Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 00:05:45 -0700 (PDT) From: Rex Wockner Subject: WOCKNER/300 MARCH THRU HEART OF TIJUANA 300 MARCH THROUGH HEART OF TIJUANA Rex Wockner TIJUANA, Mexico -- Tijuana's main drag, Revolution Avenue, is clogged with thousands of people on Saturday afternoons and, for a second year, those thousands of unsuspecting shoppers enthusiastically cheered the city's March for the Human Rights of Lesbians and Gays on June 29. In the whole 15-block march, only one spectator was heard to yell an anti-gay slur -- "putos," which translates roughly as "faggots." And, yes, the march was immediately recognizable as gay -- via signs, banners, and a Priscilla: Queen of the Desert perched atop a motor home. Three hundred people marched this time after seeing that last year's first-ever march -- by 85 people -- elicited no public hostility or political backlash. Tijuana's notoriously corrupt city police force behaved impeccably again, providing motorcycle escort, directing traffic, and scanning the crowds for any signs of trouble. Ten cops guarded the post-march festival. Grand marshals of the parade were San Diego activist Nicole Ramirez Murray and Tijuana activist Luz Robles. U.S. comic and activist Robin Tyler, who lives in Los Angeles, was the "special guest." The march ended at Mexitlan, a museum that features large models of Mexico's greatest architectural treasures. On the huge open-air patio that is the museum's main exhibition area, pride celebrants ate, drank, danced, listened to speeches, and watched drag and stripper shows. Partying continued into the night with a dance at one of Tijuana's more upscale hotels. Tyler told the rally: "Even though we get together and we celebrate gay pride, this is really a movement not about our lifestyle but about saving our lives. A lot of people refer to our sexual orientation. This is not a movement from the waist down. This is not a movement about crotch politics. We have to stop defining ourselves like this. What makes this movement such a threat all over the world is that we are talking about the right to love." The importance of staging pride events in Mexico was perhaps best enunciated by organizer Alejandro Garcia of Grupo ?Y Que? (And So What? Group), who, in the pride program, wrote: "Why gay pride? There are no special events of macho or heterosexual pride because almost all social activity is saturated with the orientation of a heterosexist society (which wants to force everyone to be heterosexist). "From the time we are babies, they impose upon us how we should dress, what colors we can wear, how to walk, talk (breathe?) and how we should be and act sexually as adults. "These messages are reinforced by all the mediums: TV, films, school, laws, etc. Yet, after having survived all this social imposition, you have succeeded in coming out and being yourself. Congratulations! Many people still haven't done this. ... "We have survived the bonfires of the Holy Inquisition, the Nazi extermination, hate crimes, false psychiatry and social marginalization -- and each year thousands, millions, of gays and lesbians come out of the closet and raise the gay flag with pride -- pride in being part of humanity, pride in being different." Pride marches were also staged June 28-29 in Mexico City, Mexicali (Baja California), Ensenada (B.C.), La Paz (Baja California South), Culiacan (Sinaloa) and elsewhere south of the border. -end- EDITORS: YOU HAVE THE OPTION OF RECEIVING FOUR WOCKNER COLOR PHOTOS OF TIJUANA PRIDE IN YOUR E-MAILBOX IN THE JPG FORMAT. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) 1996 Rex Wockner. All rights reserved. Do not publish, broadcast, or cybertransport without permission. ---------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: GRUPO ?Y QUE? TAKES AN *UPSIDE-DOWN* QUESTION MARK BEFORE THE Y AND AN ACUTE ACCENT ON THE E. GARCIA TAKES AN ACUTE ACCENT ON THE I.