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[wildnfree]

Saludos a todos,

I am interested in your opinions/experiences on gay culture in Mexico, in particular the north (Monterrey, Guadalajara) and DF. Are there thriving gay scenes? Is homophobia rampant and associated with things negative?

Gracias

[Guy Courchesne]

The idea of 'gay friendly' really seemed to explode in popularity and the public mind over the last few years in DF. The gay scene is alive and well from young to old, on to offline, smutty to discreet.

Interesting note...my Mexican niece now of 17 years of age once told me about her prepa. A girl there is a nobody if she doesn't have a girlfriend, she says. I never expected that of Mexico, but this is a big city. You can find anything you look for.

Guadalajara surprised me as to how many gay bars there are. I may have been in the, um, wrong part of town, but it seemed like there were more bars with a rainbow painted on the sign than not. But, someone from Guadalajara should answer that.

[M@tt]

i think this was covered in another thread. you might do a search for it.

i found mexico to be very confusing in terms of sexual stuff. you have an element of extreme homophobia but then if you are decent looking or "exotic" in any way you will have married men approaching you for sex in public places (unsolicited on my part!!! actually i think it was my willingness to have long conversations about nothing with total strangers--basically to practice spanish--which led people to believe i was also waiting for the right moment to bring up sex).

there is also a somewhat third-world mentality that between men, the guy on top is not gay. one acquaintance told me about how he and his friends shared a transvestite prostitute in college. he did not think this was strange at all.

good luck, i would just say no matter what your persuasion be careful of strangers.

[wildnfree]

[AjarnErnes]

I am a GREAT BIG HOMOSEXUAL.

I am teaching at a uni./ prepa. here in DF. I come from a Mexican American background. The main rule here is don't ask don't tell. Many people here look down on feminine men. I am in no way feminine. So no one can tell just by looking at me that I'm a great big homo. I do not hide my sexuality either. I have a rainbow key chain and don't hide it, in classes where it may be relavent and discussion of sexuality comes up I always share my opinions openly. If a student asked me directly, " Are you gay?" I would answer honestly, "Yes I am."

It seems that here it's ok to be gay just don't flaunt it. I don't flaunt my sexuality no matter where I am on the planet any way so it's not a big deal to me. I am much more than just who I decide to love or have sex with. Unfortunately many Mexicans have the TERRIBLE stereotype that all gay men are these fey, limp wristed, girly things that are more like cartoon characters than real human beings. The media encourages this and many gay Mexican men behave this way because that is how they think they should be acting. Personally I hate big queens and find them annoying as hell. I try to avoid interaction with most of them as much as possible.

Is that the down side? I don't know. I do know that many, many Mexican men are extremely handsome and a lot of them are willing to have a little discreet fun.

Finally a bad joke:

Q: What's the difference between a gay Mexican man and a straight Mexican man?

A: About $20.00 USD

ajarnernest

[Guy Courchesne]

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[AjarnErnes]

Parque Alameda is notoriuos for having young male prostitutes.

I'd be very careful in that park. Especially the area closest to Hidalgo metro Station. Many of the young men hanging out in the Hidalgo Metro Station are "working boys" also.

ajarnernest

[Guy Courchesne]

There are known spots in Acapulco too for such activities (as in every Mexican city I imagine). Matt, you're a good-looking blonde guy, hanging out in Parque Alameda...why the confusion?

[M@tt]

Very funny Guy!
Actually I did live pretty much in front of Parque Alameda for six months and skateboarded there in the evenings (near the hemiciclo with my little posse of street urchins). We later moved to the zocalo due to those mounted pendejos kicking us out all the time.

Again I think I covered this too many times in other threads because it was one of the more salient or shocking parts of my 2 years in Mexico. But to answer your question, I didn't get hit on more in the Alameda than in other places because I was occupied with an activity. I think it's a matter of perceived friendliness, being alone, and in particular SITTING in a park (all things I was much more guilty of in Veracruz state than in DF) that led to most of those conversations, including some with women looking for 'fun'. But I think the first year I was also way too naive and open to whatever nut walking up to me to chat. My second year (in DF) I was much much more reserved, knew how to read mexicans better, actually spoke the language, and was usually on my way somewhere else, not loitering.

This could lead to an entirely different conversation about the metro since you are forced to just stand there with strangers. it would be hard to understate how 'sexualized' the metro is, as far as public spaces go.

[Guy Courchesne]

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[M@tt]

Tim your post reminded me of when I was in Merida one night with nothing to do and went to the zocalo to skate. Being Merida in April it was about 100 degrees even at midnight. There was practically nobody around so I took my shirt off to skate. The cops showed up a few minutes later and said I had to leave because it would set off the prostitutes who worked the park. I was stupid enough to ask the cops why they didn't just arrest the (all male) hookers and they kicked me out.

for anyone clueless about how things work in mexico, the cops are either getting kickbacks or service from the hookers, or both.

[Guy Courchesne]