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Jorge Saavedra, Director of the Mexican government's National Center for Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS, said the following to participants at an HIV prevention conference this week:Marriage is a factor in the reduction of sexual partners for heterosexuals, it reduces the risk of contracting AIDS, which is why to open that possibility for homosexuals would be positive in reducing infection rates.
This according to an EFE article published today by the Mexican newspaper Cambio. There have been attempts in the past by Mexico City legislators to pass a 'Cohabitation Bill' which would basically extend benefits afforded to heterosexual couples in common law marriages but they have largely failed. A Valentine's Day rally to demand the right to marry for Mexican same-sex coiples (which has become an annual event) drew more than 800 people on February 14th, according to La Jornada, but gaining the right to marry remains an uphill struggle in a country as machista as Mexico.
Back in November at the 4th Central American Congress on HIV/AIDS, Dr. Saavedra was awarded the AIDS Responsibility Project's Leadership Award for his efforts to fight homophobia in Mexico. Under his watch, the gubernmental agency he leads launched a series of groundbreaking radio ads which directly taclked the issue and led an effort to get business agencies to get involved in supporting efforts to fight AIDS in Mexico.
You can download the Spanish-language audio files for both radio spots, "La Cena" and "Preguntas" here (they're a little more than half-way down the page, under the title "Arranca en 7 ciudades campaña radiofónica contra la homofobia".
When Rod 2.0 alerted us to stunningly low job approval ratings for President Bush in the aftermath of the hurricaine (Oct. 13, 2005), we were afraid to ask what the margin of error was. Not necessarily on the same topic, and a definitely happier alert, Rod says that he has interviewed gay Latino hottie Wilson Cruz for the next issue of Clik. We'll be looking for it in the newstands. Kudos ro Rod for landing the interview.
Regarding Colombia: Transgender Diva (Jan. 13, 2006), perhaps the most visited post in this blog, last week I actually had the opportunity to talk to Endry Cardeño (pictured above), the transgender woman who plays Laisa Reyes in the popular Colombian soap opera "Los Reyes." I had been asked to participate in a morning radio show broadcasting from Bogota on how coming out might be different in the United States than in my home country of Colombia. I knew that a good friend of mine, German Rincon - an amazing gay rights advocate and attorney - would be amongst the guests but, to my huge surprise, Endry was also invited. I took the oportunity to congratulate her on the soap and the work she was doing to bring down stereotypes about transgender people in Colombia. Yes, I can get a bit star-struck sometimes. Then again, I know people who are making their families tape "Los Reyes" so they can see it here.
Regarding A Year Without Love (Feb. 7, 2006), I have yet to see the film since it opened in New York but Gary Kramer at Gay City News gives it a rave review.
Regarding La Trevi en New York at Splash on March 7, both Syed and Elena Mary have taken me to task for daring to say that I am not a big fan of Gloria Trevi's music. She is, after all, the "Mexican Madonna!" I guess I'll have to atone for my sins at Splash when I go see her live. The night closes a mini-tour of gay bars throughout the United States. The Miami Herald filed this story on the eve of her Feb. 14th performance in Miami Beach. In the article, the tour promoter says: "The gay community has always believed in her, a lot of them understand when you're wrongly accused because of sexual behavior. When she came out of it all triumphantly it helped her."
La Trevi says: "I'm so grateful and proud [to have gay fans]. When I was in trouble, the gays didn't abandon me."
Let's see how the night at Splash goes.
A gay porn flick released by the Miami- based Kristen Bjorn Productions in 2004 called "Men Amongst the Ruins" is raising heckles from local community leaders in the colonial city of Antigua, Guatemala, who are disturbed that some of the sex scenes were aparently filmed in the ruins of colonial-era Christian temples.
Antonio Tovar, the Director of Conservation of Ancient Guatemala, told the AP that while the production company did film in an 18th century Catholic temple that has since been converted into a museum, the sex scenes were filmed elsewhere and edited to seem as if they took place inside the museum.
Antigua, which dates back to the 16th century, used to be Guatemala's capital city until a series of earthquakes left it nearly deserted in the 18th century and Guatemala City became it's last and current capital. Kristen Bjorn, known for the exotic worldwide locales he choses as settings for his porn films, did not make a comment to the AP.
So, while the Guatemalan gay rights organization has suffered the loss of eight of its members to violence just this year, a US-based gay porn producer uses a Central American city for profit (reminds me of something else) and Guatemalan authorities seem to care more about the sex that aparently never took place in a temple than the rash of killings that has plagued OASIS over the years.
UPDATE: You can read more about this at "Drowning in a glass of water" from El Blog Diabolico.
Today, the Latin American bureau of the AP is reporting that the country's Human Rights Ombudsman, Sergio Morales, released a statement charging that police were involved in the clandestine shooting of a transgender woman who was a member of the gay rights and HIV prevention organization OASIS. As usual, the AP publishes the victim's name of birth and categorizes the victim as a homosexual man but ads "[Juan Pablo] Mendez Cartagena, known as 'Paulina' in the homosexual world, died in a nearby hospital from bullet shot wounds" and that the shooting occurred "in a street known as travesti and transsexual prostitution area."
Pray tell, what does 'the homosexual world' mean to the AP? And while we are at it, why not dignify the woman who was killed by giving her the name with which she chose to live her life? (at least the English language Reuters story gets it right)
Of course, that is an issue of semantics and reporting. Much more serious is that OASIS members continue to be victims of such horrible violence: The agency tells the AP that eight of their members have been murdered in what is a young year and the sad thing is that it's not something new. Check out this profile of OASIS from the online webzine, The Gully, from 2000.
The Ombudsman did not release additional information such as the names of the officers saying that the investigation was still in process.
Jorge Lopez (pictured above), the Director of OASIS, told the AP "we hope that the investigation is followed to the end."
Photo credit: E. Sologaistoa, taken from The Gully.
An interesting read as well... from the San Antonio Current, "Would the rich gay, white men please stand up?" (I swear that's the original title!)
Cayman Islands: A cruise passenger received a caution from Deputy Commissioner Anthony Ennis for hyping up the protesters (Caribbean Net News)
So allow me to make certain connections between two news stories that came my way this month:
Yesterday, Diario Hoy from La Plata, Argentina, reported that a gay cruise ship, Oceania Insignia, will make its arrival in a Buenos Aires, allegedly making it the first gay cruise ship ever to dock in the South American country. The ship, which originally departed from Miami, will eventually travel to Chile and then end its journey in Brazil just in time for Rio de Janeiro's carnival season. With a tripulation of 400 (!?) and an additional 700 travelers, Diario Hoy says that most are United States citizens known as "Dinks" (a term the paper says is widely used everywhere as an acronym for "double incoming no kid" or, I assume, double income, no kids). Now, if you like to butch-it up a little with leather chaps for a 'leather-daddy-for-a-day'-themed sea adventure (but find leather bars such as The Eagle too darn scary), or maybe want to dress in drag for the first time ever for that 'drag fantasia' night (but would rather die than show your drag photos to others once the trip is over), by all means get yourself secuestered in one of these hulking ships for days on end and enjoy! But why make the rest of the world suffer such displays of, ehem, dinkiness?
Argentina, Chile and Brazil might just shrug in puzzlement. The same cannot be said of the Cayman Islands, which is still in uproar after yet another United States gay cruise ship docked in its capital city, George Town, last week with more than 3,200 gay men. Some Caribbean islands unfortunately are still beholden to some of the worst effects of colonial rule which, among other things, brought with it government-enshrined homophobia (the Cayman Islands are still a Bristih colony) - which some now claim as tradition:
"For the 'true born' Caymanian to welcome a group of tourists that encourages a homosexual lifestyle that is contrary to the predominant culture on these Islands makes no sense in this context," editorialized Cayman Net News chiding the local government for giving permission for the Atlantis Events cruise ship to dock in the island (back in 1998, another gay cruise ship was turned away).
Even before the ship arrived, the Cayman Minister's Association called for a protest (about 100 people showed up) but most of the visiting cruisers were clueless. The Cayman Compass reported that Brad Loase from North Carolina "was shocked by the protestors because a newsletter on board the ship had carried a message that the Minister of Tourism in the Cayman Islands guaranteed that they would be welcome." Another Cayman Compass article reports "some gay cruise passengers emerging from the ship said that they had been told nothing about their presence in Grand Cayman causing a stir."
"We come here because of the same reason other tourists come to the Island," said Atlantis Events CEO Rich Campbell to the Cayman Net News, "It's a beautiful destination, it has great beaches, fantastic shopping, wonderful excursions, excellent facilities and lovely people" (I guess it also makes Mr. Campbell a bigger dink as these cruise lines must make him a pretty penny - sorta explains why some of the passengers were not told they might be in for protests).
Of course, not everyone was unwelcoming. A group of women held 'welcome' signs when the ship arrived and not everyone who was interviewed had bad things to say about the gay tourists according to one of the articles. Others, while not fully accepting of homosexuality, still rejected hostility and homophobia as being truly Christian virtues.
But, even days after the ship had left the Caymans, Education Minister Alden McLaughlin alluded to the cruise ship incident when arguing that he "would not sanction alternative lifestyles programmes being taught in schools."
Don't get me wrong. Gays should be able to travel anywhere, including the Cayman Islands, and I hope that some islands in the Caribbean truly address and stomp out the type of homophobia that killed Lanford "Steve" Harvey in Jamaica but a cruise ship business owner who uses the island for profit while celebrating the trip as a gay-rights issue and a bunch of clueless gay tourists who frolick in the Cayman's beaches and leave without a sense of the social conflicts they have stirred-up are not necessarily what will bring about change.
The least Atlantis Events could do is to donate part of their earnings to gay-rights organizations in the countries they 'sell' to their gay cruise passengers.
UPDATE: "They Even Kissed for the Cameras!" (2/21/06)
New York magazine has a blogolicious issue out on the stands. It has an article on "The Blog Establishment," and a listing of "The Top 50 Blogs." Andrew Sullivan made it at #50. Alas, Blabbeando just missed the cut at #51.
Then again, it's all about the linking to others, so perhaps I should heed Modern Fabulosity.
Yesterday, the National Latina/o Coalition for Justice, the Black Justice Coalition, Asian Equality, Freedom to Marry and Lambda Legal launched a national campaign to increase the visibility of people of color who support same-sex marriage according to articles published today in 365gay.com and The Advocate.com. The "Marriage Equality Matters" campaign was launched in conjunction with the national Freedom to Marry Week which began on February 12th. To find out more you can visit this site. You can also join the campaign here, and download campaign materials here (I am a member of the National Latina/o Coalition for Justice).
I have often criticized why mainstream media sometimes turns a blind-eye to the murder of LGBT people of color so it's surprising to see two newspapers run stories today that make reference to the murders of Sakia Gunn and Rashawn Brazell (pictured).Today, the North Jersey Herald News runs an interview with the only black lesbian couple suing the State of New Jersey to gain the right to marry. Alicia Toby-Heath and Saundra Heath-Toby talk about their involvement in the historic suit and say that one big reason why they decided to become visible advocates on the marriage front was the murder of 15-year old Sakia Gunn in 2003:"That ... kind of sealed why I did this," Alicia tells the News, "There are young folk who need to know that there is promise and hope as young lesbian and gay kids... that there is the possibility of some solid commitment and family."
And, while Sakia's attackers were eventually brought to court, today's issue of the New York Times looks back at the yet unresolved and brutal killing of 19 year-old Rashawn Brazell, whose body was found dismembered and in separate trash-bags in two different Brooklyn sites a year ago.
In the Times article, Kareem Fahim and John Kolbin report that leads have led nowhere and tips have stopped coming in. What shines in the article is Desiree Brazell's unfaltering call for justice for her son. I was also struck by the fact that an officer from the NYPD spoke to the Times off-the-record regarding the case. NYPD policy is not to comment publicly on open murder investigations unless 1 Police Plaza says it's ok but sometimes police officers within the department truly watch over these cases and help to keep the investigations alive (as was the case in the murder of a friend, Eddie Garzon, back in 2001 although the case of his murder has also not been resolved).
On a related note, Larry Lyons and Mervyn Marcano, founders of the Rashawn Brazell Memorial Fund, also have re-launched the RashawnBrazell.com website which I encourage you to visit. Larry and Mervyn, as well as other community activists and bloggers have been also instrumental in keeping this unresolved crime in the spotlight.
Yes, it was the blizzard of the century in New York City (though for some reason it didn't quite feel that way). Alas, Dennis Quaid didn't show up in snow booties. In any case, I just love snow. More photos here.
Like Yuri, that other Mexican starlett on the come-back trail, Gloria Trevi also performed at some Mexican gay bars last year. Both were crowned as "Queen of All Gays" by bar owners and club promoters who aparently didn't know - or care - that there was more than one crown. Both tried to regain their separate stature as the "Madonnas of Mexico."
Both, incidentally, also draw an almost devotional gay following throughout Latin America and in immigrant communities in this country based on their soap-like lives: Yuri fell hard from the top of her career in the late 1980's and early 1990's and released a series of religious music albums that flopped after becoming a born-again Christian, while La Trevi spent time in jail but was never charged in a sordid tale that included allegations of child abuse, conceiving a child while in a Brazilian jail and the emancipation from a Tommy Motola-like character named Sergio Andrade who went from being her manager to being her husband a-la Mariah (and more recently a-la Thalia). Yes, it's all very complicated and over-the-top and you can read all about it in this 2004 profile from the Sunday New York Times Magazine.
In January promoters announced that La Trevi would go a step further and actually do a mini-tour of United States gay bars and partnered with Miami's Unity Coalition (and GLAAD) to spearhead the promotional campaign nationally. Queerty wasn't impressed but, after seven dates, the tour will come to an end at Splash on Tuesday, March 7th. I'm not sure I like her music that much but the boyfriend is a big fan and it should be fun to see the audience's adoration. If only the promoters had chosen a Queens bar instead of Splash! Actually, come to think of it, that might have caused a fan riot!
[FULL DISCLOSURE: My organization was offered first digs at co-sponsoring the event locally but I suggested that they reach out to the SOMOS... Project instead, which fights against homophobia in the Spanish-speaking communities of New York]
The Bay Area Reporter is reporting in today's issue
that Chad Ferriera, a former Club Papi staffer and gymn trainer, died on February 4th, six days after two men beat him up on Market Street, near the Castro Street intersection. According to a witness quoted in the article, the assault apparently stemmed from an angry exchange of words that one of Ferreira's friends had while standing in line for the bathroom inside the Castro gay establishment, The Bar.
A memorial service is planned for tonight at the Lima Family Erickson Memorial Chapel on 710 Willow Street (off Bird Avenue in San Jose). Club Papi will also be holding a benefit party in his memory on Saturday, February 11th. More details (and photos of Chad) here.
Given that I haven't written the words "Roisin Murphy" so far in 2006 (she is the former Moloko vocalist who went solo last year and released my favorite album of 2005, "Ruby Blue"), I might as well share with you a link I found today to one of my favorite music videos ever. Yes, the track is from Moloko's last and best album, "Statues," which was never released in the United States. The song is amazing, but it's the video to "Forever More" that is a stunner. Watch it here, I hope you like it too.
You can also download Roisin's brand new video for "Sow Into You," her latest single, from Ario's Live Journal here.
It's not even a week since Azi Paybarah's "The 51st State" blog was added to my Political Links but, alas, it is now dead (or, as Azi says, "It's All Over") as a result of the worlwide Muslim reaction to the publication of what some see as sacrilegious cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammed.
Many Unites States newspapers have decided to abstain from running the cartoons, even though they are all over the place in the blogosphere. The New York Press, which recently hired Azi to do political commentary and which hosted his blog, decided not to run the cartoons as well. In this case, though, Editor-in-Chief Harry Siegel, Managing Editor Tim Marchman, Arts Editor Jonathan Leaf and Azi decided to resign, arguing censorship and the loss of freedom of speech.
The boys and gals at Stonewall Demorats - NYC (or SDNYC), have been in touch with Azi and it appears that a new blog is in the works. I'll update as warranted.
UPDATE: Hm, that was fast! Presenting the NEW "51st State" blog (Political Link feed updated as well)
Talking about e-mail lists from Argentina, about a year ago I found myself in the middle of a discussion about the veracity and realism of "Un Año Sin Amor," a film from Argentina based on Pablo Perez' published diaries of the same name. What was bizarre was that the discussion included several men who were the real life counterparts to those mentioned in the diary and the movie, including "The Sheriff." The consensus was that the film necessarily used some dramatic liberties and that leather life in Buenos Aires in the late 1990's was not as extensive as the film shows, but that the film got other things right.
The diary - and film - tells of the twelve months that follow Pablo's HIV positive diagnosis, his prolonged depression, his escape into anonymous sex and his rebirth - of sorts - when he is adopted by an extended family of gay men who practice sado-masochism in the underground clubs of Buenos Aires.
Dubbed "A Year Without Love," the film opens in New York this Friday and is already getting some good reviews States-side. I have yet to see it but it will be interesting to see that side of Argentina gay culture represented on screen.
Now that Brokeback Mountain is hitting theatres in Latin America (where it's been dubbed "Secretos de la Montaña" or "Secrets of the Mountain," some interesting reflections have started to be explored in media about machismo, masculinity and sexuality. This weekend, Revista Veintitres in Argentina takes a look at "Los Gauchos Gay" in a front page story promising a look at homosexuality among the rural Gaucho cowboys of Argentina. Aparently the article focuses on the existance of a gay bar in the rural district of Suipacha and its clientele. Unfortunately, that's as much details as I have about the article as access to website content is available by subscription only.
UPDATES:
Last year a friend brought his Venezuelan friend, a bearish guy living in Spain, to my place of work so he could meet my boyfriend and I. Well, a year has passed and lo and behold, he was back today. This time though, I caught his name.
No wonder I recognized his face: He's the famed photographer, Juan Antino, who has pretty much documented the Bear world throughout Spain, Europe and the rest of the world. Better yet, with collaboration from on of his friends, Javier Hartza, Antino has decided to launch a project to promote HIV prevention in the Bear community and is seeking partners throughout the world to engage in the campaign for free.
So far the campaign has consisted in a series of palm-cards, posters and web banners promoting a sex-positive, condom-positive message in Spanish, English and German. The main message is "Pelos si, a pelo NO" (a literal translation is "Hairs yes, not bare" which they have smartly re-frased in English to "BEARback yes, Bareback NO"). They are already working with bear groups throughout Spain, Costa Rica, the United States and elsewhere.
If you want to see some of Antino's professional photography work you can go to his webpage (where you can also click on the link "Info Gallery Bears Against AIDS" to take a look at the palm cards). Wish direct prevention campaigns like these were being done in the United States. Granted, they might not be for everyone but as targetted community campaigns they can have more effect than generalized HIV prevention messages.
Ladies and gentlemen: Brokeback 2 - Top Gun (if only they could have aded a Rick Rossovich threeway!).
Two new blog links at the right of this page:
Under 'Personal Links' is Leonard Link, NYU Law Professor Arthur S. Leonard's blog - he also writes on legal issues for Gay City News - and under 'Political Links' is the Stonewall Democrats of New York City's new blog, or, as Azi Paybarah calls them in HIS blog, The 51st State, "the people who brought you that great Cuomo not the homo exchange."
Come to think of it, I should also ad Azi's blog to the political links.
When Ruben Marone of Grupo Nexo called me earlier in the week and said he was in New York City for a few days, it was a great surprise since - even though I've probably known him for more than eight years - we had never met personally.
Ruben is a member of a news e-mail list through which I get most of the information about Argentina LGBT rights issues. Nexo, which started as a group of friends who launched an amazing LGBT rights and HIV/AIDS information magazine called NX, now provide health and HIV prevention services in Buenos Aires (the magazine was a victim of Argentina's economic collapse in 2001 though a few additional issues were printed in 2003).
Last night we went out for drinks and caught up to the latest developments. Aparently he had been told to avoid the bars on Christopher Street so I'm actually glad that I took him to Ty's and showed him that the bars weren't as dangerous as people had made them seem (he he). An observation: Ruben says that he's noticed that in New York, people are friendly but they don't like to touch. He says that in Argentina everyone is affectionate, whatever their gender or sexual identity, and that people grab hands, hug or generally touch you when greeting each other. He says that he understands that this is cultutral and is in no way representative of degrees of friendliness but it's the one thing that has struck him the most in this first visit to the United States.
Jorge Saavedra, Director of the Mexican government's National Center for Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS, said the following to participants at an HIV prevention conference this week:
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