In Mexico, a Teen tries to block Thousands of Anti-Gay Protesters

This is amazing to see.

This weekend in Mexico, thousands protested against same-sex marriage. In Celaya, Guanajuato, a 12-year-old boy walked out in the middle of the street to block the anti-gay protesters.

Here's more from Regeneracion:

"At first I thought the child was only playing," explains the author of photography, who later approached the child to ask his motives. "I have an uncle who is gay and I hate that I hate," was his answer.

Rodriguez added that the boy, who stood before a crowd of "little more than 11 thousand people", has approximately 12 years.

The image recalls, for its elements (an individual of unknown identity facing a much larger force him to defend a cause that considers fair), the famous photograph of "Tank Man" protests Tiananmen Square , China, in 1989.

The guts this kid has... Amazing

The Other Massacre at a Gay Bar in Mexico

This happened about a month ago

At least five people are believed to have been killed in a mass shooting at a gay bar in Mexico, reports have emerged. Three gunmen entered La Madame, a LGBTI bar in Xalapa, and carried out a mass shooting on 22 May. 

In a statement by the state prosecutor, it said five people were killed, 14 injured, of which 12 have been discharged from hospital. However, contradictory reports claim there were many more deaths.

Regeneración reports a witness who entered the bar at the time of the shooting says he took refuge in a cupboard as soon as he heard the shootings. He says three males with weapons entered the bar, and soon started massacring people. He could hear screams.
Photos are said to show at least seven killed.

Luis Donaldo Rivera Calderon was one of the victims named by the media. A promising athlete and student, he had gone to the bar with his uncle Luis Manuel Rivera Aguilar.
‘They opened the doors violently and drew their guns. There were shouts,’ the uncle told local media. ‘They had no mercy. Bullets ricocheted everywhere. The white tiles were stained red. Those who wanted to escape slipped in puddles of blood.’
‘It was a slaughterhouse,’ he added.

A 24-year-old employee told reporters at El Noreste she witnessed an armed group enter the bar and shot into a crowd of more than 200 people. She said there were at least 15 dead and multiple wounded, who were taken to various hospitals.
Police said they launched a search for the gunmen, implementing ‘special security protocols for several hours’, but no arrests were made.

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Benjamin Medrano is the 1st Gay Mayor in Mexico

Mexico has it's first open gay man as Mayor!

47-year-old singer and gay bar-owner, Benjamin Medrano won the honor in early July. He will oversee the tough state of Zacatecas which is known for their cowboy style, embossed belts and gang related crimes.

Benjamin's win marks a huge shift of gay rights in Mexico. I wish him success and luck.

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Mexican Trans Activist Agnes Torres Sulca was Murdered

Activist and leader, Agnes Torres Sulca, was brutally murdered. According to the news sites, she was burned and tortured.

She was found in a ravine.

Here's more on the story:

“We condemn this crime against a woman, an academic, a psychologist, educator, role model and activist for human rights for women in general and for sexual diversity as a whole,” the Puebla-based organization Vida Plena Puebla. “We are distraught, pained, enraged and saddened by this crime, and feel powerless over how, yet again, a brave person has succumbed to the most brutal of gender-based violence… in this case, violence against a transgender woman.” The organization demanded in their statement that Torres’s murder case be treated the same way as that of “the daughter of any governor, politician, or attorney” and that it be solved swiftly.

The organization had presented before the State Congress on the importance of legislation for sexual diversity and recognition of hate as an exacerbating factor in these cases, particularly of “feminicide” – a word coined in Mexico to refer to specifically to violence targeted at women that ends in murder, which has reached endemic proportions in the country. There have been 6 similar unsolved homicides in the state since the beginning of 2012.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of Agnes. Her work will continue through the people she has touched.


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In Mexico: A Gay Activist may have been Assassinated

LGBT Asylum News reports that gay activist Leija Herrera was stoned to death, many believe that it was an act of assassination.

Leija Herrera, was the director of del Centro de Estudios y Proyectos para el Desarrollo Humano Inegral (CEPRODEHI, Center for Studies and Human Development Projects Inegral) and had participated in demonstrations, lobbied for civil unions and reported killings, discrimination and attacks against lesbians, gays and transgender people to the State's Attorney General.

His body was discovered Wednesday 4 May in the centre of the city covered in bruises, apparently caused by stones. Authorities suggested he may have been stoned to death.

Local activists have organised a petition to the State Govenor, Angel Aguirre.

It says that there is a "widespread climate of harassment and criminalization of the work of defenders of human rights in Mexico and the cruelty and brutality of the murder presents evidence of a homophobic hate crime."

The petition demands a prompt, independent, comprehensive, effective and impartial investigation into murder, an end to all forms of harassment against LGBT people and respect for international human rights and the work of advocates in Mexico. 

My heart goes on to the family and friends of Leija. The petition is here

Gay Rights Activists and Roman Catholics Face Off in Mexico

I saw this coming. After the historic gay rights win in Mexico, religious freaks are falling out, screaming Satan and other lovely words.

Here's the scoop:

Gay rights activists and a group of Roman Catholics in Mexico have yelled insults at each other during dueling demonstrations over same-sex marriage.

Some 200 gay rights activists waved rainbow flags and held signs reading "Thank God I'm gay" at a plaza next to the cathedral in Guadalajara on Sunday.

A similar number of protesters opposed to gay marriage prayed at the cathedral's doors. One of them ripped up a sign held by a gay rights activist, prompting screaming by both sides.

It was the second confrontation in two days in Guadalajara, where Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez stirred controversy by suggesting Mexico's Supreme Court was bribed to uphold a Mexico City law allowing adoptions by homosexual couples.

They just need to get the FRAK over it!

Gay Adoptions in Mexico City!

Mexico is really doing it this year. After approving gay marriage, they turned around and approved gay adoptions

AP reports:

Mexico's Supreme Court has voted to uphold a Mexico City law allowing adoptions by same-sex couples.

Monday's 9-2 ruling by the justices rejects a legal challenge by federal prosecutors and others who argue the law fails to protect adoptive children against possible ill-effects or discrimination.

This is great!

All Mexican states have recognize Gay Marriages

This is so great, y'all! I have to share!

All Mexican states must recognize Gay Marriage!!

Mexico's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that all 31 states must recognize same-sex marriages performed in the capital, though its decision does not force those states to begin marrying gay couples in their territory.

In a 9-2 decision, the tribunal cited an article of the constitution requiring states to recognize legal contracts drawn up elsewhere.

It did not specify what degree of recognition must be granted to same-sex couples.

Mexico City's same-sex marriage law, enacted in March, extends to wedded gay couples the right to adopt children, to jointly apply for bank loans, to inherit wealth and to be covered by their spouses' insurance policies. Some of those may end up applying only in the capital.

Equality is coming!


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17 killed at a Gay Party in Mexico

17 people were gunned down at a gay party in Torreon, Mexico.

The reason? Still a mystery. L.A. Times has the story:

The dead identified by Sunday afternoon were in their 20s and 30s, some related to one another, according to the prosecutor's office for the state of Coahuila, where Torreon is located. Coahuila borders Texas, and while beset by the same violence terrorizing other border states, has received less publicity.

Authorities confirmed the number of dead and said some of the 18 injured were in critical condition.

Pictures from the scene showed toppled white plastic chairs, scattered musical instruments and cups and plates and shoes strewn on a blood-splattered floor alongside a tented pool. Empty beer bottles were lined up on tabletops; bullet holes punctured the walls.

"The party was ongoing … when gunmen arrived in several vehicles, disembarked and, without uttering a word to those in attendance, opened fire," Jesus Torres, state attorney general, said in a statement. The assailants fled.

Investigators recovered 122 spent shells from high-velocity assault rifles.

Many of the partygoers at the event that began Saturday evening were attracted by an invitation that appeared on Facebook, according to reporters at the Torreon edition of Milenio newspaper and television. The posting included directions and a map. Organizers of the party were a gay group, Milenio said, but the invitation specifically said the event was open to all. Although that raised the possibility of an anti-gay hate crime, most speculation centered on drug traffickers as the assailants.

I hope this is solved soon.