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>From the Action Alerts column in the December 1992 issue of
Socialism and Sexuality, the quarterly newsletter of the
Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual Commission of the Democratic Socialists
of America.  You may reproduce this information freely pro-
vided you credit the source.

For information on the Commission's electronic mailing list
contact [email-masked]

Subscriptions to S+S are $8 per year payable to Chicago DSA,
1608 N. Milwaukee #403, Chicago, IL 60647.
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November 24, 1992

MORE MEXICAN GAY AND AIDS ACTIVISTS ATTACKED

The Mexico City gay organization Circulo Cultural Gay reports
that Martin Balesca Dominguez, a member of the Mexican AIDS
organization Piscis de Arriaga in the state of Chiapas, was
beaten and stabbed several times by unidentified attackers who
then left him for dead.  This is the latest in a string of
attacks against gay men and prostitutes in Mexico which was
the focus of an earlier Action Alert on July 30.

Over the past year, 12 gay men and 9 prostitutes have been
murdered in Chiapas; most of them have been shot with high-
caliber weapons.  This summer alone, three gay men were
murdered in Mexico City, two gay men were murdered in
Guadalajara, and a transvestite was beaten to death in Oaxaca.

A coalition of 30 Mexican lesbian, gay, and AIDS groups have
protested the murders and the way in which the police and
press have responded to the incidents.  Local police often
refuse to investigate these murders, preferring to label them
isolated crimes of passion between estranged lovers despite a
striking degree of similarity among the cases.

The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) focused
attention on the wave of anti-gay violence in Mexico with a
demonstration at the Mexican embassy in Paris during ILGA's
14th annual convention, which was held in Paris this July.
Mexican gay activists say that continued international pressure
will help force the police and the Mexican National Commission
on Human Rights to investigate the murders and take action to
protect gays, lesbians, AIDS activists, transvestites, and
prostitutes from continued violence.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Write to the following officials of the Mexican government
and request a full investigation of the string of anti-gay
attacks:

President Carlos Salinas de Gortari
Palacio Nacional
Los Pino
Mexico, D.F.

Arsenio Farell Cobillas
Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare
Mexico, D.F.

Francisco Gutierrez Barrios
Secretary of Internal Affairs
Bucareli Num. 99, 1
06699 Mexico, D.F.

Ignacio Morales Lechuga
Attorney General
Paseo de la Reforma y Violeta
06300 Mexico, D.F.

Ambassador Gustavo Petricioli
Mexican Embassy
1911 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20006

202-728-1600 voice
202-728-1698 fax

Letters from the U.S. to Mexico require a 35-cent stamp.

Please send copies of any letters you send or receive during
this campaign to the International Gay and Lesbian Human
Rights Commission at 540 Castro St., San Francisco, CA 94114.