Sometimes I am accused of being overtly sensitive about language which surprises me because I consider myself to be open to interpretation and context when it comes to usage of language that might be deemed homophobic. I also believe that tramping down on homophobic expressions or banning certain words does nothing to solve the underlying intent when someone uses such language.
This gets complicated when it comes to Latin America. Words that are considered to be homophobic slurs in one region might not hold the same connotation in another region. Take the word "playo" which is used in some areas of Central America to describe someone who is or appears to be gay in a derogatory way.
Outside the region people wouldn't even know what it means.
Or take the word "mariquita" which could be interpreted as the diminutive of "maricón" and akin to calling someone a "little faggot" except the word is also used as a noun for the insect known in the United States as a lady bug.
Both definitions enter into play in this clip aired on Panamanian national television in a comedy skit show called "La Cascara" ("The Banana Peel"). It's crass and not particularly funny and the punch line is particularly offensive.
In the skit two cartoon characters representing a narcissistic and self-involved wealthy Panamanian woman and her peasant caretaker find themselves transplanted to her vacation home in Miami where she introduces the caretaker to her Miami neighbors: Carlos and Ricky and their twins, a not so veiled reference to out pop star Ricky Martin and his family.
The "joke" hinges on the woman explaining to the caretaker that Miami is "inundated" with "mariquitas" (little fags) which the caretaker interprets as there being infested with lady bugs. The show thinks it's hilarious to paint the caretaker as a dim idiot who inadvertently calls Ricky Martin a faggot to his face while explaining why he is spraying pesticide in Martin's face.
It's not the first time that the show has skirted bad taste and homophobia. In a different skit God asks a "good angel" to recommend ways to promote goodness and love between couples while "Lucifer" tries to trick the "good angel" into having God accept gays as being good and loving which is ultimately rejected.
I wouldn't have gotten wind of the show if it wasn't for Agustín Clément - a playwright and entertainer who is one of the few out personalities in Panamanian showbiz.
Agustín has often fought what sometimes seems a lonely battle against homophobia in Panamanian media and has been trying to draw attention to "La Cascara" and its homophobia for months with limited response.
He does have allies in the Panamanian LGBT advocacy organizations but their calls against homophobia are often just as easily dismissed.
Unlike the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) in the United States, there are no media watchdogs in the Latin American region able to support anti-homophobia efforts such as Agustín's. GLAAD does have a Spanish-language media department but it's limited to the Spanish-language shows and publications produced and aired in the United States media market.
What Agustín has gotten in return for his advocacy is a public war of words with the producers and comedians involved with "La Cascara" and attacks from people who are fans of the popular show on Twitter and Facebook.
I found this clip to be particularly offensive so I offered to bring it to wider attention by adding translated subtitles and making people aware of what passes as comedy on this particular show.
If you have any ideas of how to support Agustín's efforts you can reach him through Twitter at @agusclement. Currently he is a morning anchor of the "Despierta Ya!" show on Bésame 91.3FM and produces and directs children's plays.
In a statement addressed to the Puerto Rican chapter of the Boy Scouts of America and published today in El Vocero, the three former Boy Scouts - José Aníbal Herrero Acevedo, Juan Gabriel Marrero Delgado and Luis Salvador Herrero - urged the agency to change their ban on LGBT members.
My translation of their statement:
We have made the decision to renounce the Boy Scouts' highest honor to raise the alarm against an organization that refuses to accept members of the LGBT community as part of their membership. In Puerto Rico of the 21st century there is no room for intolerance, discrimination or homophobia and, as a result, we can no longer be part of an organization that promotes any of it.
Being a part of the Boy Scouts of America was a unique part of our lives and that's the reason we cannot simply stand with our arms crossed before an organization that has shut its doors to a significant part of the community. We cannot continue wearing our Eagle Scout badges with pride unless the Boy Scouts eliminate their unjust policies and allow gays to openly participate in the organization.
The great experiences and memories of the time we spent in the troop last a lifetime and they must be available to everyone and not just a few. We call on other young Eagle Scouts from our troop and throughout Puerto Rico to join our efforts and to renounce their Eagle Scout rank until the Puerto Rican chapter of the Boy Scouts changes its discriminatory policy against the gay community.
The three men, currently in their 20's, were members of the same Guaynabo-based troop more than twenty years ago and have remained friends since then. Earlier today, Herrero took to Twitter to publicly announce their stand (in Spanish)...
A certain someone preparing to fill a judge's seat in the Australian version of "The Voice" took notice. Ricky Martin thanked the three men in a tweet sent to his 8,000,000+ followers.
In October of 2012, the Georgia-based office of the national Boy
Scouts of America released a public statement apologizing for 5,000
instances of sexual abuse committed against members of the Boy Scouts in
Puerto Rico between the years of 1959 and 1988. The apology followed an Oregon court ruling that made the records public.
In July we took a look at the Boy Scouts in Latin America and their policy on LGBT members. Surprisingly we only found out one Latin American country that banned gays from the Boy Scouts - Panama - and even they seemed to backtrack once the policy became public.
"We cannot allow the participation of people who have tendencies which are opposed to the formation of our values", said the Association's Executive Director Victor Winter to La Prensa.
Winter argued that the removal process would be "subtle" but that the step was needed because "it goes against our principles and ethic and moral values."
The new policy was actually adopted at a meeting that took place on March 21st but was only announced yesterday.
The Association's norms now include a paragraph that says "Discrimination based on gender will not be allowed, with the understanding that no members with obvious homosexual behaviors or who admit being homosexual will be admitted. Sexual harassment will also not be permitted. Said infractions, if proven, will lead to the expulsion of the person committing them."
Most worrisome, Winters said that the Association already had put into place programs to help homosexual children "revert" their sexual orientation back to straight. "We have programs," he told La Prensa, "We do put in our grain of sand in straightening their path."
They also said that before kicking out a Boy Scout who was gay they would first reach out to their parents which I assume means that they would offer the "reversion" program to the parents for their gay kids as an alternative to being kicked out.
Ricardo Beteta, Director of The Association of New Men and Women of Panama (AHMNP), the nation's leading LGBT rights organization, told La Prensa that he was a former Boy Scout and Troop Leader from 1965 to 1973 and condemned the announcement.
"Banning sexual contact within the Troop is not the same thing as defining homosexuality is a deviant behavior and offering a cure," he said, "that is nefarious and discriminatory".
Beteta said that he had first hand knowledge because he had been a victim of so-called reconversion therapy programs forty years ago and survived them to become the director of Panama's leading LGBT rights organization.
Augustín Clément, another leading LGBT rights leader, asked all Panamanians who believed in equality to stop supporting the Boy Scouts Association economically. He said that each non governmental organization had the right to establish their own rules and regulations but he also urged the government to investigate whether the Association was violating the human dignity of those Boy Scouts who are gay or thought to be gay [Image: Agustín Clement in red and Ricardo Beteta celebrate the Panamanian LGBT pride march that took place on May 25th].
COSTA RICA: Meanwhile in Costa Rica and also in the wake of the announcement by the Boy Scouts of America, Peggi Chávez, Executive Director of the nation's Guides and Scouts Association, told La Nación that their non-discriminatory policy towards gays and lesbians would remain intact. Chávez said that the issue was not under discussion since "each person has the right to determine what is best for their lives."
HONDURAS, EL SALVADOR & NICARAGUA: As EFE reports today, Raúl del Cid, Director of the Honduran Scouts Association said that they would also not determine membership based on a person's sexual orientation while Aníbal Abendaño, Director of the Support Unit for Scouts of El Salvador, also said that everyone age seven to twenty-one were welcome to serve as scouts regardless of gender or sexual orientation. An unnamed source within the Nicaraguan Scouts Association also said that they would not discriminate against gay and lesbian scouts.
COLOMBIA: In 2003, the Colombian Constitutional Court took up a case filed by Edgar Eduardo Robles Fonnegra who argued that the Colombian Scouts Association had kicked him out for being gay.
The Court ruled in Robles' favor and said that it was unconstitutional for the Association to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.
--- UPDATES ---
[July 21st, 2012] Panama's TVN Noticias reports tonight that Victor Winter seems to be looking for a way to take back his words in the face of mounting criticism and increased international media inquiries. There are no direct quotes but the television news web portal says that Winter now claims that La Prensa misinterpreted his words and all he meant to say was that gays involved with the Boy Scouts in Panama were expected to "behave correctly" and follow the values of the organization with respect to their contact with minors. He denies that this means that gays would be immediately banned from the organization although his latest statements directly contradict the Association's norms and regulations as obtained and shown on La Prensa's website.
[July 22nd, 2012] Victor Winter now says that he will no longer be speaking to media and will refer all inquiries to the president of the Panamanian Boy Scouts organization Carlos Torres.
La Prensa has tried to reach Torres without success. They should demand information about the "reversion" programs the institution seems to be currently running according to Mr. Winters.
Interestingly in 2010 the World Organization of the Scout Movement designated Panama as the new headquarters of the Inter-American Scout Office. Mr. Torres, in addition to being the President of the Panamanian Boy Scouts organization, was also named the legal representative of the World Scout Bureau, Interamerican Region.
Photo: Members of the US Embassy in Panama participate in the annual Sexual Diversity March that took place in Panama City on May 25th of 2012 (From the Embassy's flickr photo account).
[NOTE: Updated on July 18th, 2012. Latest updates at the bottom of this post]
It would be hard to overstate just how amazingly LGBT-friendly the US State Department has been under the leadership of Hillary Clinton even as she prepares to depart later this year.
I first took note of the changes at hand in January of 2011 when the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras took the highly unusual step to publicly put pressure on the Honduran government to investigate an increasing number of attacks and murders committed against dozens of transgender women throughout the nation. That was soon followed by a Statement by President Barack Obama himself and offers from the State Department to provide intelligence and legal assistance. It all culminated with Honduran authorities grudgingly announcing that they had launched a special hate crimes unit in November of that year.
Then came that extraordinary speech Secretary Clinton gave before the United Nations human rights office in Geneva in which she most memorably proclaimed 'gay rights are human rights' and made commitments to fight discrimination against members of the LGBT community throughout the world.
That essay was published on June 2011 during pride month following directions from the State Department for embassies to be visible on LGBT human rights issues on a local level.
This year in her pride month remarks, Secretary Clinton made it a point to highlight the diplomatic work being done by US Embassies and Missions throughout the world on LGBT issues:
United States Embassies
and Missions throughout the world are working to defend the rights of
LGBT people of all races, religions, and nationalities as part of our
comprehensive human rights policy and as a priority of our foreign
policy. From Riga, where two U.S. Ambassadors and a Deputy Assistant
Secretary marched in solidarity with Baltic Pride; to Nassau, where the
Embassy joined together with civil society to screen a film about LGBT
issues in Caribbean societies; to Albania, where our Embassy is
coordinating the first-ever regional Pride conference for diplomats and
activists to discuss human rights and shared experiences. And through
the Global Equality Fund that I launched last December, we have
strengthened our support for civil society and programs to protect and
promote human rights.
With such strong public commitment from the State Department and Hillary Clinton it is no surprise Ambassador Aponte felt in her right and duty to be visible on the issue last year.
This year a number of US Embassies throughout Latin America felt the same way.
HONDURAS: On June 20th, US Ambassador to Honduras Lisa Kubiske tweeted "The US Government supports the Honduran LGBT community in their fight for equality and respect #humanrights #LGBTpride" on her Twitter account (she also sent the message in Spanish).
Critics of US support for Honduran president Porfirio Lobo Sósa quickly jumped on the comment and asked if US police and military funding to Honduras would be conditioned on ending killings against members of the LGBT community to which she indirectly replied "Many Honduran #LGBT have repeatedly told me how much they appreciate USG support of SVU which has arrested 12 ppl connected to LGBT murders."
It turns out that on the same day Ambassador Kubiske sent those tweets she was holding a public LGBT pride month event in which she reiterated some of the warnings her predecessor Hugo Llorens had given the Honduran government a year and a half earlier.
Honduras has serious issues towards the LGBT community because it does not respect their rights and for us that is a key issue. That's the reason why several officials from United States have come to Honduras to ascertain that investigations of these crimes are done in an effective and prompt manner... All vulnerable groups need protection and when crimes are committed against them they deserve an investigation and a proper judicial process.
We certainly acknowledge the advances made during the previous year but we have to keep in mind that the number of violent attacks against the LGBT community have continued to increase, unfortunately.
La Tribuna also noted Interim Director for the USAID office in Honduras Ken Seifert was a guest of honor "announced" he was gay and read excerpts from his published novel "The Rising Storm".
On the Embassy's online site, Ambassador Andrew also highlighted the 2008 wedding of Cynthia Wang to an unnamed female partner and runs an essay from Ms. Wang on the meaning of LGBT pride.
Ms. Wang is the current Vice Consul in the American Citizen Services section of US Embassy in Costa Rica.
An excerpt from her essay:
Since we moved to Costa Rica my wife and I have felt extraordinarily well received. Some of our most intimate friends are ticos [ed. - a diminutive term for Costa Rican]. We feel a deep love and respect for this country and its culture and at a moment in time in which Costa Rica is debating LGBT rights let us hope that tolerance, compassion and a commitment to protecting human rights - a Costa Rican tradition - will also be reflected in public policies. Here is hoping that the Costa Rican government and its civil society extends protections to all citizens, whether they be gay or heterosexual.
Two days before the breakfast roundtable Ambassador Andrews also posted the following video on YouTube under the Embassy's account...
CHILE: My friend Michael K. Lavers covered it for The Washington Blade just so I wouldn't have to and thus:
Jason Jeffreys of the U.S. embassy in Santiago spoke at the Gay
Liberation and Integration Movement’s annual Equality and Human Rights
for Sexual Diversity March. Jacqueline Vera, whose son Daniel Zamudio
was brutally beaten to death in a downtown Santiago park in March,
Education Minister Harold Beyer, a number of presidential candidates and
lawmakers and Jon Benjamin, the United Kingdom’s ambassador to Chile,
were among those who also participated.
“As the Human Rights Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Santiago, one of a
number of policy objectives that Secretary [of State Hillary] Clinton
has determined is the concept of equal protections for all, including
the international LGBT community,” Jeffreys told the Blade. “I wanted to
participate because I wanted to share with Chile the fact that the
[U.S. government] stands with them in this regard.”
Jeffreys, whose boyfriend is Chilean, added that Zamudio’s death
affected him personally. He attended candle light vigils and marches and
spoke with Chilean politicians about what he described as the
importance of anti-discrimination laws. Jeffreys also delivered a letter
on behalf of the U.S. ambassador to Chile, Alejandro Wolff, to
Zamudio’s family at his funeral.
“I jumped at the chance to be able to speak at this event to continue with this support,” he noted.
Chilean lawmakers in April passed an LGBT-inclusive hate crimes and
anti-discrimination bill that had languished for seven years. President
Sebastián Piñera and other leading politicians backed the measure in the
wake of Zamudio’s death.
Apparently that is a grande latte cup in his hand. Are there Starbucks in Chile? Oh, and he only spoke in English according to the Embassy's website. ¡Inglés sin barreras!
Earlier in June, the Embassy also posted a podcast conversation with Julio Dantas, coordinator of Todo Mejora (the Chilean version of the It Gets Better Project) and Fulbright scholar Jenn Lerner who, according to the site, is conducting research on gay life in Chile.
PANAMA: If I hadn't asked my friend Augutín Clement, I probably would have missed this one. It turns out that on June 25th the US Embassy in Panama actually sent a contingent to participate in Panama City's annual pride march.
President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have asked embassies throughout the world to promote and defend all human rights. Members of the US Embassy and their families participated in the Gay Pride March in Panama to celebrate diversity, promote tolerance and support the fight against HIV/AIDS. This was the US Embassy's first official participation in support of this initiative in Panama.
"The US Embassy rocked," says Augustín, "They had shirts that said 'Estamos Unidos' ['We Are United'] and as they went by people shouted 'Long live, Obama! Long live equality!' It was truly moving."
That's a photo of Agustín, his hubby César Pereira and Duty Chief of Mission John Law as featured on the embassy's flickr account.
Johnathan D. Farrar, the current US Ambassador to Panama, did not join the contingent but he did invite Augustín to the embassy's July 4th celebration in honor of his advocacy for LGBT rights in Panama.
ECUADOR: A number of embassies not
mentioned in this post did not necessarily actively participate in
local pride events or held pride events of their own but added pride
proclamations from Obama and Clinton on their websites as was the case with the US Embassy in Ecuador. Unlike those other unmentioned countries, they also went a step further.
On June 22nd, the embassy also released a statement by Ambassador Adam E. Namm in which he applauded Obama and Clinton for their pride month declarations and highlighted the embassy's role as one of several "co-sponsors of the GLBTI Pride Week activities in Quito" (others include UNAIDS and several local and national government agencies).
Interestingly, while it didn't receive as much media attention as Mari Carmen Aponte, Ambassador Namm was also among a number of Obama diplomatic appointees whose confirmation was blocked by Senate Republicans for months on end. The lynchpin was Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio who also had a large role in keeping Aponte's appointment in check until it became politically unsustainable for him to continue voting against their confirmation.
Ambassador Samm started serving in his current diplomatic position on May 31st, a year after the seat had been vacated.
EL SALVADOR: Finally, while Ambassador Aponte returned to El Salvador on June 30th and a bit late to celebrate LGBT pride, it was particularly gratifying to see her receive such a warm welcome despite claims from certain US Senators that she was not welcome there.
It is also particularly satisfying to see some of the most homophobic conservative religious elements in El Salvador and the United States recoil in frustration. I won't translate this piece but will leave a link here for posterity.
Thank you, Madam Secretary Hillary Clinton.
--- UPDATES ---
MEXICO: On July 12th the US Embassy in Mexico invited a number of guests to the embassy and presented their entry into the "It Gets Better" project. The video went live on YouTube on July 16th.
The US Embassy in Mexico has supported members of the LGBT community. In this video we have included representation from the art, business and government worlds (including members of our Embassy). All have come together to give an anti-bullying message to be shared with the It Gets Better Project.
And on the embassy's blog they host a post by my friend Enrique Torre Molina about the video's launch which includes a cute photo of Enrique hanging out with Gabriel Gutierrez Garcia and other friends at the event ("The Embassy Gets Better" - Spanish).
SPAIN (not part of Latin America, of course, but part of Ibero-America): On July 17th, 2012, the US Embassy in Spain held a historic first meeting with some of the top leaders of the LGBT movement in the country. They included Pedro Zerolo, Carla Antonelli, Augustín López, Raúl Garcia, Toni Poveda and Boti G. Rodrigo, the current president of the Spanish State LGTB Federation (FELGBT).
On their Facebook page, the embassy posted additional images and described the meeting as follows:
Ambassador Alan D. Solomont met with leaders of the LGBT community in Spain at his residence on July 17th. They had a conversation about the history of LGBT rights in Spain, their successes and their challenges during the last few years and on how the Embassy can continue supporting human rights. Participants showed enthusiasm for recent comments made by President Obama in favor of gay marriage in the United States and suggested steps the United States might take to support LGBT rights - particularly in countries were those communities suffer great persecution. Referring to comments made by Secretary Clinton in Geneva in December of 2011 that "gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights", the Ambassador expressed his wish that this roundtable would only be the beginning of closer relationship between the Embassy and LGBT groups in Spain.
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".
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".
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.
According to a brief note that appears today in the Panamanian newspaper Critica, an anonymous "police source" has said that vacationing high school students and the gays are to blame for the collapse of Linea 104 - Panama's emergency phone system ("Minors and gays shut down Police calls"). From the article:
According to a police source, now that the school year has ended many youths make pranks on the dispatchers, during most of the day, while at night, alleged homosexuals call to harass police units, without thinking that this call might save the life of a person when it is really needed.
I tried to look for corroborating information elsewhere but could only find a Sept. 10, 2006 article in La Prensa that might provide another explanation as to why Linea 104 is experiencing problems: At that time there were only ten officers devoted to answering emergency lines and an estimated 400,000 calls per month coming in ("10 policemen respond to 400 thousand calls a month").
Well, back then the Director of the Police Department was Rolando Mirones, a civilian selected to lead the Department under a policy that sought to combat past corruption by making it possible for non-police officers to run the Department. At the time, rising crime numbers and controversial stands such as backing those gay police officers who were already in service added to pressure by military leaders and some within the police department for him to step down.
Indeed, Mirones submitted a letter of resignation on May 13, 2008, a month after pushing for the Police Department to accept the enrollment of gay officers. With his departure, the government also reinstated rules that require that those who lead the Police Department must be police or military officers - and does not allow for civilians to take the top post ("Arcia justifies militarization").
The current Director, Francisco Troya, has been a career police officer.
Good news! In his syndicated International News column dated August 14th, Rex says that on July 29th Panamanian president Martino Torrijos Espino signed a decree repealing the law.
"According to Amnesty International," Rex says, "11 nations in Central America, South America and the Caribbean continue to ban gay sex -- Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. All of the countries are former British colonies."
News that Rolando Mirones, the National Police Chief of Panama, would not have an issue with allowing gays ans lesbians as police officers, has elicited mostly negative reactions from public officials, while a gay-rights advocacy group says that his words are meaningless without changes in the law.
Government and military officers, former Chief of Police react negatively: Retired military general Rubén Darío Paredes tells Critica that comments by Mirones are unusual and probably a slip of the tongue.
"I first thought that [Mirones] was joking with the reporters, then I believed that it had been a confrontational or rude response against media. Either way, today - under a more serene and meaningful reflection -, I am certain that [Mirones] has perhaps realized that he made an unfortunate slip."
He also tells the paper that it might be time to bring allow military leaders to direct the nation's police force (in his comments he mentions that the police department has only been allowed to have civilian directors for the past 17 years but that this model, while effective at first, might be "tired" and in need of change).
Over at Panamá America, Daniel Delgado Diamante (above), the nation's current Justice Minister, has harsher words: "I cannot imagine a homosexual policeman, and this is a situation that I completely reject from a purely personal point of view."
He cautions Mirones that the current police regulations call for removal of anyone who participates in a homosexual act within the institution and establishes it as a "grave" act. He added "As long as I am a Minister, I will make sure that the regulations are obeyed."
Delgado also told PA that he was aware that "cases of homosexuality" had been reported in the National Police and that it was up to the police to control the situation (the paper also mentions a case four years ago in which a police lieutenant was booted from the police force after a man sent naked pictures of both himself and the officer to media and the police department).
Ebrahim Asvat, a former director of the National Police of Panama, concurs. Allowing gays, tattooed individuals and people with earrings (as was also suggested by Mirones) are "liberties" that will weaken the discipline required of the institution. "This opens itself to allow the institution to be infiltrated by many delinquents."
The church says there should be no discrimination: Surprisingly, the church is the institution that seems to be asking for a more measured response. Monsignior José Domingo Ulloa told PA that "a person cannot be discriminated" although he also said that it was up to the Police Department to determine who it allows in or keeps out. "What the church asks," he said, "is that the workk gets done in the most serious and responsible manner, because what is most important is to safeguard the security of all Panamenians."
LGBT rights advocate doubts gays will be allowed to serve as police officers, asks Mirones to work with his organization to change written law: In the meantime, back at the Critica article, Ricardo Beteta, President of the Panamanian LGBT-rights organization New Men and Women of Panama (HMNP) says that he doesn't see gays and lesbians serving in the police force anytime soon.
"If the Director says it, it's a very important step;" he says, "What worries me is that the Police Law says: 'If the institution discovers that a unit has a life as a homosexual or lesbian, it is cause for destitution' - and so he should change the regulation that currently is a Law of the Republic so that his words truly have value."
"If this change is not done, when he is no longer Chief of Police, those people who declared their sexual preference will be without protection," he added, "then it will be a announcement made half way. What he should do is to work with us so that the Law is changed."
Critica also asks Beteta if it's not a bit out of place for someone who is a police officer to be gay and to comment on how a gay police officer should behave.
Beteta tells Critica that he knows that there are many gays and lesbians in the police force already and that they do their job like any other officer and that, in as homophobic a culture as in Panama, people are letting their stereotypes define the debate.
Although we have no access to the original radio interview that was broadcast yesterday at Panama's La Exitosa radio station, Critica says that Rolando Mirones (right), the chief of the National Police, told listeners that gays could join the police department as long as they followed the Constitution, the law and the regulations as part of their service.
He also told radio host Renato Pereira that "it would be bad to ask a person if they are gay or not, because that has nothing to do with his or her [work] performance."
"I believe," he added, "that if the person has the moral, ethical, psychological and physical capacity to be a police officer it does not matter what their preference is and what it is that they do at home and during their free time."
In totally unrelated comments, Mirones (left, just in case you didn't get the full Mirones vibe above) also said that the police department will accept tattooed recruits as long as their tattoos are "artistic" and not on parts of the body that are visible during work. HOT!
It's that last decision that has riled up some opposition from legislators, according to La Estrella. The president of the local city council, Omar Montenegro, exclaimed "It's not possible to now allow new police officers to have tattoos and, in addition, to have perforations on their ears!"
Critics said that it was a desperate move by the department to increase the number of new recruits and that tattoos are usually associated with people involved in "illicit activities."
Then again, maybe they'd only learned about the part about tattoos and had yet to catch wind of Mirone's comments on allowing gays in the police force? After all, when La Estrella reported on changes to police recruitment rules on Wednesday, the department had only revealed that they were going to be less strict about tattoos and earrings worn by police officers.
In the meantime, check the National Police of Panama's official mascot over at their website (lower right column here). Pretty gay, no?
I'm not sure about the department's track record in dealing with LGBT folk in Panama and, particularly, the transgender community, but Blabbeando certainly supports efforts by Mirones to broaden the diversity of the police force.
Rex Wockner, who authors a syndicated international LGBT news column for several newspapers first noticed that I mentioned Belize among what I thought were the only two countries left in the American continent to penalize sodomy between consenting same-sex couples (the other one being Guyana) - a country that he had not listed as having a sodomy statute in one of his past columns (I had relied on WikiPedia, not always the most trustworthy of places).
Rex, who was planning to write about Nicaragua for the column that came out this week did some additional research and told me not only that the Belize statute checked-out but that he also found out that an anti-gay sodomy statute was still alive in Panama (you can check Rex's full column at Windy City Times)
It gets a little confusing:A country of origin research post on LGBT rights in Panama posted at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canadawebsite quotes the UK's Gay Times magazine as stating in 2002 that homosexuality is legal in the country (an interactive map at Amnesty International's website on "LGBT Status Around the World" also fails to raise flags about any Panamanian anti-gay statutes).
But the same Canadian country of origin report says that in the 2002 article Gay Times also reported "that homosexuals still face discriminatory laws; according to a 1949 decree, gay public sex is punishable by a $500 fine or one year in prison, while no equivalent exists for heterosexuals" which is not quite a sodomy statute but indicates that there are penalties for certain same-sex sexual interaction.
Gay Times based their statements on information given to them by New Men and Women Association of Panama (AHMNP), the country's leading LGBT-rights organization, which actually has the text of the 1949 law posted here (in Spanish). And, while most of the law concerns itself with issues related to prostitution and public sex, Article 12 actually reads as follows:
Clandestine prostitution, procurement (proxenetismo), sodomy and all vices of sexual degeneration not specified under this Decree will be sanctioned with penalties imposed by the Director of the Department of Public Health."
The penalty for sodomy under this law? From three months to a year in jail or a fine of 50 to 500 balboas (currently 1 balboa is equal to 1 dollar).
So apparently Panama is the last Spanish-speaking Latin American country with penalties for acts of sodomy.
In his column, Rex lists Panama along with Belize and Guyana as being the three nations in Central and South America that continue to have laws banning gay sex. He also names several Caribbean islands, including Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago as still having anti-gay sodomy laws noting that "ten of the countries are former British colonies."
A side-note: I am not surprised by it because both the United States and Canadian governments do this but it's still shocking how much a refugee / immigration board relies on a tiny article from a gay British magazine looking at Panama from a tourism-interest angle to base their conclusions regarding country of origin status for LGBT immigrants. The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada quote other sources but mostly rely on the Gay Times piece and there seems to have been no attempt to even contact AHMNP or other direct sources in Panama for the report.
July 1, 2007: In Bogota, Colombia, the gay community mourned the death of 11 deputies that had been held in captivity by the FARC guerrilla for more than five years. The black banners and shirts also were meant to show the community's anger at the Senators that used a legislative procedure to derail a same-sex partnership bill at the last possible minute back in June (image from El Tiempo)
You might have seen coverage of pride marches in Spain and Brazil elsewhere so we'll skip those (just Google both and see what comes up or, better yet, browse GayNewsWatch.com for related stories).
We have already written about last week's rally in the Dominican Republic. Here is a look at other pride marches and events in Latin America that took place over the weekend that might have received less attention in these latitudes.
Cochabamba, Bolivia: Santa Cruz and the capital city of La Paz might have observed gay pride events in previous years but this year it was the Andean city of Cochabamba to launch their first pride event ever (abuove-right press conference image taken from Los Tiempos).
On Sunday, Los Tiempos reported that the previous day's gathering at the city's main plaza was attended by thousands of individuals who "danced with transsexuals, gays and lesbians."
"I didn't know Miss Cochabamba was so tall!" said an older woman as she posed for a photo with the Queen of the Gays, stated the reporter.
The paper took note of the visible trans presence and the lack of confrontations or disruptions that have marred pride events in other Bolivian cities.
Guayaquil, Ecuador.El Comercio reports that 300 people showed up for an afternoon of artistic shows at an outdoor plaza on Thursday, June 28th. The event, which began last year, was organized by the Friends for Life Foundation under the theme of "The problem is not homosexuality... The problem is homophobia." The Foundation has posted images of the event over on their blog here and here. Panama City, Panama. The Association of New Men and Women of Panama (AHMN), observed pride by releasing their first ever "Top Ten Most Homophobic Panamanians" list which included television personalities, religious leaders and politicians.
At least one of the nominees expressed surprise at being nominated: Critica Libre columnist Julio Cesar Caicedo told the AFP "I am not a homophobe."
San Salvador, El Salvador. EFE reports that hundreds of people, including representatives from half a dozen HIV prevention and gay rights organizations participated in a gay pride march through the streets of San Salvador. Under the theme of "Diversity in Action" well-known gay-right activist William Hernandez stated that there was a lack of funding and institutionalized support for anti-homophobia trainings or campaigns or for HIV prevention campaigns specifically targeting the gay community.
Santiago de Chile, Chile. Last week the Chilean arm of Amnesty International said that two leading gay rights organizations, MUMS and MOVILH, had received anonymous threatening messages through the internet in advance of Sunday's pride fair. In June MOVILH's website had also been hacked twice also by unknown put self-proclaimed skinheads who posted offensive messages and images instead of the usual content.
Fortunately MOVILH's portal is back in MOVILH's hands and they report no incidents of violence at Sunday's cultural fair which celebrated both LGBT pride as well as the organization's 16th anniversary. They also have a photo gallery of the day's proceedings here (if people seem a bit bundled, keep in mind that it's currently winter down in Chile).
La Nacion had perviously reported that, parallel to the day's events there would also be a second annual "kiss-a-thon" organized by MUMS in a show of support for anti-discrimination legislation.
Bogota, Colombia. Organizers of Bogota's pride march also denounced internet-based threats from anonymous self-described "skinheads" on the eve of Sunday's event. Fortunately, the march drew an estimated 10,000 participants despite cold rainy weather and there were no reports of any disruptions or clashes although a group of pro-gay skinheads did participate.
Organizers of the event, led by the Colombian LGBT rights advocacy organization Colombia Diversa, had planned to wear black shirts in protest of last month's 12th hour defeat of a landmark bill that would have given same-sex couples in Colombia some partnership rights. But on Sunday the black banners and shirts also served as a powerful symbol that the LGBT community in Colombia stood together with the rest of the country in mourning the death of 11 councilmembers who had been held in captivity for five years by the FARC guerilla organization (the FARC say that the kidnapped men died in a confrontation with armed forces while the Colombian government has categorically denied any rescue mission or military activity against the FARC in the area).
In addition to those visible expressions of sadness, Fabian David, a young man who marched along with his boyfriend, noticed another key difference from marches in years past: "The majority of are not wearing masks," he told El Tiempo, "This is because there is a sense of increased comfortability with the issue."
Panama was in an uproar earlier this week over a series of six ads that appeared in seventeen billboards throughout Panama City, the country's capital.
The ads, commissioned by a magazine called Blank which targets upper class readers, pretended to highlight "the prejudices faced on a daily basis by those who are different because they dare to or because they are provocative" - At least according to the magazine.
Each featured a different person hanging from a wooden cross with a one-word label above them (including "faggot" as pictured above as well as "anorexic," "delinquent," "drug-addict," "whore" and "violent aggresor").
Obviously the magazine was probably more interested in being provocative than truly standing against discrimination. In any case if their goal was to attract attention, they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
The church immediately called the campaign an insult to Catholics and by Tuesday the Mayor's Office had ordered the billboards removed saying that the agency wanted to take advantage of the upcoming religious holidays to attract attention to the publicity.
Ezra Ángel, an attorney consulted by Panama's news daily La Prensa, said that the Mayor had legal right to ask for their removal since the third tome of the Administrative Code, Title 1, Chapter 1, article 855 calls for "the maintenance of public calm, the morals and the good customs of people and their individual and collective interests" and added that "Blank [magazine] is being disrespectful of a great number of Catholics who feel a lack of respect when they see the irresponsible use of such a sacred symbol as the cross; The morals and good customs should be respected in order not to cross the thin line between freedom of expression an libertinism."
La Prensa interviews two publicists who were not involved in developing the campaign and both agree that the Mayor's actions amount to censorship.
Mayor contradicts himself: Interestingly in defending a different billboard campaign back in 2004, while recognizing that he personally found some images offensive, Mayor Juan Carlos Navarro told La Prensa "The Panama Mayor's Office does not have a role in censorship, on the contrary, I believe in freedom of expression."
He also said that if those billboards were taken down, the same would happen to other campaigns in other media be it radio, television, internet or newspapers: "There are in all of them publicity, programs and news that could be offensive to someone in the [general] public."
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