From these beginnings, you can tell that the original Gay Liberation Movement in México was rooted in left politics, organized by communists and anarchists. Repression followed. And resistance! Another demonstration the next year celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion, the event that kicked off the gay liberation movement in the US.

What’s life like for gender non-conforming people in Mexican families and schools, in jobs and society overall? 

That depends on what part of México you live in. México City rates as the most comfortable place to be, with marriage equality and a conversion therapy ban. The states of México and Baja California also have laws banning these so-called “cures.” More and more states are legalizing same-sex marriage and the right to identify your own gender rather than forever being identified as the gender listed on your birth certificate.

We’re also seeing cultural change on TV and on popular telenovelas. This programming is including LGBTQ characters and not negatively stereotyping them. Attitudes are changing.  According to a 2019 poll, 70 percent of parents would be accepting if their child were gay or lesbian, and 60 percent would accept a trans child.

But we have a long way to go. Around 90 percent of LGBTQ kids experience bullying in school, and homophobia spawns violent attacks. Health care that understands the special needs of our community, including access to hormone treatment for trans people and to appropriate mental health services remains practically non-existent. Only México City has a clinic specializing in our health needs.

Are trans people raising their voices as they are in the US?

Trans people, particularly trans women, have started to organize and to make their own specific demands. Job discrimination has forced many trans women into the sex industry, often run by drug cartels, where they face everything from rape and violence to criminalization and incarceration. Of the LGBTQ people in prison in México City, 30 percent are trans, even though trans people make up only a small percent of that population.

Is the LGBTQ movement working together with the feminist movement, or do the two movements operate separately?

Feminists are better organized than the LGBTQ movement, and, unfortunately, they do not include LGBTQ demands in their agendas. Within the LGBTQ community itself, we’re engaging in self-criticism about our own sexism. We’re also gaining a better understanding of intersectionality, and the different ways different cultures of México see non-conforming gender. In Oaxaca, for example, people called “muxes,” not male or female, are treated with respect. Indigenous communities have always been more accepting of gender diversity than European cultures steeped in Catholicism and good/evil binaries.

What attitude is the Mexican government taking?

PRI President Pena-Nieto in 2016 proposed that gay marriage be legalized nationwide. Why? He had little popular support and was trying to win progressives to his side. Instead, his move triggered a right-wing backlash: A newly formed Frente Nacional por la Familia mobilized 400,000 people in 80 cities, enough to soundly defeat the legalization proposal. AMLO has been silent. Our rights are not his priority.  

The movement had radical roots. Does it still stand for a transformed society or is it focused narrowly on LGBTQ issues?

Many LGBTQ people have gone mainstream, and they’re looking for acceptance in society as it exists. We call this trend mercado rosa, or “pink” capitalism!

What is the movement demanding now, and what do you think the future holds?

We demand marriage equality, an end to attempts to “convert” us, a crackdown on the rape and murder of gay youth by police, a prohibition on hate crimes, and moves to both protect LGBTQ people, especially trans women, and allow the legal re-designation of gender by individuals themselves.

We have not yet built effective organizations, but our movement has grown in size and vitality over the last 20 years. The growing intersection of the social movements strengthens our cause. What makes me the most optimistic: the activism of young people.

Are more folks asking people to use gender neutral pronouns?

Some are using a third pronoun elle, when él and ella don’t fit.  Language has never been static. It changes as society changes. The story continues!