Mexico's Catholic Church Fights Ads Against Gay Murders

by Diego Cevallos

(IPS) MEXICO CITY -- When 17-year-old Mexican Antonio Ruiz was murdered, his killer wrote "I'm a faggot" and "queer" on his body.

He was one of an average of 30 homosexuals killed because of their sexual preferences every year in Mexico, which will be launching an official government campaign against homophobia in April.

"Equality begins when we recognize that we all have the right to be different" and "For an influential, tolerant and plural Mexico" are two of the slogans that will be broadcast on radio in 15 cities during the first phase of the campaign. In May, it will be extended throughout the entire country and include televized messages as well.

But the Catholic Church and conservative groups have loudly protested the initiative, claiming that it will promote homosexuality, which they view as an "aberrant disease." They are doing their best to pressure the government of Vicente Fox to cancel the campaign.

According to various studies, there are between five and 10 million gays and lesbians in Mexico, out of a total population of 105.3 million.

Ruiz's body was found in February in a Mexico City alley. He had apparently been suffocated to death. According to the police investigation, either before or after he was murdered, his killer or killers had savagely beaten him, cut off his hair, and written the words "I'm a faggot" on his abdomen and "queer" on one of his buttocks.

Crimes like these, where the victims are targeted on the basis of their sexuality, are not uncommon in Mexico.

The non-governmental Citizens Committee Against Homophobic Hate Crimes reports that between 1995 and 2003, a total of 290 individuals were murdered out of "homophobic hatred," with men accounting for 275 of the victims. Out of the total, 126 of these killings took place in Mexico City, and in the majority of cases, no one has ever been charged and punished for these crimes.

With their hands and feet bound, tortured or stabbed to death, the gay men and women murdered in numerous parts of the country are proof of the injustice and hatred that prevail with regard to sexual diversity, said writer Carlos Monsivais, a member of the Citizens Commission.

"Society is very hard on those who are different, so it is excellent that the government is firmly sticking to its plans to carry out this campaign," dancer Yuri Contreras told IPS, adding that he is an active participant in the parades, marches and other demonstrations organized by gay rights groups.

In the radio spots that will begin to be broadcast in April, gays and lesbians are presented in "everyday" situations. In one of them, for example, a young man is talking with his mother about his male partner.

But Guillermo Bustamente Manilla, president of the non-governmental National Parents Union, made up of roughly 100 conservative families, pledged that he would not rest until the messages against homophobia are pulled from the air.

The goal of the campaign, he charged, is for families and society to view and accept as natural something that is "unnatural and aberrant."

To combat what they view as an "onslaught from pro-homosexual sectors," the National Parents Union will join with the Pro Life anti-abortion organization to distribute their own pamphlets, like one entitled "Homosexuality: Sexual Preference or Unnatural and Aberrant Deviation?"

The government's anti-homophobia campaign, funded in part by United Nations agencies, has also come under attack from the Catholic Church.

"Homosexual acts cannot be endorsed. We should help these people to get their lives back on track. We should accept them as people, but help them to solve their problem. Any advertisements and campaigns should be aimed in this direction," said Bishop Rodrigo Aguilar, president of the Episcopal Commission for the Family.

The Church maintains that it is a scientifically proven fact that carnal relations between individuals of the same sex constitute a disease. No evidence or scientific data is provided to back up these claims, however.

In 1973, the influential American Psychiatric Association, in the United States, removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. This same stance has been adopted by the schools of psychology and psychiatry in Mexico.

Sources at the Health Ministry told IPS that the Mexican government will stand firm in the face of any criticisms or demands from conservative sectors regarding the campaign. The radio and TV messages, which were developed by the ministry, will be aired no matter what, they stressed.

"If they back down on the campaign, the homosexual community will take to the streets, head to the courts and do everything in its power to denounce what could only be seen as a humiliating capitulation," warned Contreras.

Although Fox and his National Action Party are essentially conservative, his administration has previously undertaken such initiatives as promoting the use of condoms to curb the spread of AIDS and authorising the use of the "morning-after pill" to prevent unplanned pregnancies.