LGBT in Latin America or Spain

[LFD1988]

I'm just curious what LGBT life is like for people living in Spanish-speaking countries. In comparison to other countries where it's becoming more progressive, is it better or worse? I know several of these countries have allowed same-sex couples to marry or engage in domestic partnerships, but I'm more curious about the LGBT experience from a social perspective, rather than political.

For those of you who live in a Spanish-speaking country, I would like to hear some of your stories, whether you are LGBT yourself or if you know anyone who identifies as LGBT.

The reason I am asking about this topic is that I am a gay man and I'm very interested in sexual and gender identity and how different this may look through other cultural lenses. I'd be grateful for any information that you all can give me. Thanks in advance!

[Shazam]

Interesting topic and I'm very much interested in know the answers, as well.

From my personal experiences. It seems like (at least with the ones i've met) that male Mexicans are very gay friendly and they oddly enough love flirting with and playing around with other guys. Not saying all mexican men do this, but the ones I've met do. They seem to be more tolerant.

[LFD1988]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Interesting topic and I'm very much interested in know the answers, as well.

From my personal experiences. It seems like (at least with the ones i've met) that male Mexicans are very gay friendly and they oddly enough love flirting with and playing around with other guys. Not saying all mexican men do this, but the ones I've met do. They seem to be more tolerant.

Interesting. I had never heard that before. What I had heard though, is that Mexican men tend to take pride in their machismo and even if they interact with other men in a homosexual manner, they may not consider themselves "Gay," necessarily. Perhaps they would perceive the word "gay," as an offense to their masculinity. This is all hear-say, however. I hope there might be others to confirm these ideas.

[Villa]

Originally Posted by LFD1988

I'm just curious what LGBT life is like for people living in Spanish-speaking countries. In comparison to other countries where it's becoming more progressive, is it better or worse? I know several of these countries have allowed same-sex couples to marry or engage in domestic partnerships, but I'm more curious about the LGBT experience from a social perspective, rather than political.

For those of you who live in a Spanish-speaking country, I would like to hear some of your stories, whether you are LGBT yourself or if you know anyone who identifies as LGBT.

The reason I am asking about this topic is that I am a gay man and I'm very interested in sexual and gender identity and how different this may look through other cultural lenses. I'd be grateful for any information that you all can give me. Thanks in advance!

Hola/Hello Lee. My sister square dances with a gay group and I went with her one time.
She also plays cards with a group of gay guys. One of them just came back from
4 months in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico. He said everbody was real friendly. He likes all
the arts and crafts in Morelia. He says he loves it down there. I was there one time and am going back
soon near there.
Have you ever heard of the famous Mexican gay singer named Juan Gabriel?

[LFD1988]

Originally Posted by Villa

Hola/Hello Lee. My sister square dances with a gay group and I went with her one time.
She also plays cards with a group of gay guys. One of them just came back from
4 months in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico. He said everbody was real friendly. He likes all
the arts and crafts in Morelia. He says he loves it down there. I was there one time and am going back
soon near there.
Have you ever heard of the famous Mexican gay singer named Juan Gabriel?

Sounds like life is pretty good then. Though I am not familiar with that particular singer, Juan Gabriel.

[Villa]

Originally Posted by LFD1988

Sounds like life is pretty good then. Though I am not familiar with that particular singer, Juan Gabriel.

Seguramente que no has oido de Rocío Dúcal tampoco.
Juan Gabriel composed some of the best songs ever
that Rocio Ducal sang. They say Juan Gabriel liked
Rocio Ducal's husband. Rocio Ducal is from Spain and
Juan Gabriel from México.

[poli]

Originally Posted by LFD1988

I'm just curious what LGBT life is like for people living in Spanish-speaking countries. In comparison to other countries where it's becoming more progressive, is it better or worse? I know several of these countries have allowed same-sex couples to marry or engage in domestic partnerships, but I'm more curious about the LGBT experience from a social perspective, rather than political.

For those of you who live in a Spanish-speaking country, I would like to hear some of your stories, whether you are LGBT yourself or if you know anyone who identifies as LGBT.

The reason I am asking about this topic is that I am a gay man and I'm very interested in sexual and gender identity and how different this may look through other cultural lenses. I'd be grateful for any information that you all can give me. Thanks in advance!

I know that years ago Spain passed a marriage equality law well in advance of Great Britain and the USA's state by state approach. Passage of the law in Spain made big front page international news at the time. I think Argentina and Uruguay passed similar laws subsequently, but I don't know the details.

[Villa]

Originally Posted by poli

I know that years ago Spain passed a marriage equality law well in advance of Great Britain and the USA's state by state approach. Passage of the law in Spain made big front page international news at the time. I think Argentina and Uruguay passed similar laws subsequently, but I don't know the details.

I was in Belgium in 2004 and my Belguim friend was laughing about
how far the U.S. is behind since they had resolved all that stuff already.
The king and queen have a lot of say what goes on there but when the
king went against the people's wishes the people did away with the king
for awhile. I think that was on abortion.

[LFD1988]

The US is indeed behind on LGBT issues and marriage equality. I've seen from news items that many countries around the world seem to have a better understanding of who LGBT people are and the stigma is certainly lessening where theological extremism doesn't explicitly forbid it, but I think there is still a long way to go. It's important that LGBT youth understand that it's ok to be who they are and they shouldn't feel ashamed of it. In America, it's kind of a "taboo" topic in "polite" conversation, because it's considered to be more of a conversation about sex in many peoples' minds and not about human interaction and love; therefore not many children are taught about sexual or gender diversity in schools. I wonder what children in other countries learn?

[Villa]

Originally Posted by LFD1988

The US is indeed behind on LGBT issues and marriage equality. I've seen from news items that many countries around the world seem to have a better understanding of who LGBT people are and the stigma is certainly lessening where theological extremism doesn't explicitly forbid it, but I think there is still a long way to go. It's important that LGBT youth understand that it's ok to be who they are and they shouldn't feel ashamed of it. In America, it's kind of a "taboo" topic in "polite" conversation, because it's considered to be more of a conversation about sex in many peoples' minds and not about human interaction and love; therefore not many children are taught about sexual or gender diversity in schools. I wonder what children in other countries learn?

Other countries look at sexual matters differently. When I was in Belgium I
visited an elementary school. The principal
took us on a tour of the school. In the kindergarten room the boys restroom
was just kind of open. I mentioned this to the principal saying that people
could see the boys going pee and he looked at me kind of strange and said
something like well it's just a natural process. In Italy where I lived for two years
they have women cleaning the men's bathrooms while the men are in there. I got
use to it and it wasn't a sexual thing. Leonardo da Vince was gay he created al this
nude art such as his master piece David with everything showing. This is something
that has been tabu in the U.S. However they do have a exact duplicate of the statue
of David made in Italy at the Forest Lawn Cementary in Glendale.


Southern U.S. seems to be the less tolerant. I was in Springfield, Missouri
a couple of years ago and there were people walking around with signs
saying it was a sin to marry a divorced woman so just imagine what they
think of gays. A friend of mine from Mississippi says he would rather see
his son dead than to be gay.