Job Discussion Forums

[epiphaniebloom]

Hey ppls,

I'm interested in teaching in Mexico, but am a bit put off by the prospect of its conservativeness, so I'm wondering if you could tell me which cities/towns are the most progressive and gay-friendly. I have heard that Acapulco has one of the largest gay scenes in the country, and I think I heard something about Puerto Vallarta but I could be mistaken.
Thanks in advance for your contribution.

[GueroPaz]

I found Latin America (Nicaragua and Chiapas) to be gay friendly or at least tolerant, 1998-2001. They tell me that the whole of Mexico is far more tolerant than it might have been 20 or 40 years ago. I am not there, and would never expect it to be as tolerant as it is here in Thailand. I am encouraged that most places in Mexico would be okay, assuming of course that you do not flaunt yourself.

[dfields3]

It's just like anywhere else... if not more welcoming to gays. If you are in a big city such as Mexico City or especially Guadalajara, you won't find any problems and in fact you might find that it is more open than other places. Guadalajara is known as the San Francisco of Mexico and when I lived there last summer I had absolutely no problems (and a lot of fun). There are over twenty gay bars there! If you are in small town Mexico it may be a little different but no one is going to mess with you at all unless maybe you are beligerent about your gayness... there is a very "live and let live" attitude there. You should definitley not let your sexuality keep you from going if you want to go there. You won't find many problems. Hope this helps!

[dfields3]

Yes, Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta are extremely gay cities too! You may not want to teach there though. Visiting vs. living there as a teacher are two very different things.

[epiphaniebloom]

Hi d..., what is the difference between visiting and living there?

[epiphaniebloom]

And thank you for your first msg too - it did indeed help!

[chichifo]

Mexico City is gay friendly; same-sex couples have legal recognition down there and even gay conjugal visits are allowed in prisons. You'll see many gay people in Mexico City's zona rosa. You should check this article

http://www.gaytimes.co.uk/HotSpots/Travel-sectionid-1-articleid-2284.html

Guadalajara is gay friendly too, but doesn't have gay friendly policies, but there's a vast array of gay venues and organizations and the gay community is not that closeted. You can check these websites
http://www.gaygdl.com/lugares.html

http://mx.youtube.com/watch?v=4B-EtGLDJcM

Puerto Vallarta is gay friendly, but I dont think is the best place to teach English:

http://www.petertatchell.net/travel/vallarta.htm

I dont know about the gay scene in Saltillo, state of Coahuila, but you might this news interesting:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/20/america/LA-GEN-Mexico-Gay-Unions.php

Broadly speaking, you wont have problems with being gay. For instance, it's not unusual to see gay people on the TV. There was a programme called Desde Gayola, most of the actors were gay. It was quite funny and had a high audience rating:

http://mx.youtube.com/watch?v=6uBEfD6oX94

[TheLongWayHome]

As people have said, the bigger cities are far less ignorant. Here in San Luis Potosi there's still a lot of head turning and finger pointing - mainly because the people have absolutely nothing better to do. I doubt you'd feel uncomfortable here (or Zacatecas, Aguascalientes etc.) but you'd notice it's much less open than Mexico City or Guadalajara.

[mapache]

Once in Tuxtla, I attended a birthday party in a palapa bar where a gay acquaintance of the honoree showed up. A gestapo secretary was there and reported my being at the same table to the school owner who went nuts, threatened to fire me and scolded me for 30 minutes. Later she allowed the boyfriend of a gay Puerto Rican teacher to pick him up at the school after classes and participate in her "teacher's day" treat of botanas and one cerveza. Maybe it depends on your race in Tuxtla or at least at that school.

[chichifo]

It is important to know that in some states (Chiapas, Colima, Durango, Mexico City, Guerrero, etc) discrimination is considered a crime. Of course, if some of you are victimised, you need to report it. The National Council to Prevent Discrimination, CONAPRED ( http://www.conapred.org.mx/index.php ) and the Human Rights Commission ( http://www.cndh.org.mx/ ) help in that matter. The process is lengthy but can work. 15 years ago I was beaten by two policemen on my way home; it was midnight; their argument was really stupid, they said that I looked like a criminal and suspicious: at that time I was teenager, used to dress really scruffy...
I was not seriously injured, just got some scratches and bruises on my body, but I felt really abused and denigrated. I brought my case to the Human Rights Commission and one of their lawyers represented me and we obviously won the case. The bad cops were arrested six months later I was attacked.

[dfields3]

The difference between living there and visiting there is that when you visit it seems beautiful and a good idea. But the schools is Aca and Puerto V. are not the best schools to work for (i've come to this conclusion from all the postings i've seen on here for the last couple of years... it should be taken into consideration that i've never lived in either of the cities but have been to both cities numerous times... Aca 5 times and Puerto V. 3 times) and you would not be living in the parts of the city that fit the idea you have of living there. A teacher's wage is not going to get you the best housing there. This is all my opinion so if you think you would like it there I say more power to ya! Hope all this helps. Oh and be weary of letting people buy you drinks in the gay bars without you being with them while they buy them. Occasionally you hear stories of people getting drugged.

[veroax]

Back from Semana Santa, and I thought I�d offer some observations from a slightly different viewpoint. I�m living in a small city in the southeast�about 150,000 in the whole municipality. Even here, there are a few gay bars, although they are reportedly rather shady. There is also an annual competition and crowning of the regional �Miss Gay� at a regular straight venue. And in nearby towns, I�ve been surprised to see a minority of gay couples dancing openly at regular nightclubs, nobody batting an eye.

I wouldn�t want to give the impression that rural Mexico is some sort of socially liberal paradise. No doubt many factors cut the other way. I imagine that the greatest difficulties for local gays stem from family expectations and the lingering machismo issue. Since Mexicans tend to live with their families into their adult years, it may be more difficult to break away from family expectations. And I definitely don�t doubt that outright harassment does happen, surely in some regions more than others.

Another thing worth mentioning is that Mexicans will often say things that would be considered derisive back home, but which aren�t (necessarily) as offensive here. As a result, it can be hard to tell if someone�s being hateful or harmless. Back home you�d know full well that they were being hateful.

I�m sure that things vary a lot by region. For an extreme end of the spectrum, google a documentary called Juchitan: *beep* Paradise. You�ll see that not all of Mexico fits the conservative Catholic image.

At any rate... Those are my observations from the provinces.

[notamiss]

Unfortunately it's not all tolerance and openness even in larger cities. There is the anti-emo movement which burst into violence in Quer�taro on March 7, and has since spread, and, as this news story http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/03/anti-emo-riots.html mentions, carries a strong undertext of anti-gayness.

Some other accounts and links:
http://mexfiles.wordpress.com/2008/03/20/when-youre-a-jet-youre-a-jet/
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1725839,00.html?imw=Y

[MO39]

[dixie]