Gay and transvestite muxe festival rocks indigenous town in Mexico

Record ID: 127259

  • Title: Gay and transvestite muxe festival rocks indigenous town in Mexico
  • Date: 23rd November 2015
  • Summary: JUCHITAN, OAXACA STATE, MEXICO (NOVEMBER 22, 2015) (REUTERS) **** WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY**** VIEW OF MOON VARIOUS OF CATWALK IN MUXES PARADE PEOPLE TAKING PHOTOS OF CATWALK MUXE POSING FOR PHOTOS
  • Embargoed: 8th December 2015 21:16
  • Keywords: Mexico Oaxaca Juchitan muxes gay transgender festival indigenous
  • Location: JUCHITAN, OAXACA STATE, MEXICO
  • City: JUCHITAN, OAXACA STATE, MEXICO
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA0033AMY0D5
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A lively parade of transvestites wearing flowers and ribbons on their heads partied through the streets of an indigenous Mexican town in the weekend of their 40th annual "muxe" festival.
    The muxes, also known as a third gender, are mostly gay men of ethnic Zapotec descent, who are widely respected in the southern town of Juchitan, where every year a transvestite queen is crowned in a pageant.
    Several dozen muxes were blessed by a Catholic priest at a mass before joining visiting transvestites and other townsfolk at a raucous fiesta on Saturday (November 21) night. The muxes wore either traditional local costumes or ball gowns and high heels.
    Some of the muxes, a Zapotec word derived from the Spanish for woman, or "mujer", dress as women year round and others are gays who only don women's clothes at the annual party, or not at all. But in Juchitan they found a haven of acceptance in Mexico's macho society.
    Jorge Martinez, a preschool teacher chosen as this year's queen, has full support from his family.
    His sister Guadalupe Martinez said the muxes were seen as a normal in their town.
    "This is a normal thing. But especially here in the isthmus (Oaxaca state), no one should be ashamed of having these characteristics," she said.
    Even so, Jorge Martinez said muxes were still widely discriminated against in other parts of Mexico.
    "We need to conquer more space in order for society to respect us. There must be tolerance and we have to teach people that in Juchitan the muxes exist whether they like it or not. It is a third gender that we have in Juchitan, which has prevailed and the muxes have become a part of Juchitan," he said.
    After preparing his hair style and putting on fake eyelashes, Martinez said he wanted to show society that a school teacher could also be a muxe queen.
    "I wanted to show people that a teacher - because I am a preschool teacher - can also be a queen. I am muxe and I accept my role because I am what I like to be," he said.
    Anthropologists say the tradition of blurring genders among Mexico's indigenous population is centuries old, but has been revived in recent decades due to the gay pride movement.
    The area around Juchitan, a laid-back town near the Pacific, has a history of women playing leading roles in public life.
    A muxe, who identified himself only as Kim Kardashian, said Mexicans were still a long way from eradicating homophobia.
    "In some areas there still is discrimination against us, but thank God here in Juchitan this is a normal thing. But if you go other places there is still a lot of homophobia," he said.
    Anthropologists have found evidence of mixed gender identities across Mesoamerica, from Mayan corn and moon gods that are both male and female and Aztec priests who ritually cross dressed.
    The Spanish conquest in the 16th century and the Catholic Church snuffed out much of that tolerance.
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