Recently I read an article that I have not stopped thinking about. The Washington Post story on Mexican gays seeking asylum in the United States during a time when Mexico is allegedly undergoing change and progress reiterates the lingering cultural stigmas amongst the Latino community towards gays.
Many immigrants from all over the world are in this great country for protection. Journalists, religious leaders and gays and lesbians included. According to the article, there is no system that tracks how many of these immigrants are here because they are gay or lesbian. Mexico and countries in Central America are beginning to explore and even offer benefits for gays and lesbians such as same-sex marriage.
As a natural consequence of those actions, these countries are giving the impression that gays are now protected from hate crimes and workplace discrimination. Unfortunately, that is not the case, according to the Washington Post article.
This blog is not the place to discuss the political issues surrounding this case, but I will attest to the power that media has (especially in the Hispanic community) to help change behaviors and attitudes as they relate to gays and lesbians.
There have been numerous instances – I have blogged about some of them – where the misrepresentation of gays and lesbians in Spanish language media has landed GLAAD in Mexico to meet with the leaders of network giants such as TV Azteca. Because so much of the programming is shared with the U.S., it seems that GLAAD’s work can benefit programming on both sides of the border.
A friend of mine who works for GLAAD visited Mexico not too long ago and mentioned what an eye- opening experience it was. Although parts of Mexico such as Mexico City and Chihuahua now allow same-sex marriages, there is still much work to be done throughout the country as a whole. GLAAD’s work with the Mexico-based major media networks who send their programming to the states, will hopefully impact their local programming shown throughout Mexico as well and start positively shaping the minds of Mexican citizens to be more inclusive to our gay and lesbian community.
SUBSCRIBE