BFF: Paulina Rubio

My best-friend-forevah Paulina Rubio (pictured above with el Blabbeador) stopped by to wish me a happy birthday a few weeks ago (yeah, right!). We love La Pau because, as you already know, she has been crowned in Mexico (and Miami) as the Queen of the Gays for a number of consecutive years (sometimes even twice a year, depending on which gay bar in Mexico you are talking about).

Once-rumored to be a lesbian and having played coy with the rumors, La Pau recently got married to a man - which did not tamper our admiration or our enjoyment of her song-craft (except with that unfortunate attempt to sing in English).

I must say that she is a stunningly beautiful woman, even in fluorescent lighting. Or maybe her make up was better than mine?

We absolutely love La Pau. For the uninitiated we recommend Paulina, released in May of 2000. Too bad you missed her recent Beacon Theatre concert.

Rubio recently became the New York-based Latino Commission on AIDS first official godmother, a designation which sounds cooler in Spanish than in English ("madrina") - a great reason why the United States should not become and English-language-only country. Yay for La Pau!

[NOTE: Click once on the YouTube image below, then wait a sec and click again and it will open up a YouTube window to the PG13-rated version of "Y Sigo Aqui" with lots of lesbotastic stuff - something about biting into ripe mangoes]

Spanish-language anti-homophobia ad #1

SOMOS... One of a series of ads that ran in Spanish language media back in 2003 and 2004 which comes to mind as the New York State Black Gay Men's Network launches a brand new campaign targeting homophobia in the African-American community tomorrow. Ad design: Pablo Caro. Photo credit: Javier Soriano

You might have noticed, but we inadvertently jumped the gun on a new initiative to combat homophobia in African-American communities here in New York. After writing about a poster I noticed last week in a subway station, Mark Jason McLaurin of the New York State Black Gay Network said:

Hello Andres-

Thanks for posting our campaign- This is actually a campaign of the New York State Black Gay Network and it will be running all over the city - We have a launch press conference scheduled for Tuesday morning [August 22nd] with Congressman Charlie Rangel and Borough President Scott Springer- if anyone wants any more info on the campaign or materials- feel free to contact me at mmclaurin@nysbgn.org

Thanks for getting the word out (although we were hoping to keep it under wraps a bit until Tuesday but they started the subway stuff early) LOL!

Oops! Aplogies to Mark and the NYS Black gay Men's Network! Rod2.0 picked up on the post on Friday and Keith Boykin gives the down-low on the campaign on his blog today. The campaign, as Mark and Keith say, will be officially launched tomorrow. We wish them great luck and success with the campaign and on-going efforts to tackle homophobia in the African-American community.

In the meantime, these ads have brought to mind an initiative conducted back in 2003 and 2004 to combat homophobia in Latino communities in New York. In the post immediately below and in this post, I wanted to share a couple of the ads that we ran in some of the local Spanish-language newspapers Hoy and El Diario La Prensa. For a high resolution version of the ad above go here.

The text of this particular ad reads:

Jose Sanchez, Graduate Student, Peruvian, Gay
How long have you known that you were gay?
"The truth is that being gay has always been part of my identity. What was difficult was to accept myself and to be able to be sincere with my family and my friends. Nowdays I am the pride of my parents and brothers. I don't have to keep anything from them."

And you, what do you think?

Spanish-language anti-homophobia ad #2

Ad design: Pablo Caro; Photo credit: Javier Soriano

This one in a series of Spanish-language ads that ran in New York City dailies El Diario La Prensa and Hoy as part of an anti-homophobia campaign developed by Francisco Lazala, Bolivar Nieto and I through the SOMOS... Project at the Latino Commission on AIDS back in 2003 and 2004. For a high resolution version click here.

The text reads:

Nina Rosado, Executive Assistant, Puerto Rican, Lesbian
How did you feel when you realized that you were a lesbian?
"Confused and scared, I didn't know who to talk to about my feelings, I was afraid of being rejected by my friends and my family. I decided to participate in this campaign so that no one else would have to go through what I experienced. So that other Latina lesbians know that we are part of the community."

SOMOS... [We are...] part of our community...

The Latino community in New York is pretty diverse. We are of different ethnicities, nationalities and ages. We are from different social classes and professions and - many of us - are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender persons.

Nevertheless there is HOMOPHOBIA

There are many erroneous perceptions about homosexuality and people who ask themselves: Is a person born or made gay? can we chose a sexual identity?

And you... What do you think?