I hope everyone is having great summer. A week or so ago I sent an article that I translated regarding the apparent Political Action Party (PAN)-sponsored barring of gays and dogs from a water park in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

I have been following the story and it has actually gotten more interesting as the days have gone by.

The articles show that while the PAN has taken measures to distance themselves from the 'lower level official' that approved the posting of the warning sign, the news has galvanized the gay community in Aguascalientres and elsewhere and elicited unprecedented supportive comments from the PAN on the issue of gay rights in Mexico.

It's worth to point out that the sign that created the outrage is actually a sign that had been hanging for years before it was taken down for repairs and hung again at the Ojo Caliente water park's entrance.

Sincerely

Andres Duque
Coordinator
Mano a Mano
aduque@latinoaids.org
www.egroups.com/group/mano_mano_usa

Speaking as a person of Indian origin, it's blatant denial to turn a blind eye to centuries of close, intimate, same-sex bonding in India and many other gender-segregated cultures. Of course, what fuels the denial is that these relationships are often passed off as tender homophilia, rather than as a submerged, sublimated, and sometimes acted upon erotics of same-sex relationship. I think it's ridiculous for the Indian government and other Asian & African regimes to view homosexuality as a bizarre Western import, while using outmoded colonial penal codes to muzzle and oppress gay people in these cultures. The burgeoning lesbigay movements in many parts of South Asia and elsewhere are creating contexts in which "the love that dare not speak its name" is being slowly but surely pushed into arenas of public discourse.

Related Stories from the GayToday Archive: Mexico's Bare-Bottomed Revolutionaries Review: Same Sex Love in India Eminem to Face Protesters at MTV Video Music Awards Related Sites: E-Groups: Mano-Mano The Indian Gay Club MTV GayToday does not endorse related sites.

This is a mixed blessing, since the old closeted homosexual underground was slyly winked at, ignored, or even tolerated, whereas the new gay self-assertion is often met with a backlash of repressive hostility and finger pointing. Anwar Ibrahim's jail sentence in Malaysia is an example, as also is Mugabe's harsh homophobia in Zimbabwe.

Yet, if the new gay movements keep it up, the misery of closeted lesbian and gay people, often trapped in loveless heterosexual marriages and living out a painful lie might cease.

Raj

Undressed, Real World and Road Rules regularly feature gay characters or contestants. More than one MTV special has addressed the problem of hate crimes, with homophobia strongly addressed. As a matter of fact a special was even produced questioning the lyrics of Eminem. No other network comes close to portraying GLBT people as a normal part of society.

Lighten up, GLAAD.

Paul Barwick
San Francisco