Date: Thu, 27 Apr 1995 13:18:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: Rex Wockner <rwockner@netcom.com>
Subject: FIRST-EVER GAY PROTEST IN MONTERREY, MEXICO / AIDS Clinic Opens in Ens
enada


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         * Copyright (c) 1995 Rex Wockner and affiliates. *
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  * Accents: e in Mexico, u in Jesus, i in Garcia, o in Socrates *
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               FIRST-EVER GAY PROTEST IN MONTERREY
                  AIDS Clinic Opens in Ensenada
                        by Rex Wockner

TIJUANA -- In a first for Monterrey, Mexico, 20 gays picketed City Hall
March 25 to protest abuse from the new mayor and the police department.

        After Mayor Jesus Hinojosa Tijerina of the conservative National
Action Party took office, four of the city's five gay bars were closed
down and police have been extorting up to $900 each from men who frequent
cruising areas, threatening to expose them to their families and
newspapers. The cops also have taken jewelry and car stereos, and even
accompanied gays to teller machines or their homes to get money.

        In response, gays have launched the city's first gay organization
(Colectivo Nancy Cardenas), first gay newspaper ("Montegay") and opened
three new clubs.

        "The picket lasted three hours in protest against the mayor of
Monterrey for the hostility that the gay community has experienced,
against intolerance and against social homophobia," said Tijuana activist
Alejandro Garcia who speaks regularly with the leaders of the new
movement in Monterrey.

        "There was also a conference on the 24th, about homosexuality and
religion, and a cultural night on the 25th, with exhibitions, poetry,
dancing and singing," Garcia said.

        Monterrey, pop. 4 million, located 146 miles south of Laredo, Texas,
is one of Mexico's most-industrialized and cosmopolitan cities. Gay
leaders continue to request faxed protest letters to Nuevo Leon Governor
Socrates Rizo Garcia at 011-52-8-343-4234, Mayor Hinojosa Tijerina at
011-52-8-345-0154, and the state Human Rights Commission (Attention: Dr.
Lorenzo de Anda y Anda) at 011-52-8-344-9199.

        IN OTHER NEWS, the first gay-community-based AIDS clinic has opened
in the Baja California city of Ensenada, 85 miles south of San Diego.

        With funding from a Miss Mexico Gay contest that attracted 10
contestants and 300 spectators, the outpatient clinic will operate one
day a week from a spare room in the home of activist Manuel Del Rio,
under the auspices of AIDS Project Ensenada.

                             == END ==