, after spending these years in
Spain, you’ve returned to the recording studio. Tell me a little bit about the
latest stage in your professional life.
Lisa M.: Well, basically the “Respect” and “Respect (Deluxe)” record was my last album.
After that I embraced life as a DJ. It’s been six years or so since I began to DJ but the last
three years have seen my DJ career get stronger and my reputation as a DJ climb
to higher levels. And being in Europe and living in Spain, well, I have
positioned myself as one of the top female DJ’s in Barcelona and Ibiza. There, I got tons of work and I’ll be
back later this month to close the 2011 Space Ibiza season on September 24.
And, what can I tell you? Yes, it has been a really
beautiful part of my life in which I have experienced the nightlife, being a
dedicated DJ, without obviously abandoning who I am: A singer and an
artist. What I have done is that
now, in the new stage, I am mixing up both things. I am recording my new album. I am doing it in Puerto Rico and
I am doing it in New York City and other places. I want to do an album that reflects everything that is
happening in my life, which is the nightlife, life at the dance clubs and
lounges, the music ‘life-style’ as I call it. It’s an album that reflects that vibe, now that I’m working
as a DJ, that touches on electronic music – tech-house, techno, house, hip-hop
– my new album fits somewhere along those lines.
As a DJ and producer – because obviously that determines a
lot of the things that have gone into the album – that’s where I’m at. And I am truly enjoying it a lot. I’m
not getting much sleep, Andrés, but I know the end results are going to be very
positive.
Blabbeando: So it’ll be a new sound, integrating old sounds
but from a dance-club perspective…
Lisa M.: Exactly. That’s it. That’s it. And, as I’m telling
you, using little things, old sounds but modern arrangements. With really, really amazing… how should
I say… now that I’m a DJ, which is the music genre in which I’m surrounding
myself and considering the industry is changing so much… perhaps in the way that Madonna has
done since “Confessions on a Dance Floor”, or, later, when Black Eyed Peas came
up with that electronic sound and mixed it up with hip-hop and R’n’B, and
what’s happening right now and blasting off the radio like Jennifer Lopez and
Pitbull… well, that’s the same vibe that is ruling the airwaves right now and
that’s the same track I’ll be on pretty soon.
Blabbeando: Do you have a date for the launch of the new
material?
Lisa M.: I’d say that before the year is over I’ll come out
with a new single, at the very least.
I am pushing myself, working really hard to have it come out by year’s
end as well as a video.
I’m not certain yet about a record label because I am truly
working independently. For the
moment, I am producing the record myself and I do not have a recording
label. But I am so happy and
working so well that I didn’t miss it during the recording process.
Nowadays the recording industry has changed so much that you
can go and find an investor, do a video, tape a single, pace it, put it out
there, kick it up there on YouTube, push it on Twitter, post it on Facebook,
and forget about it! You do a couple of interviews and get some cameras to
shoot the video and that has some impact.
And so, there you go [laughs]…
Yes. I know record companies are very good for other
things. Moneywise, as an artist, I
cannot penetrate the market in the same way record companies do their promotion
and handle the ‘business’ side. They go deeper. So we’ll see what happens. For
now, production is running really well and, as I told you, we hope to have
something out there before the end of the year. Andrés, the record is coming out really great. I think it’ll
be a totally different sound that doesn’t lose the essence of who I am.
Blabbeando: It sounds like you are in a stage of your life
in which you are at great ease with yourself and happy…
Lisa M.: Yes, I am happy. I have my partner, who is a beautiful girl who respects and
admires me a lot and that also helps me to focus and commit myself and to have
sufficient strength to say let’s go forward, let’s go. And when you have someone who is so
positive next to you it does help a lot, and that’s what’s been going on in my
case.
And, yes, I am traveling a lot. But once I get back to Puerto Rico on the 28th,
look out! I’ll be immersed in what will become the new single. There are several tracks ready, I
imagine I’ll get some people together and let them listen, including the
single. And, yes, it’s a process,
but at the same time I am enjoying it greatly. Maybe sometimes I do feel exhausted but it is a stage in my
life in which I feel much calmer and feel much more at ease with myself.
Blabbeando: Lastly, is there something I didn’t ask that
you’d like to tell readers of Blabbeando?
Lisa M.: Well, let me thank you for the interview. What I’m really wishing for is for the
public and media to offer their support for my new project and I know that will
be the case. I know I have earned the place where I am, thanks to God. Whoever grants me their support, I know
I am a pioneer in what I do and, thank God, the public has chosen to support me
throughout my career.
I do hope I’ll have additional support when the new album
comes out because the fans I have now are fans from before and after and they
are still there. But those of now,
who don’t really know about me… their parents, unless and cousins do, but the
new generation, those of now, I am truly hoping for the support of the new
generations. And I know I will
because, musically, I am working with groups of professional musicians and
producers who are at the level of the new generations. So we are doing good.
Blabbeando: Well, Lisa, that bring the interview to an end,
I thank you so much.
Lisa M.: Sure thing, Andrés. Thank you so much for the opportunity and for thinking about
me. What I’ll do is that when I
get the single ready I’ll send it over so you can give me your feedback and
we’ll keep in touch.
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Patrick Wooden proves that there are some nasty people in the pulpit.
Raleigh NC "diaper pastor" Patrick Wooden is not only refusing to take back
his commen...
UN Chief Urges African Leaders to Respect Gay Rights
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United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged African leaders to respect the rights of their gay and lesbian citizens. Some African nations have tre...
Les Nouvelles: Los demás no deciden quién (qué) soy
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*Entrada de Lourdes Alvaradejo (lulu@enriquetorremolina.com). Cynthia Nixon
estrenó estos días una obra de teatro en Broadway llamada Wit, que cuenta
la hi...
On choice
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The Cynthia Nixon scandal roils on. I’ve stopped keeping count of who’s
blaming her for what these days; the last I heard, she was responsible for
kids bei...
Interview with Washington Gov. Gregoire
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This is my interview from the show with Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire who
has spearheaded a marriage equality bill that has the votes to pass. Read
highl...
Tengo un hijo como tú…
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“Hijo… tengo un hijo como tú”, me dijo nervioso el viejito en la farmacia.
“¿Cómo yo?”, pregunté. Un poco abochornado me contestó: “no sé la palabra
correc...
Honest Girl Scouts?
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Post by Director of Upstate Organizing Sheilah SableCongratulations to the Girl Scouts celebrating 100 years of courage, confidence, and character building o...
Mike Tidmus has died
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Well-known San Diego gay blogger Mike Tidmus died yesterday. Karen Ocamb has a nice tribute here. Here are some of my photos of my buddy. He never would sta...
Give me a Big F Chord
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Dave Alvin-less but still hella rocking, here are Phil's Blasters live back
in '07 in ATL!!
The Blasters
September 2, 2007
Drive Invasion
Starlight Six Dr...
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