Juan Manuel Benitez to NYS Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr.: "You can't throw a stone and then hide your hands"

It took a while but here is the translated and transcribed second part of the interview between "Pura Politica" host Juan Manuel Benitez and New York State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. that ran a week ago today on New York 1 Noticias.  Elements of this segment have been already been translated by Tony Varona and posted at Pam's House Blend ("Anti-gay NY State Senator Rev. Ruben Diaz grilled on NY1 Spanish channel").  This is a rawer translation, keeping intact some turns in phrasing as well as sudden changes from present to past tenses, as spoken by interviewer and interviewee during the broadcast - which might make it a little hard to read.  A couple of comments before posting the video:

• At the 6:40, in attempting to justify his opposition to the 1994 Gay Games in New York, Reverend Diaz invokes the name of basketball player Michael Jordan in arguing that Jordan was barred from entering other countries due to his HIV status.  The Reverend seems to be confusing Michael Jordan with Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Jr., who had announced he was HIV positive back in 1991.
• It's truly jaw-dropping to hear the Reverend claim he's just a single individual with some unpopular views and that he would have never, ever, mounted any effort to defeat any effort to advance LGBT-rights if only he'd been left alone.  As Benitez says, he has single-handedly made opposing LGBT-rights the main pillar of his political career. Never mind that he is not "just" a single individual: He is a State Senator with the power to influence thousands of people with a single vote.
• A few people online are already noted that at the end of the interview, at the 10:40 mark, the Reverend seems to admit that he used to be gay. "I used to be a homosexual", he seems to say before catching himself and talking about being a former drug addict. It's obviously an accidental slip of the tongue. I'm not sure what good it serves for people to use it to argue that the man must be a closeted bigot as some are doing already online. The man is a bigot, but those who keep waiting for a rent-boy to pop up and expose the Reverend as being gay will probably wait until the end of the world. Not that I would really want the Reverend to be on our team, even if he insists in this interview that he could very well become gay overnight if he put himself up to it.
• Apparently, as the Reverend has said before and says once again in this interview, he respects Blabbeando for its impartiality. I appreciate his sentiments but want to make clear that no economic exchanges were made in return for the free publicity (a joke, people, a joke).
• Finally, I might be biased on the issue, but I really cannot stop myself from admiring the amazing job Juan Manuel Benitez has done in digging at Diaz in this and previous interviews by being respectful, direct, persistent and insistent. In this, and other previous interviews, you can see that he gets under the Reverend's skin when Diaz begins to stutter and mumble at a momentary loss of words. It really cuts through his "I'm not a homophobe" façade and exposes him for whom he truly is.
• A couple of exchanges stand out as my favorites and they might not be the ones you suspect: The first one comes at the 6:03 mark when the Reverend is trying to portray himself as an innocent victim of attacks by the LGBT community.  In response, Benitez cuts straight through the Reverend's BS reminding him his whole political career has been about opposing LGBT rights. Benitez tells him: "You can't throw a stone and then hide your hands"
• The second comes at the 4:50 mark, when the Reverend tries to justify his boycott of El Diario La Prensa by saying that they never cover religious activities such as the Day of the Pastor or children's parades he has organized in the past. Benitez' response to the Reverend?: "Perhaps they only cover is what they consider to be newsworthy". You know, like first communions and such. Just priceless.

Anyway, enough comments, here is the video...

JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: Senator, aren't you afraid that 10, 20, 30 years from now, when they make documentaries about this issue - an issue that is already unstoppable; each day there are more countries and more states that recognize marriages between couples of the same gender - you will be seen as one of those politicians you see in documentaries from the 1950's, 1960's, who opposed civil rights. That you will be seen as one of those politicians when history looks back?
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: OK, there are several things I am going to say. First of all. Mayor Bloomberg and those people who dare - DARE! - to compare the suffering, the enslavement, the deportations, the assaults against the African-American community; from Africa, how they took them away from their families, brought them in ships, chained them up, sold them as slaves. People such as Mayor Bloomberg, who dare to compare that to the issue of the homosexual lifestyle, to compare the two is to disrespect - to abuse and disrespect - the black community. And black people - the black community - should not sustain... should respond and not allow the suffering and slavery of the black community to be used as a comparison to the lifestyle of the homosexual community. That is disrespectful to the black community.
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Second: Those states that allow civil marriages [between same-sex partners] haven't done so because the people have voted for it. The people of each state - including California - each state where the people has been given the opportunity to vote, people have rejected it. Now, what has happened is that millionaires like Bloomberg come in, take a bunch of money, they buy out legislators and vote them in, and thus the legislature imposes it on the public.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: The end of racial segregation was also not decided by voters; instead it was by order of the Supreme Court and also by direct order of the president of the United States...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: I'll say it again, I'll say it again; compare it to the Jews. The Jews won't allow anyone to make comparisons to their suffering and their...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: But you have to admit that the homosexual community has also had their suffering and that they still suffer attacks by...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: As have we, the Puerto Ricans, the Hispanics, as we have had, the Hispanics, the Puerto Ricans...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: In other words, you do not deny they have suffered...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Just like fat people, just like... in this world, discrimination is massive. Ourselves as Hispanics, ourselves as Puerto Ricans, we felt it when we came to this country an we still experience it, wherever we are. But to compare that with the suffering and the civil rights of blacks... with the suffering of black slavery in the United States and the entire world... that is disrespectful to the back community.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: But many in the homosexual community can also say that you have also been disrespectful on many occasions. [If there has been] a fundamental pillar in your career and your political life it's been your opposition to the homosexual community. Let's look at this: In 2003, you stood against the expansion of a high school for homosexual students with a lawsuit...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: I don't think, I don't think public funds...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: And in 1994, you complained against the staging of the "Gay Games" athletic event in New York City and you stated, at that time, "some of the gay and lesbian athletes could already be infected with AIDS" and you also said "children could also come to the conclusion that if there are so many gay and lesbian athletes, then there is nothing wrong about it, there are no risks". Don't you think that the homosexual community might feel hurt by these comments? And because the fundamental pillar of your political career has been as such.
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: But hold on a second. Where are we living? We are living in America. We are living in the United States of America where there is freedom of expression, and freedom means that you might agree with something and I have the right to be in disagreement. Now, you'll take away my freedom to decide what I believe in and what I don't believe in?
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: One more time: You are banning the right of homosexual people to choose to marry the people they fall in love with.
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: No, I'm saying... no, no... fall in love with whoever you want, my brother. You can fall in love with whomever, and have pleasure with whomever, and get involved with... What I'm teling you is that I don't approve of marriage and I won't vote for it with my vote. But... have pleasure with whomever you find, fall in love with whomever, I'm not telling you who to fall in love with.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: This freedom of expression, to say what you want to say, don't you extend it to El Diario La Prensa? You've been organizing a boycott based on the editorial content of El Diario La Prensa because they back same-sex marriage...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: And abortion, and abortion, because...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: So you want to silence El Diario La Prensa's freedom of expression.
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: No, I want to be granted equality. I want to be granted equality.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: And what is equality. Which is the equality.
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Equality means that El Diario La Prensa doesn't cover any of our activities. They don't cover our children's parades...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: They did cover your rally from a couple of weeks back...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Nooooo, oh, man, it was just miniscule coverage. They don't cover the Day of the Pastor, they don't cover religious activities, they don't cover a thing. They only cover...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ:  Perhaps they only cover is what they consider to be newsworthy...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: So us... the Evangelical people don't have the right... We don't have to invest 50 cents to buy it. That doesn't... that doesn't... we are in America!
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: You are taking away the freedom of expression from them.
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Ah! So is it an attack... for... for... for us to inhibit our right to express our position. Give me equality, and let's say we'll be on even keel. I'm not saying 'Do not write about that'. What I'm saying is: Why is it that you write only about that side... and don't write about this side. Journalism should be impartial. Which is what I just told you about Blabbeando. Blabbeando. Look, what I said to you about Blabbeando, is that I respect Blabbeando because he's impartial in his writing...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: Blabbeando is a blog you have mentioned on other occasions in this program... but each newspaper has their editorial track and their opinion track, and their editorial is their editorial. That's where the editors express their opinion.
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: So we have no... / No, no... not their editorials, their entire content: They don't cover us and if they block us... in other words, journalism in America should be impartial. It should cover this and it should cover that. But if it's only going to cover one side...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: But it would appear that you use these arguments are your liking but then turn them around when they are of no benefit to you...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Well, I live in America and I am nothing more than a single individual, I don't understand why so many people have a problem when I am a single individual; there are so many millionaires and so much press contributing in favor of homosexual marriage; why is it that I am the one who is being attacked now.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: Because you know - once again, I repeat this to you - you have based a fundamental pillar in your career doing this. In other words, you can't throw a stone and then hide your hands.
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: It's not because I've wanted to. Not me, not me, not me. It's themselves, and it brings us publicity - when they start attacking me. If they'd leave me alone, I wouldn't do a thing. I'm just stating my position.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: You have said... you have said... you have made some comments that are... that many consider to be insults.
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: They are not insults. What I am saying there, what I am saying there, first of all: When the Olympic games arrived, Michael Jordan was banned from leaving this country, and other countries over there - outside of the United States - banned Michael Jordan's entry because he had AIDS. And so, when they over there... yes... and I said, why do we have to permit entry to those who come here and those from here, our people, are prohibited from entering there. That's what I said...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: ...and that children would think there was nothing wrong with being homosexual...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: I still say that, I still say that...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: You still say that...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Of course!
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: Do you then think... you do not deserve, then, those campaigns staged against you, don't you deserve them after saying... after making such comments about the homosexual community?
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: No, what I am saying... I took the position that for me homosexuality - as a pastor, as a minister, biblically - should not be.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: And I wanted to ask you, I have two questions, but we have to go quickly to end this segment. First, aren't you afraid to end up like those pastors who announced the end of the world last week - with all those tragedies that will occur if homosexual marriage is adopted - after observing that many countries throughout the world - those who warned that something would happen, that a tragedy would occur - that hasn't happened. Do you think you'll be left like those pastors who announced the end of the world?
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: I announce the end of the world.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: When?
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Whenever God decides it's time...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: Ah! Of course, that's how you hedge your bets!
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: No, no, no. It's just what the Bible says. According to the Bible, Lord Jesus Christ said that not even the angels sitting at...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: But let me ask you. Do you not fear being left behind like those charlatan pastors who announce the end of the world as they did last week and, in the end, they have to backtrack because this world did not end?
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Left behind as what? Are you calling me a charlatan because I oppose homosexual marriage?
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: No! Because I am telling you that you claim that if homosexual marriage is adopted all kind of awful things will happen to society - and that it's been legalized in other countries and none of that has happened - when you are basing it on an opinion but not on data or facts!
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: And why not spend that money on a more common system, ask for a referendum, and allow the 20 million residents of the State of New York to say whether they want it or not. Why impose it, by buying out Senate votes, buying out their minds and buying out their conscience.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: And to end, Senator: You also released a press statement on Thursday in response to Mayor Bloomberg addressing the "homosexual lifestyle". "Why defend the homosexual lifestyle". Do you then believe that this is a "lifestyle" that can be chosen? Do you think that homosexuals wake up one morning and say "I am going to fall in love with someone of the same gender".
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: I believe, I believe, I believe that it is, I believe, I believe that it's a homosexual behavior - because there are homosexuals who have changed their behavior...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: And so, let me ask you: If it's a choice, by that same rule, you could wake up tomorrow... get up tomorrow and say "I am going to fall in love with a man".
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: I could.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: You think you can?
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Yes, I could.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: In other words, you'd be capable of that.
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: I'm not sure if Id' be capable of it but it could happen.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: It could happen...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: It could happen that many people will get up tomorrow with an atrophied and different mind, and change things. I was... Me, when I became born again, when I arrived... Look, I left drugs behind.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: But... are you comparing - one more time - something...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: I left drugs behind. And my mind changed: One day I said "No more". I left drugs behind. And here I am.
JUAN MANEL BENITEZ: In other words, being homosexual is akin to being addicted to drugs...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Ah, it's that you all, you know, it's impossible. It isn't true...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: But that's the comparison you just made!
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: No. I am comparing what one can change from one day to another, change one's mind. I was telling you who I was. But you insist on looking for the turn of the screw and tomorrow the blogs will go crazy. "Look what he said!" "Look what he is comparing it to!" I am not saying that. What I am saying is, I used to be homo... [laughs] see? You have... I was, er, addicted to drugs. I left the armed forces with a vicious addiction to drugs and straight to the United States and I was deep into vice. One day, all of a sudden, I changed my mind and from then on, I wasn't anymore. What I am saying - but I wasn't born addicted to drugs. I wasn;t born addicted to drugs.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: That's where we'll leave it. Thank you so much for being here.

NYS Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr. defends comparing homosexuality to bestiality

Mention "New York 1" to anyone in New York City and, if they have access to Time Warner Cable, they'll admit it's their first place to go for NYC news, politics, weather, sports and traffic.  Lesser known to New York City residents is its Spanish-language companion "New York 1 Noticias" which happens to be the host of one of the best weekly political television shows in the nation, "Pura Política". If you speak or understand Spanish and are interested in city politics from a Latino perspective, please do me a favor and watch it every Friday at 6pm EST or set your DVR to record it every week (Ch. 95 on basic cable / Ch. 801 on digital cable).

I have often featured clips from "Pura Politica" on this blog, particularly when host Juan Manuel Benitez has invited politicians and political candidates to address LGBT issues (i.e.: "Three Latino candidates oppose marriage equality as they seek statewide office" from August of 2010).

More often than not, the most riveting appearances on "Pura Politica" when it comes to LGBT issues have been the times that Benitez has hosted State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. and patiently and meticulously has challenged Diaz on his homophobia and dismantled each and everyone of the Senator's bigoted arguments against marriage equality and LGBT-rights.

There was that time when Diaz acknowledged marriage equality would become law of the land in the United States ("Supreme Court will allow same-sex marriages as a sign of the End of Days"), or the time Diaz blamed New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for the lack of marriage equality in New York State ("Sen. Diaz: Blame Bloomberg for the lack of marriage equality in NYS"), and, of course, who could forget the time Diaz argued there was no such thing as separation of church and state in the U.S., particularly because Diaz himself argued he was THE church and THE state?

Those nuggets all came from previous appearances by Diaz on "Pura Politica".  On last Friday's show, Diaz appeared on the show once again and, when it comes to further exposing his religious-based homophobia, the show did not disappoint.  Here is Part 1 of the interview (you can click on the video to open up a larger view which might make it easier to read my translation).

I'll be writing more about this in days ahead but I hope you will watch every single minute of the first part of Benitez' masterful take-down of Diaz' homophobic arguments.

I do have to say that I had been waiting to translate Part 2 of this interview before posting it.  Today, though, I got scooped!

My friend Pam Spaulding hosted a post this morning by Tony Varona - a law professor and academic dean at the American University Washington College of Law who is on the board of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and is a former general counsel/legal director for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) - in which he translated segments of the interview ("Antigay NY State Sen. Rev. Ruben Diaz Grilled On NY1"). The post has since been picked up by others, including the following:

• Sen. Díaz Lies About Marriage Bill, Attacks Gays, Scapegoats Lesbian Granddaughter (Think Progress)
• NY Spanish-Language Political Talk Show Interviews Anti-Gay Activist and NY State Senator Ruben Diaz (GLAAD)
• Juan Benitez’s Excellent TV Take Down Of Ruben Diaz (Queerty)
• More Lies From NY Sen. Ruben Diaz (Joe.My.God.)

If you click on the YouTube video above you will see my annotated translation.  I have also posted a transcript below.  I'll post the 2nd part of thee interview later this week.

"Pura Politica": Interview with New York State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. by Juan Manuel Benitez. Original air date: May 27th, 2011.

JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: Here with us is State Senator & Pentecostal Reverend Ruben Diaz, Sr. Thanks a lot for being here in "Pura Politica" one more time. Let's begin here: This legislation does not affect your church. It's a civil issue. Why do you continue to oppose...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: That's not true... That's not true... that's not true...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: Is someone going to force you to.. to...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Yes, according to the bill - look for the bill - how the bill has been drafted; in the future, churches will be forced to do it, yes. Now...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: That's not true. In other words, let's address the facts. This is about.. we are talking about civil marriages. No one will go to your churh to get married.
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: No, no. Marriage is marriage...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: Civil marriage...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Marriage is marriage. The bill has been drafted and, in its current form, this specific bill does not exempt churches nor ministers. The bill does not say that.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: The bill addresses civil marriage, not religious marriage...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: The bill addresses marriage between a man and a man, and between a woman and a woman.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: ...and you are referring to civil marriage, not religious marriage. Do you really think that the gay community - gay couples - will go to your church to get married?
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: I'd have to marry some of them according to...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: They'll go to your church so you can marry them!?
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Well, who knows? They might go to my church so that I won't marry them... so that I won't marry them and they can then file a civil claim, file a discrimination suit, file a case to strip tax benefits from my church; because 'If I can't get married, then you are discriminating' and so the state cannot assist an institution that...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: I don't know if you've read the bill, but the bill specifically exempts churches. This is all about a civil marriage, marriages that take place at city halls, a non-religious civil marriage.
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: No. One of the new senators who is on the fence just said that he'd like [the exemption] so that it will be left explicitly clear - that the law will not force the hand of ministers from the churches and the synagogues.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: And if there is an exemption, if - as you say - such language were included to exempt churches so there won't be any issues of discrimination, would you vote 'yes' for that type of gay civil marriage?
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Me? Not me. Truthfully, no, because marriage for me is marriage in whichever form you like. That's the truth. I don't base my opinion against homosexual marriage on this and that. My basis is that it's against nature and that it's something that should not... not... not... ... ... should not be.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: 'Shouldn't be'. OK, last week we had Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito with us and she expressed her frustration that you've built yourself up as a spokesperson for the Latino community on this issue. This is what she said regarding the the publicity campaign for the rally you organized a few days ago in the Bronx. Let's listen.

COUNCILMEMBER MELISSA MARK-VIVERITO: ...and I believe that the mobilization and the ads that were also purchased - he bought on-air time in radio stations, and I listened to them - what he was promoting, I think, was hate - even if he says the opposite - a lack of acceptance, intolerance towards a few individuals who are deciding to live their lives however they wish to do so. And in trying not to promote it or support the legislation, and in trying to prevent passage of the legislation, of course! You are already entering that area in which you are not supporting the separation between church and state.

JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: Your reaction.
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: I have no idea what she is saying.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: Well, she says that in the publicity campaign for the rally you organized a few days ago in the Bronx you were inciting, more or less, in your message - according to her - you had shades of hate; a message of hate.
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Oh, man, I'm so tired of this. I'm so tired of this. You now, it's incredible. I don't even want to respond to it.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: You're talking to me in English, say it to me in Spanish...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: No, I'm no longer going to respond to that. You know: The lies, how they twist the truth, the way they twist things to promote something, you know, shame is what these people should feel. These people should feel ashamed. How they change things; how they want to take things and change them; to portray what was said and what wasn't said. For what? That's so they earn people's sympathy. Shame is what they should feel.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: But what...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: We have never spoken about hate. There is no such thing as hate. On the contrary, my granddaughter arrived and I embraced her and I told everyone 'this is not about hate'. Why do they continue to try and insist that we want to hate. We... everyone in America has the right to chose what they want. Some are in favor of something, some are against something. In other words, we cannot pray - the churches - when prayer is not allowed, when reading scripture is not allowed, we don't say that they hate us. That's...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: Everyone does enjoy freedoms, as you say, but you are blocking gay people's freedom to get married with the person they love...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: No, we don't have the freedom. I cannot pray at church, I cannot pray at school, I cannot read scripture. Students cannot. Any teacher who does it is fired. In other words, there is no freedom. You can't do it. Whoever does it is fired. We are the ones who are being pursued. Christians are pursued for that reason. Christian religion is pursued when we are not allowed to do the things we want to do. We accept it. That's fine. But it's not that they hate us: They don't like us... they won't allow us to do it. So why is it that when one is opposed to something, 'AH! IT'S HATE!'...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: You have always said it's not homophobia, that you are not homophobic...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: It's that homophobia... No, hate is what they do against me: The 'blasts' they send, the threats they send, the letters that come...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: But before we get to that, do you consider yourself... do you accept, as such, being called a 'homophobe'?
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: How could that be!
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: You are not a homophobe?
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: How could that be! I have family! How many times do I have to come here to tell you the same thing. To tell people.. why... no, no...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: Well, lets see: I'll read you the definition of the word "Homophobe" because I am a bit confused. The Royal Academy of Language says that "Homophobia" is an obsessive aversion towards homosexual individuals, your reply?
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Obsessive aversion? And who has 'obsessive aversion' towards homosexuals?
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: You not only show aversion but also say things like this, let's listen, from two years ago, let's listen...

JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: If being homosexual is a sin against nature, do you then think that homosexuality is a choice or simply...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: No, it's a... it's akin to having sexual relations with animals, many people also want it.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: In other words, you think that having sexual relations - a man with a man and a woman with a woman - it's akin to having sexual relations with animals.
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: They are both actions that go against nature. They are actions that go against nature. It has not been established by the nature of God that it should be that way.

SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: And what was it that I said there...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: In other words, you are saying... you are comparing relations between homosexual people with the behavior of...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: No, no, no. We are establishing what goes against nature. Relations between homosexuals go against... nature itself tells us, eh..
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: In other words, what you are telling us is that homosexual people go against nature.
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Yes. In other words, their relations go against...
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: And that's not an interpretation?
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Let's see... OK, if you want to say it's an interpretation that's your prerogative. The... something that goes against nature is something... nature itself says that marriage between a woman and a man are able to procreate [and have] children.
JUAN MANUEL BENITEZ: Where does it say so.. where does nature say that...
SEN. RUBEN DIAZ, SR.: Nature says it! Nature teaches you that a relation between a man and a woman can procreate children and that a relation between a man and another man or a woman with another... cannot procreate children. So nature itself... nature itself is telling you and the whole world 'This, I did not create'.

• This is part 1 of a 2 part interview. For a transcript of the rest of the interview please click here.

Guest Post: For this, and so much more, thank you Ricky Martin

PHOTO: Ricky Martin fan and queer poet and author extraordinaire Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano!

Last year, when Ricky Martin came out, I found myself searching for words to express just how monumental a step it had been for the Latino LGBT movement. I wasn't necessarily able to find my own words to describe my feelings but I did find an amazing blog post by my friend Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano on the subject, which I ran as a guest post ("Why Ricky Martin Matters", March 30, 2010 ).

A little more than a year after I featured that post, Lorenzo is back to explain how he felt when he had the chance to catch Ricky Martin's current 'M+A+S' music tour.  Cross-posted from his blog Hairspray & Fideo, here is Lorenzo's 2nd guest post on Blabbeando. Enjoy!

Ricky Martin's MAS Tour: Por esto, y tanto más, gracias. 

by Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano

I’ve made it pretty clear that I’m a huge Ricky Martin fan. I’ve been a lover of his music since the longhair days of “Fuego Contra Fuego.” In the early 90’s, I’d rush home to catch him as “Pablo” in Alcanzar una Estrella II, and Sundays I would be glued to the tv waiting for Ricky to make an appearance on Siempre en Domingo.

Years later, the very thought of Ricky’s music takes me back to my pre-teen years of crushes on boys in Secundaria, and the silence that stood between us. Having collected all of his albums and holding “Las Almas del Silencio” as his most artistic effort yet, I couldn’t help but (literally) jump out of bed when a cousin sent a text offering me tickets to Ricky’s MAS concert in San José.

After inviting and coordinating with a few friends, we were on the road from San Francisco to my hometown of San José. On the way, I played a number of Ricky’s songs ranging from “Dime Que Me Quieres,” stopping at the infamous “Livin’ la Vida Loca” crossover days, cruising through his tattooed reggaetón days of LIFE, and landing with the music video for “Lo Mejor de Mi Vida Eres Tú.” I was ready.

Although much of my time thinking and writing about Ricky this past year has been less about his music and more about his coming out and what it means for our communities, I wasn’t expecting anything overtly queer at the concert. Well, except for the sea of brown gay & bi men, of course.

As we arrived at the venue, I was happy to see my fellow jotos and patos representing with fierce rhinestone shirts and enough sharp eyebrows to cut a Luis Miguel fan. What I didn’t expect were the Christian protestors holding up the “Gay Sex is Sin” signs I’m used to seeing at Gay Pride.

I felt terrible thinking I had underestimated Ricky and that the Christians knew him better than I did. Never had I imagined a Ricky Martin concert would be worthy of warnings of a burning Sodom and Gomorra. The Christians did. And they were right.

Ricky’s MAS tour delivered on each letter of its acronym. He brought the música, he gave the alma, and baby, he delivered on the sexo.

I realize this is sacrilegious, but Ricky’s concert was gayer than any of the seven Juan Gabriel concerts I’ve been to. Yes, Juanga prances about, says things like “Si me caigo me cogen,” and has grown mustache-sporting men crying like Sanjaya’s preteen fan on American Idol. However, for all of Juan Gabriel’s beautiful femme fierceness and the lovemaking that goes on between him and his audience, it all remains masked under the clout of the unspeakable.

Ricky, on the other hand, left me speechless when he held one of his male dancer’s head as the dancer slid his hands down Ricky’s thighs. I’ve been gay long enough to know, that there is a gay move. And he didn’t stop there. The electrifying erotically sensual bi-gendered orgy-like performance that took place on a long sofa while he sang “I Am,” was enough to have the gays fanning ourselves and clutching our pearls (pay attention at 0:24 and on):

Still, for those who thought they had room to dismiss the (not-so)subtle sensual man-on-man moments in the concert, Ricky made the queerness explicit. In what reminded me of Madonna’s “Confessions” moment in the Confessions Tour, one of Ricky’s dancers performed solo as his coming out experience was narrated overhead. Beginning with the struggles of growing up with a father who insisted he learn to box and arriving with his libratory moment of discovering his love for dance and his revelation as a gay man. The screaming of the crowd erased all remaining ambiguity: This was a queer Latino concert.

Topping off what was a surprisingly gay and expectedly delicious concert, was Ricky’s encore performance of “Lo Mejor de Mi Vida Eres Tú.” The feel-good song that brought us the queer and different-affirming video, was brought to a close by Ricky offering the following words:

“Lo único que necesitamos en este momento son los mismos derechos para todo el mundo. Lo único que queremos es igualdad, ni más ni menos… I’m talking about equality, ladies and gentlemen, not more, not less, just equality.”

Now all you bitter gays who dismissed Ricky Martin’s coming out as inconsequential and cowardly too late, imagine an arena of Latinas and Latinos, many of whom speak Spanish as their primary (perhaps only) language, applauding an openly gay, culturally rooted and historically present artist delivering words that many queer Latino men like myself could never say to our own families.

Early on, I saw Ricky Martin’s coming out as an important opportunity for queer boys in the U.S. and Latino América who, in their isolation, would now have the opportunity to bear witness to a Latin superstar move openly in his public’s eyes as gay. Months after his coming out, I hailed Ricky’s appearance on the front cover of People en Español’s Father’s Day issue as an important historical moment for our communities. With a readership of 6.4 million people, Ricky, with his two children (Valentino and Matteo) in arms, would be on Supermercado stands and coffee tables across the country.

And yet, it took Christian protestors to make me realize that even I, in all my pro-Ricky arguments, had underestimated just how important he has become. I only hope that in the future I am not blindsided by my own limited capacity to imagine what Ricky Martin has in store for the future.

As the poet, Marvin K. White, recently said, “As with Don Lemmon, Ricky Martin is one of the few who came out with his ethnicity intact.”

Por esto, y tanto más, Ricky, gracias.

Related:

• P.D.: Soy Fan de Ricky Martin  (Enrique Torremolina)

Previously:

• Guest Post: "Why Ricky Martin Matters" by Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano (March 30, 2010)

Colombia: Taking communion on Palm Sunday to protest religious anti-gay bigotry

After being appointed as the Archbishop of Bogotá by Pope Benedict XVI in July of last year, Colombian Monsignor Jesús Rubén Salazar Gómez set three specific goals for himself: "Protecting marriage" as that between a man and a woman; fighting abortion rights for women at all costs and, last of all, promoting peace in the South American country.

So it wasn't necessarily a huge surprise to see him use his standing as Archbishop and his role as the president of the Colombian Episcopal Conference to release a public letter yesterday - on the eve of Holy Week - to ask Catholic believers throughout the country to speak up against efforts to grant same-sex couples the right to adopt children.

"Catholics like us are opposed to minors being entrusted to couples made up of same-sex partners and we reject any eventual Constitutional Court decision to that effect," the good pastor said in his letter.

The letter was understood as a call to arms for Catholic churches throughout the nation to take up the issue during today's Sunday mass and throughout the rest of the week.  It also comes in a week that saw great news in the advancement of LGBT rights in the country.

On Wednesday, the Colombian Constitutional Court ruled by an overwhelming 8-1 vote that common-law heterosexual partners and unmarried same-sex partners had the right to inherit their partner's belongings in the case of their partner's death, adding to a series of rulings by the same court in favor of LGBT rights.

The president of the Colombian Constitutional Court, Juan Carlos Henao, took pains on Thursday to say the ruling applied to anyone who could prove they had lived in a common-law partnership for two years, regardless whether it was a straight or gay couple, implying that they had yet to rule on whether same-sex couples had the right to marry.

That's because the Constitutional Court already has a couple of cases in it's docket that addresses both adoption rights for same-sex partners and marriage equality... hence the current Colombian Catholic church freak-out.

I have to say that I have no idea how the Constitutional Court will come down on either pending case.  Advocates who have brought previous cases before the Colombian Constitutional Court have been careful not to engage the marriage equality argument and target, instead, specific partnership rights such as inheritance and access to social security and health insurance benefits.  In other words, they have not asked the Constitutional Court to declare whether same-sex couples should be considered a "family" under the Colombian constitution.

Today, though, a dozen lesbian and gay advocates in Bogotá took the Archbishop's challenge head-on.  According to today's El Tiempo, they attended the Palm Sunday mass at the Metropolitan Church in Bogotá and stood in line to receive communion. They each wore a white T-Shirt that read "I am homosexual. I have children. I am Catholic" on one side and "Homophobia is not Christian!" on the other (see picture above).

Reportedly they all received communion.

"Obviously, as Catholics, we feel the pain of encountering a statement coming from the church saying we are not able nor apt to adopt children, or to raise them lovingly," said Elizabeth Castillo who led a group of lesbian mothers, "That is why we are here, it was important to us to establish our voice of protest - we deserve respect!"

"Supposedly, the Church is based on a message of love" she added, "it's incomprehensible why it is that they have sent a press release to the entire nation asking them to protest against adoption rights for gays."

I so love Elizabeth and all the other folk who showed up today at the Metropolitan Church in Bogotá asking not only for respect but also for equal rights.

The Passion of the Christ, Part II: Cristiada

When I think back on my years of activism in the Latino gay community I am always struck by those few unexpected moments and images that still rattle in my head and reverberate long after they have passed.

On March 14th, 2004, New York saw as huge an anti-gay rally as I have ever witnessed. Police reports put the crowd outside the Bronx Courthouse at 5,000 to 7,000 but I wouldn't be surprised if the count was much higher.

Although it's not entirely clear who masterminded the event or paid for it, hundreds of Latino churches throughout the NY/NJ/CT tri-state region ended their Sunday morning services by herding parishioners into buses and taking them to the Bronx. At the time, President George W. Bush was threatening a constitutional amendment to block same-sex marriages in the United States and rally organizers seemed all too happy to stand up and speak up in front of a huge banner that read "No to homosexual marriages, yes to President George Bush's constitutional amendment" (so much for a separation between church and state!).

I was there with 40 or 50 queer Latinos and allies hoping to counter the homophobic sentiments being sent in the name of God but there was little chance our message could reach such a huge crowd.  At the very least, we did provide an alternative message to some of the Latino media that showed up that day.

As the crowd swelled past the Courthouse grounds, across the street and into the park grounds where we stood, the police saw it fit to pen us in as a measure of protection. But I never really felt the need for the police pens nor did I feel in physical danger.  Most of the signs were of the "God made Adam for Eve, not for Steve" or the "love the sinner but hate the sin" variety and most people left us alone.

Most people.

As we stood in our safety area a woman wearing dressed in a denim jacket and wearing a baseball cap slowly made her way up the hill towards us calling us sinners and telling us we were going to hell. The detail that has stuck with me all these years later was not so much her shouting or vehemence but the fact that she was holding a copy of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" high in the air - until someone stepped in and convinced her to walk away.

The movie had just been released three weeks earlier, and I remember finding it hilarious that someone was using a pirated version of the DVD to tell me I was going to hell.

It had also opened to boffo box office success in the United States in part due to the word-of-mouth from preview screenings at right-wing evangelical venues.

Which brings me to a new film called "Cristiada".

Probably not quite as bloody as "The Passion of the Christ" nor as well-poised to receive as large a distribution deal, this is certainly the most expensive and overtly direct attempt to appeal to that segment of the Latino evangelical community who thought "The Passion of the Christ" was a documentary.

Here is the official movie preview which was released at the end of March...

This period piece film dramatizes the Mexican Cristero War of 1926 in which Christians picked up arms to defeat a secular government who was prosecuting religious expression.  The cinematography looks amazing which is not surprising as the movie is being promoted as the most expensive film to be completely filmed in Mexico.  It also has a strong cast which includes legendary actor Peter O'Toole as well as Eva Longoria, Andy Garcia, Rubén Blades, Bruce Greenwood, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Nestor Carbonell.

Scratch deeper and you'll ask why all these fine actors got themselves involved in this project.

Director Dean Wright previously handled special effects for "Chronicles of Narnia: The Witch and the Wardrobe" which is based on a series of C.S. Lewis novels that some have taken to task for weaving Christian theology into what is essentially a children's book series.  That might not necessarily indicate religious intent but an April 8th interview with the homophobic religious site CNA certainly does ("Movie explores faith in Cristero War against forced secularism").

In the interview Wright says he became interested in the film thanks to producer Pablo José Barroso who is no stranger to religious propaganda as in the film "Guadalupe" which was also championed at CNA.

Most worrisome is the involvement of actors Eduardo Verastegüi and Karyme Lozano in the film.

Mexican born Verastegüi plays the role of a martyr Christian priest who was hung for advocating peace. He is also an actor who gained notoriety as a member of a beefcake boyband called Kairo who eventually moved to Hollywood seeking showbiz success.

He found it, initially being cast in movies like "Chasing Papi" and television episodes of "CSI: Miami" and "Charmed" but rumor is that he also fell in the hands of an English-language teacher who taught him that his "life-style" was wrong.

He soon became a rabidly anti-choice advocate and a marriage equality opponent who became the Latino face of those who backed Proposition 8 in California, which sought to ban recognition of any same-sex marriages in the state.

Speaking to Univisión as quoted by CNA (of course) Verastegüi says "It is a film with a great message of faith, love, hope, loyalty and courage, about the religious persecution in Mexico... I play a Catholic lawyer, Blessed Anacleto Gonzalez Flores, called the ‘Mexican Ghandi,’ because he was a heroic pacifist who only wanted to defend his Catholic faith without violence".

Verastegüi playing the martyr. Sigh. As for Karyme Lozano...

Oy! Another big conversion into homophobic blather. This from a woman who gladly received the 2008 crown as the queen of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade!

And there you go. A star-studded Latino movie that spends millions of dollars painting Christians as innocent victims in ways that the director, the producers and some of the actors surely hope it will reverberate today, particularly in Latino communities.

They are already targeting right-wing religious sites for promotion, just as Mel Gibson did a decade ago. This time. though, they are going straight for the heart of the Latino community and I'm not so sure once it finds a distributor it will receive the critical response it deserves to get, particularly in the leading Latino publications.

Homophobia rears up its ugly head in Panama: Lesbian couple jailed for kissing, consul forced to resign over leaked photos

A couple of notably homophobic incidents this week in the Central American country of Panama:

Panamanian consul to the Canary Islands resigns over photos distributed on Twitter:  I have a feeling that when 22 year old Ítalo Giovanni Afú Quiel was appointed as the Panamanian consul to the Canary Islands in Spain he might have felt as if he'd won the lottery.

Known as a tourist destination for its beaches and relatively mild year-long climate and situated in the southern tip of Spain just across the northern coast of mainland Africa, the archipelago seems like a dream destination for just about anyone, particularly a young politically connected guy like Afú.

His appointment had already drawn some controversy in May of last year when it was revealed that he was one of ten individuals who found cushy government positions after his former boss, Juan Carlos Varela, became the country's Vice President.

That report also reproduced an e-mail message in which Afú boasted that one of Spain's leading store chains had agreed to carry a rum brand produced by Hermanos Varela, the company owned by the VP's family for which he and the VP had previously worked.

Nepotism, using a consular office to promote a sitting Vice President's economic interests? No big deal. Showing up to an annual carnival celebration dressed up like a woman and being caught on camera? An almost immediate resignation.

Three photos, apparently taken on March 12th on the final night of the annual carnival celebrations in Las Palmas, show Afú dressed in a pink dress and carrying a fuchsia-colored purse as a plastic yellow banana sticks out of his chest.  Apparently, the images only started making the Twitter rounds early last week quickly exploding on the national scene with the major Panamanian dailies running daily articles about the "scandal".

On Friday, the leading Panamanian newspaper, La Estrella, breathlessly reported on the images.  It quoted academic leaders as saying that the images were "yet another insult to the dignity of the community" while Vice President Varela defended him.

"He could have dressed up as a pirate, he could have dressed up as sea robber, or he could have dressed as - I don't know - Donald Duck?", the Vice Predident said, "We have to call it what it was: Carnival, a costume party".

The damage was done, tough, the director of the conservative and homophobic paper Hora Cero called him part of a "flowery" cadre of diplomats known for their homosexuality ("The diplomacy of 'el florón'"), conservative journalist and former political candidate Carlos Zavala called him a "faggot" ("Carlos Zavala confronts consul Afú") and, to top it all off, a Miami television station made homophobic fodder of the whole deal by showing a jaw-droppingly bad video of skimpily clad girls dancing to an all-female group singing lines such as "a confused consul went to a party wearing a woman's dress instead of pants" to the tune of "Guantanamera".

You might laugh but, apparently, though, Panamanians are incredibly concerned about how their country is viewed by a tiny Miami cable station ("U.S. television station makes fun of Panamanian consul - Newspapers of the world feature the case" La Estrella screams out).

What to do? Well, Afú resigned as a consul yesterday, effective April 30th.  In an interview published before his resignation, Afú revealed that Vice President Varela had called him after the scandal broke and warned him that he'd be fired if he ever showed up dressed like a woman to work or to any diplomatic event. Afú told Crítica he'd never dress up like a woman ever again. Sigh.

Lesbian couple held behind bars for hours after kissing in public: Surprised that a consul might lose his job over dressing up for carnival instead of charges of political nepotism?  Wait until you read this...

On Sunday, 32 year old Valentina Hernandez (right) and her 24 year old girlfriend were enjoying a romantic walk down the streets of the historic Casco Antigüo colonial district of Panama City when she stopped to give her girlfriend a kiss.

Hernandez, a psychologist by profession, reached out to Panamanian newspaper Prensa and shared details of what followed ("Police abuse reported").

Hernandez says that a member of Panama's presidential guard who had seen them kiss approached them and accused them of improper behavior.  When Hernandez asked him to explain clearly which law they had violated, the guard grew exasperated and called for reinforcement.  She says that ten other members of the Institutional Protective Service (S.P.I.) quickly showed up and took her ID and cell phone as they whisked the couple to the local police precinct.

Hernandez says that, once they reached the precinct, she was given an intrusive body check by a policewoman.

"I felt they touched me everywhere," she said, "They rubbed their hands on my genitals, it was disgusting, my girlfriend was asked to take her pants off."

Hernandez says that they were both held behind bars for hours until the authorities asked her to sign a three-page document which they did not allow her to read completely but in which she was told she would free the authorities of any responsibility for their detention.  "I signed," she said, "because I did not want to spend a night in a jail cell."

Late that night, Hernandez said, they were taken to a court where the judge granted them freedom not before warning them that they might be penalized if they were caught doing the same thing again.

Prensa says that the S.P.I. office released a statement saying that the women had been arrested for "drinking alcohol in public" but counters that assertion by pulling out a police report by one of the officers, Alfonso Rodriguez, who reported the arrest was made on the basis of "interfering with police activity and engaging in immoral activities in public".

Speaking to La Estrella, Hernandez says that the couple has hired a lawyer and is exploring the best way to fight back against those who violated their rights.

Interviewed by TVN-2, catholic priest Rafael Siu said that the women should have respected a public environment and said that it was not the way to express love towards others.

To date, as far as I know, neither the Panamanian President nor the Vice President have spoken out about this flagrant human rights violation in the same way that VP Varela came to the defense of the now former Panamanian consul of the Canary Islands.

Major FCC complaint launched against homophobic Spanish-language TV talk show

TAKE ACTION: To support this effort, please click here and sign!

In July of last year, I wrote about the outrageous homophobia, transphobia and misogyny that ran rampant on a daytime Spanish-language television show called "José Luis Sin Censura" (Appropriately, I titled the post "Sickening").

I wasn't the first or the last one to notice. In my case, an anonymous reader sent me a number of clips from the show which I translated and posted on YouTube. Jeremy Hooper at GoodAsYou had also written about the show a month earlier than I did. And the guys at Queerty also followed up on my post.

Most importantly, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) also released a call to action which means the show's producers were put on notice.

Eight months later, though, and they continue to pull the same offensive stuff...

The result? Today, it was just announced that GLAAD is joining forces with the National Hispanic Media Coalition to launch an FCC complaint against Liberman Broadcasting who own the show.  An excerpt from the press release:

Los Angeles, CA, February 28, 2011 – The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) today filed a joint complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against Liberman Broadcasting, Inc. and KRCA, a broadcast television station serving the Los Angeles area. The complaint is in response to a string of broadcasts of the Spanish-language television talk show "José Luis Sin Censura," which often contains indecent, profane, and obscene material, offensive language, nudity, and on-air verbal and physical attacks against women as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. The organizations also launched an online action with the Women's Media Center (WMC) where concerned community members and allies can send e-mails to the FCC supporting the complaint or file their own complaints based on episodes they have witnessed.

GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios and NHMC President Alex Nogales will discuss the FCC complaint during an online press conference on February 28, 2011 at 1PM EST / 10AM PST. To access the streaming footage, please visit www.glaad.org/jlsc.

In over twenty episodes that aired between June 18 and December 7, 2010, the program contained images and language of the nature that is never displayed or is bleeped out of pre-taped English-language programs of the same nature, including the words "pinche" ("f*cking" in English) and "culero" ("assf*cker"), anti-gay language, including epithets such as "maricón," "joto" and "puñal" (or "f*ggot"), and anti-Latino slurs, such as "mojado" ("wetback"). The program frequently featured blatant nudity and female guests have been shown in violent fights. Hypersexualized images of women's bodies while stripping for male guests and audience members also make up routine offerings. Guests and audience members were often incited to engage in verbal and even physical attacks, especially against people perceived to be LGBT. Many episodes showed the audience standing and shouting anti-gay epithets and profanity at guests.

The Woman's Media Center, founded in 1995 by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem "to positively impact the visibility of women in the media, amplify women's voices on key issues in the national dialogue, fight sexism and bias against women in the media, and increase professional opportunities for women across all forms of media" is also supporting the action.

The organizations have also created an easy way to join them and take action. To do so, please click here and sign your name!

Some will say that the show, for those who do not understand Spanish, looks like a Spanish language version of "The Jerry Springer Show" and a lot of it certainly seems staged. But Jerry Springer nor his show's producers would ever have allowed and encouraged audience members to shout "faggot" at a host as someone beat him up as one of these clips show.

Spanish language media often gets an easy pass when it comes to this type of obscene content on television that clearly violates FCC regulations because they are low on the FCC's radar. Please take some time to click on the action link and make sure that the producers of "José Luis Sin Censura" know that this sort of homophobic content won't be tolerated.

Related:

• "José Luis Sin Censura" webiste here
• "José Luis Sin Censura" Facebook page here

Reactions (you might want to check reader's comments on these blogs as well):

• GLAAD filing FCC complaint against "José Luis Sin Censura" (AfterElton)
• At last! A call against 'José Luis Sin Censura (Mi Blog Es Tu Blog)
• GLAAD files FCC complaint against anti-gay Spanish language show (Rod2.0)
• GLAAD, National Hispanic Coalition file FCC complaint over homophobic Spanish-language show'José Luis Sin Censura' (Towleroad)
  GLAAD files FCC complaint against anti-gay Spanisg language TV show (Joe.My.God.)
• Will this mean talk show heed GLAAD's warning about calling everyone a 'maricón'? (Queerty) 
• While GLAAD goes after one homophobic Spanish TV personality, another goes unchecked (ngBLOG) 
• Homophobia in Spanish-language media: GLAAD files FCC complaint against TV show "José Luis Sin Censura" (Carlos in DC)

Univision wants to know: Is it OK for a priest to call gays "faggots"?

• UPDATE 1: I posted this entry at 3:30pm. It's 4:47pm and the page is gone (reader comments remain, though). Univision must know they erred but there's been no apology yet.
• UPDATE 2: An explanation for the disappearance of the page and the poll. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) got wind of the poll through this blog and asked Univision to remove it ("Problematic poll removed from Univision.com after GLAAD Intervenes" via GLAAD Blog)

Remember last September when those kooky kids at Univision.com wanted to online readers to chime in and say if soccer was compatible with homosexuality?

Well, kiddies, on Tuesday they went one better and posted a new poll asking "Is it correct for a bishop to call gays 'faggots'?".

On the soccer question one of the options they gave readers as a possible answer was "No, soccer is a sport for macho men".

This time they give the following options:

a) Yes, there is freedom of expression
b) No, it's an insult
c) Clergy should not give an opinion on social issues
d) Yes, it is a defense of a religious perspective
e) No, and it should be penalized

The answers here, of course, don't really make sense nor do they matter that much.  Online sites use these "polls" to engage readers and keep them on their page.

The true issue here is why Univision.com deems it fit to keep posting these homophobic polls even after they've been caught red-handed in the past (the soccer poll was quickly pulled within a couple of days after Queerty and After Elton picked up on my post).

Or does Univision feel there is any question whatsoever on whether it's OK to call gays "faggots'? That's one explanation I'd really like to get my hands on.

Background: There IS some background to the poll. I've even got some video:

As the presidential race is heating up in Peru, the issue of civil unions for same-sex couples has jumped to the forefront up with the leading political party in the polls promising that they'll back such unions - as long as it's not marriage.

The Peruvian Catholic Church has been trying to mount an effort to paint same-sex civil unions as marriages in riling against those political candidates who back the measure and are using the same tropes used elsewhere to argue against them.

In this interview, which aired a week ago today, Bishop Luis Bambarén doesn't stray from the script until the end. He says that marriages are between "a man and a woman" and are part of "God's plan" and that any attempt against changing the rules of marriage is an attack on God's plan.  Yada, yada.

If that's all he'd said to reporters, it probably would have been a blip on the media radar.  But, just as he seems to have finish answering the question, the Bishop turns back to the reporters and asks "why is there so much talk of 'gay', 'gay', 'gay'! Let's talk Spanish, in common language [we say] 'faggots'! That's how it's said, right? So let's say it clearly" [jump to the 2:43 mark on the video].

As you might expect, the comments drew immediate international attention and reproach. Australia's Herald Sun picked up on it as well as the Bishop's semi-apology which he released a day later ("Bishop apologizes after gay slur", January 26, 2011).

So, even Bishop Bambarén had apologized by the time Univision posted their most recent poll on their site yesterday.

Shouldn't Univision stop their homophobic polls and apologize as well? We'll see what happens.

Related:

• Bishop Bambarén's apology, as transmitted on Peruvian radio, here.

Reactions:

• Univision Will No Longer Ask If Catholic Bishops Have The Right To Call You 'Faggots' (Queerty)
• Morning Meme: Armie Hammer's "Ton of Kissing Scenes," Nick Jonas Is "Les Misérables," and Super Bowl Ad Preview (After Elton)

Achy Obejas: Cuba goes both ways on gay rights

"Cuba goes both ways on gay rights". That's the title of a masterful opinion piece published yesterday in In These Times and authored by renown lesbian Cuban author Achy Obejas.

An excerpt:

"Cuba’s split personality on LGBT issues came onto the international stage at the United Nations in November, when it was the only Latin American country that voted to have 'sexual orientation' removed from a list of discriminatory motivations for extrajudicial executions. The amendment would have changed the LGBT-specific language to the vague phrase, “for discriminatory reasons, whatever they may be.”

Citizens around the globe raised such an outcry that, a month later, the international body reversed itself and passed an inclusive resolution.

In a second round of voting, to re-insert the original inclusive language, Cuba abstained.

Breaking with Cuban officialdom, pro-government Cuban bloggers joined dissident bloggers—in defiance of a complete blackout on the matter in official Cuban media—in criticizing the Cuban U.N. delegation for the anti-gay vote..."

Read the rest of the essay. Now.

Year in Review, pt. 4: Argentina's gays get to marry, Rev. Ruben Diaz thanks Blabbeando, Piñeiro goes to prison

Previously:

• Pt. 1: Esteban Arce keeps his job, the man formerly known as Luke Sissyfag riles NOM's nerves
• Pt. 2: Wedded bliss in Mexico City, transgender blood on Peruvian Flag, Lisa M. comes out
• Pt. 3: World Cup fever, Jorge Steven Lopez's killer brought to justice, Lady Gaga's Little Monsters in Monterrey

Moment of the year, captured on video: By a margin of 33-27, the Argentinean Senate voted to approve a marriage equality law in the early morning of July 15th and, by doing so, Argentina became the first Latin American country to allow gays to marry.  President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner signed the bill into law on July 21st and couples started getting married on July 31st.

They weren't the first couples to marry in Argentina, though.  That honor went to longtime HIV prevention activists and Argentinean LGBT Federation members Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre, who got married on December 29th, 2009, after a court gave them the go-ahead.

They also became the first gay couple to marry in all of Latin America. Mexico City might have approved their landmark marriage equality law on December 21st, 2009, but the law only went into effect in March of 2010.

Best television ad of the year: In the days before the Argentinean Senate vote, we saw the following incredible television ad. It was produced and written by Mati Caseaux and directed by Juan Schnitman.  I'm not sure if it has gotten any end of the year "Best Commercial of 2010" accolades, but if it hasn't, it should.

On a side-note, media watchdog webportal Mediaite covered my Twitter senate vote coverage (!).

Fidel Castro says he is to blame for past persecution against the LGBT community in Cuba: In August, former Cuban president Fidel Castro took responsibility for all past abuses against the LGBT community in the island.  It was a stunning admission, tempered by his assertion that he personally has never had a homophobic bone in his body and that, if gays were sent to "internment" camps, well, that should be blamed on the incidental homophobia among the Cuban population at the time.

NYS Senator Ruben Diaz says marriage equality will happen in New York State soon --- as a sign of the end of days: I know! Isn't that special. Read all about it here.  Thanks for the marriage equality endorsement, Reverend!

NYS Senator Ruben Diaz thanks Blabbeando: I know! Isn't that special. Read all about it here. WTF!

Jacobo Piñeiro goes to prison: In a case I have followed since March of 2009, a man who confessed to brutally stabbing a gay couple in Vigo, Spain, was finally convicted and sent to prison after an earlier verdict had cleared him of all murder charges.

That earlier verdict was vacated by a higher court earlier this year and, after a new trial was ordered, Piñeiro was released after three years of being held in prison.

In October, a court reached a different verdict and the judge sentenced Piñero to the maximum allowable time in prison: 25 to 58 years, minus time already served.

Venezuelan mural defaced by homophobes, repaired: A street mural in the Chacao District of Venezuela portraying two men kissing which was defaced with dark graffiti paint and homophobic epithets. The mural, which urged tolerance towards others and was part of a campaign sponsored by the Chacao Mayor's Office to improve the city's living environment. Darient, the graffiti artist who painted the mural, returned and painted another male couple kissing. Instead of urging "tolerance," the new mural promotes "respect."

Which brings us, finally, to December.

HIV/AIDS: There were problematic HIV prevention campaigns launched in New York City and Chile, plus a Puerto Rican first lady who thought there already was a cure.

Miami homobigots protest Ricky Martin and Univision: The protest didn't really go anywhere but it was certainly shameful.

And I'll close with one of my favorite stories of the year: The Argentinean version of Big Brother drafted this cutie-patootie as one of the contestants!

...aaaaaaaaaand that's a wrap! That was the Blabbeando year that was.

Year in Review, pt. 1: Esteban Arce keeps his job, the man formerly known as Luke Sissyfag riles NOM's nerves...

I don't think I've ever done one these before. It doesn't mean I can't do one. So there.

January: Mexican television show host Esteban Arce got himself into trouble early this year when a clip of a show he did in December was posted on YouTube and went viral on Twitter earlier this year.  The reason?  Elsie Reyes, a well-known "sexologist" and author of a well known syndicated relationship advice column, had been invited to the show to discuss the topic of 'sexual orientation'.  It all runs pretty smoothly at first until Arce repeatedly demands to know if homosexuality is "normal" or "natural".  When he doesn't get the answers he wants, the interview quickly goes downhill.

The furor elicited by the clip on Twitter was like nothing I'd seen before in Latin America when it comes homophobia in media which, to be sincere, surprised me considering that it was not the first time something like this had been aired on Mexican television.  The clip even had its own hashtag on Twitter promoted by people who were calling for Arce's ouster from the airwaves (#EstebanArceFueraDelAire). And mainstream Mexican media, facing a slow news period in January, ran with the story for days on end.

Arce and his show were suspended for a few days by the Televisa network but was back on the air a month later. Top Mexican newspaper Milenio calls it one of the top 10 TV moments of the year and takes Televisa to task for doing nothing.

February: Valentine's Day brought same-sex kiss-in demonstrations and equal partnership rights rallies in Peru, Argentina, Chile and Mexico. Expect similar demos come February of 2011.

Oh, and there was a big fire two blocks away from my apartment building.

Also in February: Luke Montgomery (formerly known as Luke Sissyfag) and his boyfriend Nate Guidas launched Cause Commandos to raise funds to help survivors of the massive January 12th earthquake that hit Haiti.

Although I haven't specifically written about it, Luke has been in the news again recently as the mind behind the FCKH8 campaign (that's him giving people the finger in the site's webpage).

I've been promoting their 2011 calendar (STR8 AGAINST H8) on my blog this month but this week this particular video drew the ire of homophobic bigots (OH.MY.GOD. I haven't done this many hyperlinks since I began the blog when I naively thought being hyperlink crazy was the way to go!).

Anyway, blooper reel!!

Next up: Latino pop singers come out of the closet, my friend Hiram, soccer players in love and how eating chicken can turn men gay...