Marchas Lesbicas, Mexico City ¹:

Visibility, Accountability, and Transnationalism

Isabel Millan
Last Revised November, 2005

**Please note: This is a work in progress; an earlier version appeared in the SFSU Ethnic Studies 2005 Journal.

Last spring hundreds of LGTB women marched in solidarity through the streets of Mexico City demanding visibility, accountability, and basic rights from the Mexican government. This paper will address the herstory² of the L�sbica Movement in M�xico, along with the current politics at play by examining the mission statement, goals, and overall impact of the 1st and 2nd annual Marcha L�sbica, all the while un-packing the role of transnationalism and coalition building between LGTB women in M�xico and Queer Chicanas and Latinas in the United States.

�S�lvense quien quiera, lesbianas en rebeld�a!³
�Marcha L�sbica, 2004

M�xico City�or el Distrito Federal�as a geopolitical location has been the catalyst for various historical demonstrations. Specifically, the stretch between el Monumento de la Revoluci�n⁴ (which commemorates the Mexican Revolution of the 1900s) and el Z�calo (M�xico City�s central plaza) has created a centralized location for demonstrators to reclaim, if only temporarily. This geopological space has been used by countless causes to protest against neoliberalism, capitalism, and racism. It is this rich historical and political context and locality that surrounds the current Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Bisexual (LGTB)⁵ Movement of M�xico City which has been taking shape for over twenty-five years. Within this greater movement exists a contingent of radical autonomous lesbian and bisexual women�mujeres l�sbicas�who saw the need for the creation of las Marchas L�sbicas, or Lesbic Marches, of M�xico. This paper will examine the critical role these Marchas L�sbicas have had within the larger context of counter hegemonic praxis, Transnationalism, and U.S.-M�xico relations.

Putting Politics into Marcha: Taking Over the Streets

The vivid documentation�both literal and visual�of Mexico�s 1st and 2nd annual Marchas L�sbicas, or Lesbic Marches, evokes the significance of such events. The first occurred on March 21st of 2003 while the second took place on March 20th of 2004. Critically analyzing the mission statement⁶ of these marches provided me with strong evidence as to the current political climate within the l�sbica communities of M�xico City. The organizers were most concerned with issues of representation, visibility, and accountability. A section of their mission statement reads:

With 25 years of experience, lesbians continue to rely on visibility tactics. The march is, for us, an important expression of visibility because it seeks to do away with stereotypes and discrimination against lesbians. The march is a form of coming out of the closet�the loneliness and marginalization in which many lesbians live in...

As lesbians of diverse organizational practices we are creating�a collective project with the common purpose of visibility and the expression of our strength. Even though those of us who go public are several, those of us who are in the closet are even more (COMAL).

These portions of the mission statement reflect the strong need for visibility given the homophobia and lesbophobia present within the Mexican nation. They also stressed the significance and marginalization of one who is closeted; in doing so, provoking mainstream culture by proclaiming the huge number of LGTB women in Mexico�both out and closeted. This directly challenges dominant narratives of LGTB invisibility.

The mission statement continues:

The public manifestation positions us as political actors so that we can demand...So that we can express our critiques of the structures that impose heterosexism, religious fundamentalisms, neo-liberalism, globalization, capitalism, and consumerism (COMAL).

In choosing a march as their public manifestation, these women are choosing a political tactic traditionally used by leftist movements. They are not walking invisibly and quietly down the sidewalks of M�xico City; instead, these women are using their voices and bodies to physically take over the streets. In doing so they are becoming political actors; as such, their demands are also those of leftist politics�seeking to criticize and do away with the institutional structures that continue to perpetuate old oppressions while also creating new forms of oppression.

As equally important, the Marchas L�sbicas had a concrete and potentially attainable list of demands:

It is important to elevate on a constitutional level the penalization for discrimination due to homo and lesbophobia, and the consequential modification of national legislation.

The promotion of programs for sexual diversity, especially those addressing the well-being of elder lesbians, women with disabilities, indigenous women, and younger girls.

The implementation and promotion of support centers�that offer legal services, psychological health, cultural awareness, sports and recreational activities, and safe spaces in general.

Access to reproductive health care without discrimination due to one�s sexual preference.

Access to medical health for sex/gender reassignment.

Recognizing the rights given to heterosexual monogamous families; these include social security, medical care, retirement policies�and many more.

The legalization of adoptions of lesbians and the greater LGTB community.

Their proclamations were the following:

Against War: �Not In Our Name!�

Against the assassination of the women in Juarez

For the liberation of political prisoners

Unconditional respect and support for the indigenous communities

Celebration of the l�sbic life

These key points are a direct response to the current global political climate. The multilayered ideology of these marches combines issues of violence against women, anti-war, solidarity, and overall resistance to the hegemonic powers. By not limiting their politics to sexuality, these marches are expanding what it means to do identity based organizing by advocating on behalf of all underrepresented communities.

In relation to the greater LGTB communities of Mexico, the mission statement had the following to say:

We are critical of the misogamy, commercialism and privatization of the LGTB Pride Marches [of M�xico]. This tendency has clouded the previous political content of our marches and movement, minimizing the critique of the system of obligatory heterosexism, patriarchy, capitalism, and neo-liberalism.

We do not renounce our right to be part of the greater LGTB movement so that we can enrich their marches, but we maintain our own autonomy� our own visibility and lesbic existence, as well as our feminist sisterhoods (COMAL).

Here the organizers examine the hierarchal levels perpetuated within the greater LGTB movement of Mexico City. The LGTB Pride Marches mentioned above occur annually. According to the organizers of the Marcha L�sbicas, these LGTB Pride Marches are becoming less political and more commercial. This can be seen as a global trend as more and more communities are being infiltrated and reshaped by capitalism.⁷

Within the above portions of the mission statement, the women are also taking a pledge of alliance to feminism and sisterhood against the sexism occurring within the greater LGTB communities. This is especially important because it calls for the evaluation of male privilege, even on behalf of gay males.

The mission statement concludes as follows:

The lack of coordination and trust makes us more invisible as lesbians. Let us create an open space�different, diverse and inclusive�where the most important thing will be the flavor of tortillas,�to participate politically, to live and love (COMAL).

This imagery becomes a type of optimistic, lesbic utopia�combining a political consciousness with life and love. Contributing to this utopia are tortillas; these have become explicit symbols for LGTB Mexicanas. Traditionally, tortillas were made in domestic spaces. Through these women-only spaces women were able to develop strong relations with other women, constituting early channels into lesbianism as it exists today.

Though the Official Mission Statements of the 1st and 2nd annual Marcha L�sbica provides a lot of vital information regarding the current Lesbic struggle, their rally chants and posters were equally indicative of their sentiments. Some of these went as follows:

Lesbians United, Will Never Be Defeated!

Vagina with Vagina, Lesbians in the Struggle!

What do Lesbians Want? For Boarders to be Destroyed, for Consumerism to be Destroyed, and to Push Feminism Forward!

Lesbians Against War, Lesbians Against Capitalism, Lesbians Against Racism, Against Neo-Liberal Terrorism!

As with the mission statement, these chants continue to add to the multilayered dimension of las Marchas L�sbicas. So much is the threat these marches pose to hegemony that their presence cannot be taken for granted. This year there was not a 3rd annual Marcha L�sbica, 2005. Instead a group of men decided to non-coincidently have a �Marcha Masculina��or �masculine� march. Emma Perrez would refer to this example as �invasionary politics,� where similar to when �Chicana lesbians speak politically, there are efforts to silence� their voices (96-97). More specifically, the continued domination and perpetuation of male privilege has allowed this to happen; many within our own communities continue to fail to thoroughly understand the concepts of male privilege and patriarchy that continue their legacy through colonization�perpetuated through public policy, institutions, and social organizations. In response, the organizing committee of la Marcha L�sbica�COMAL�will strategize throughout the year so that next year�s march⁸ can continue the legacy of the previous two, even if briefly interrupted by the �marcha masculina.�

(Re)Thinking Transnationalism

How do the Marchas L�sbicas transcend beyond the border constraints of the M�xico/US nation-states? To help me answer this I will now turn my discussion to the theoretical framework of transnationalism. As most commonly understood, transnationalism refers to �multiple ties and interactions linking people or institutions across the borders of nation-states� (Vertovec 1). Many of the arguments around transnationalism circle around dualities or binary opposites�(1) the local, global argument (2) the sending, receiving states, (3) hegemonic, counter-hegemonic, and so forth. While these may be helpful in setting up visual extremes, they would be most useful if understood existing on continuums. Binaries opposites are problematic, exclude the many layers within each opposite, and can potentially lead to essentialism�the day to day realities of all of us are so much more complex.⁹

Within the context of transnationalism, many women of color have been critical of the exclusion of gender from primary discourse. Referring to Asia specifically, Maila Stivens writes:

In the flurry of writing about the new rich and newly affluent of contemporary Asia, astonishingly little attention has been paid to gender relations. The omission of gender from the mainstream malestream accounts of the new Asia is hardly surprising, given the prevailing andocentric of much writing about economy and polity in the region. But at another level it is unfortunate, given the central place anxieties about the �Asia Family� and �Asian Values� occupy in many of the cultural productions about Asian modernity. Moral panics about changing gender relations are prominent in pronouncements by Asian leaders about the future and figure in many of the principle cultural contests in the region (1).

Stivens� concerns cannot be taken lightly. Gender is a major issue in our current political and global climate�especially when used as a scapegoat by �President�¹⁰ Bush to invade other countries. We cannot forget that, according to Bush, the only �sound� reason for the invasion of Afghanistan was to �liberate the Afghanistan women.�¹¹ Political rhetoric, such as this, has direct implications on the actual lives of these women.

What, then, does all of this mean for queer¹² women of color around the globe? How does sexuality configure within transnationalism?¹³ How does transnationalism transcend to the day to day realities of these women? In an attempt to engage with these questions I will turn once again to las Marchas L�sbicas occurring in M�xico City. These have played a pivotal role in fostering a transnational movement between LGTB women in M�xico and queer women of color in the U.S.�specifically queer Chicanas and Latinas.

Beyond Borders: Diaspora, Power, and Privilege

In thinking about the counter hegemonic presence of las Marchas L�sbicas of M�xico, I saw links to the struggles of queer Chicanas and Latinas within the United States. Gloria Anzald�a, a crucial contributor to the queer Chicana canon, will be remembered through her powerful writing style and border theories.¹⁴ As queer Chicanas and Latinas, we exist within the borders, and likewise, on either side of them. This leads me to the concept of diaspora�the longing/connection to a homeland one was forcefully displaced from.¹⁵

For those of us attempting to do transnational work we must ask ourselves why? What attracts us to global issues? How much of our desire for �home� is a romantization of what we image �home� as? Why not stay within our local communities? In answering these questions, I purposely place myself within the context of my own research. My historical and political connection to the land of M�xico and its multiple levels of colonization�originally by indigenous communities amongst themselves, then from Spain, and currently from the U.S.�make it impossible to understand myself within the U.S. without also understanding myself in relation to M�xico. Equally important, I invest myself in transnationalism as a counter hegemonic tool given the commonality in political ideology amongst the demands of the Marchas L�sbicas and those of radical queer women of color in general, and queer Chicanas and Latinas specifically within the U.S.

Transnationalism, however, cannot be glorified; it must also be problematized so as not to assume an equal level of power among the nation-states that are being transgressed. It is evident that with the U.S. and M�xico, the U.S. holds the upper hand in terms of global geopolitical power. This imbalance also transcends into an imbalance between the citizens of each of these nation-states so that those of us belonging to the U.S. automatically hold a privileged position in relation to those in M�xico City, or those in the U.S. who are not legally recognized. Even while saying this I am cognizant of the many layers of oppression where racism, sexism, classism, ablism, and homophobia also inform our positions within our nations.

Furthermore, given the historical context of U.S.-M�xico relations it is also important for us to not only acknowledge our privileged position but to do something about it. Two queer women of color from the U.S. spoke out at the culminating rally following the 2004 Marcha L�sbica. The first woman was M�nica Taher, the People of Color Media Director for GLAAD (the national Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation organization). She brought forth a message from queer women of Latina American currently in the U.S, ��Abajo con gringlolandia, abajo con el genocida buga de Bush!�¹⁶ Her message was clear, calling out white supremacy, heteronormativity, and the global exploitation by Bush and his administration. Being in a position of privilege, Taher used this position to contest the actions of Bush and his administration.

Likewise, Mireya Gomez, a student from the U.S., acknowledged the privilege she had in simply attending the march. Pointing to the banner held by others from her delegation, she states:

Venimos con metas de no solo apoya al movimiento l�sbico feminista en M�xico pero tambi�n para, como dicen nuestra manta: Cruzar Fronteras y Romper Barreras.

As� es, porque tambi�n nosotras como mujeres feministas en los Estados Unidos, sufrimos desigualdad de derechos. Y venimos para comunicar que las demandas que se expresaron por el comit� organizador de la marcha tambi�n son las de nosotras.

Reconocemos que participar en esta marcha es un gran privilegio que muchas mujeres no tienen. Es un honor estar aqu� representando esas mujeres que por muchas razones no pueden participar y celebrar con nosotras�¹⁷

The general tone in her speech was one that acknowledged her privileged position�as a US citizen and as an OUT queer woman. Working within a framework of privilege and power dynamics, then, Gomez calls for solidarity and coalition building based on the shared injustices of queer women of color on a global scale.

The impact of speaking out at a rally cannot be overemphasized; however, it is also important to understand the processes involved while organizing within transnationalism. In further exploring our purpose for attending the marches it is also important to continue the organizing within our other communities�both in the U.S. and Mexico. It would also be na�ve to glorify these marches; instead we must understand them as only one of many ruptures that must occur to create societal and institutional change; they do not stand independent of yearlong organizing, teaching, dialoguing, networking, and mobilizing. Within the context of las Marchas L�sbicas we have a responsibility to continue with these processes and to hold ourselves accountable as privileged queer Chicanas and Latinas within the U.S.

Concluding Thoughts

Overall las Marchas L�sbicas have been successful in bringing so many l�sbica women together. Uniting their voices, they sent a strong message to the Mexican Government regarding their presence. Through their actions, these women made their own gains, on their own terms and conditions. Likewise, in the United States major current events are shaping the future of Queer Chicanas and Latinas. With the recent up rise of queer visibility in the media,¹⁸ the Massachusetts Supreme Court Decision,¹⁹ and the thousands of couples who were granted (even if temporarily) marriage licenses in San Francisco²⁰ �all within months of each other�many Chicanas and Latinas have become key players in all of these. More importantly, both the events occurring in M�xico and those occurring in the U.S. have not been independent of one another; these events are crossing geographic boundaries as what happens in one country is affecting what can potentially happen in the other. Following the ideas proposed by the Marcha L�sbica, 2004, political mobilization across national borders is occurring and has great potential.

Achnowledgements

This paper is dedicated to the many women who have participated in las Marchas L�sbicas and to all of those women who for many reasons, were not able to participate. I would like to thank el Comit� Organizador de las Marchas L�sbicas (COMAL), specifically Alejandra Novoa, Juana Guzm�n Lisea, Mariana P�rez Oca�a, and Mar�a de Jes�s for their continued support.

References

Anzaldua, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco: Aunt Lute, 1987.

Brah, Avtar. �Diaspora, Border and Transnational Identities.� Catographies of Diaspora: Contesting Identities. New York: Routledge. 1996.

COMAL. "Documento Central." 2nd Marcha L�sbica, Mexico 2004. March 2004. Comite Comit� Organizador de la Marcha L�sbica. 3 April 2004.

D'Emilio, John. Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1983.

Grewal, Inderpal, and Caren Kaplan. �Global Identities: Theorizing Transnational Studies of Sexuality.� GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 7.4 (2001) : 663-679.

Guarnizo, Luis Eduardo, & Michael Peter Smith. �The Locations of Transnationalism.� In Transnationalism From Below. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. 1998.

Jagose, Anna Marie. �Queer.� Queer Theory: An Introduction. New York: New York University Press. 1996.

Kaplan, Caren, Norma Alarcon, and Minoo Moallem, eds. Between Woman and Nation: Nationalism, Transnational Feminisms and the State. Durham: Duke University Press. 1999.

Perez, Emma. �Irigaray�s Female Symbolic in the Making of Chicana Lesbian Sitios y Lenguas.� Ed. Carla Trujillo. Living Chicana Theory. Berkeley, CA: Third Woman Press.

Rodriguez, Juana Maria. Queer Latinidad: Identity Practices, Discursive Spaces. New York: New York University Press. 2003.

Stivens, Maila. �Gendering the Global and the Anti-Global: Asian Modernities, �Asian Values� and �The Asian Family.�� Paper presented at the ICCCR International conference, University of Melbourne, 1998.

Vertovec, Steven. �Conceiving and Researching Transnationalism.� Ethnic and Racial Studies 22:2 (1999) : 1-25.

Endnotes

[1] This title directly translates to Lesbian Marches, Mexico City or Lesbic Marches, Mexico City. It would be inappropriate for me to refer to them as �Dyke Marches,� the term given to marches organized in the U.S. by and for queer women. All translations, here on end, are my own.

[2] I use �herstory� purposely in the spirit of the Organizing Committee of the Marchas Lesbicas (COMAL) who identify themselves as autonomous feminist lesbians.

[3] This was the official slogan for the second annual Marcha L�sbica, 2004. It reads: Save yourself if you want, Lesbians in rebellion!

[4] Monument to the Revolution

[5] LGTB, as an umbrella term, is specific to Mexico while the most common umbrella term in the U.S. is LGTBQIA, or Queer for short.

[6] The Official Mission Statement was originally posted in Spanish on the official website, www.marchalesbica.org Since 2004 the official website has moved to www.marchalesbica.org.mx

[7] See D�Emilio, 1983

[8] The 3rd Annual Marcha Lesbica, Mexico City will resume on March 25th, 2006.

[9] See Guarnizo & Smith, 1998

[10] I place the term president within quotation marks because Bush�s re-election results are debatable.

[11] This is only one example of the many ways gender has been manipulated for the purposes of colonization and exploitation. (See Afshar, 1996; Kaplan, Alarcon & Moallem, 1999)

[12] I use the term �queer� to loosely refer to all people outside heteronormative relationships (ie. lesbian, bisexual, transgender, gay, two-spirited, third gendered, intersex, gender-queer, androgynous, etc). In using �queer� as an umbrella term, I am not implying its universality; the term has been traditionally associated with the U.S./western societies. (See Jagose, 1996; Rodriguez, 2003).

[13] See Grewal & Kaplan, 2001

[14] Gloria Anzald�a, 1942-2004, passed as a result of diabetes complications. Her work has been instrumental in shaping the lives of many individuals. See her widely cited text, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1987).

[15] See Brah, 1996

[16] This phrase was taken from video recorded footage of the Marcha L�sbica, M�xico 2004

[17] Mireya Gomez spoke at the culminating rally following the march; these are selected portions of her speech that were also video recorded.

[18] I would like to point out that �queer� mainstream media is very narrow in its representation of a �queer� subject�often a white, middle/upper class, gay male. The following are explicitly �queer� TV shows: Will and Grace (NBC), Queer as Folk (Showtime), The L Word (Showtime), Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo), Queer Eye for the Straight Girl (Bravo).

[19] The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled, 4 to 3, on November 18, 2003 that a ban on �gay� marriage was unconstitutional.

[20] Between February 12 and March 11, 2004, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom approved and led the issuing of thousands of marriage licenses to �same-sex� couples.

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