(Haz clic aquí para leer la versión en español)
Welcome to the new edition of “LGBT en Español.” If you see, read, or hear something problematic, offensive, or defamatory in English or Spanish, let us know! We also want to know if you read a great article or see a good representation or segment on television. Write to us at incident@glaad.org.
Awareness of Transgender Youth in Spanish-Language Media
Last month, univision.com published a 22-page photo essay titled “The 7 Signs of a Transgender Child,” that began with Chaz Bono’s story and explained his role in transgender visibility. The piece delved into transgender people in history and legal challenges, debunked myths and offered parental advice on how to best support a transgender child. In late September, CNN México published an article, titled “Transgender Children, the Difficult Path to Their True Identity,” that details the story of two American transgender youth, Tammy Lobel and Mario. Despite some inconsistent gender pronoun use, the article shed light on the stories and struggles of some transgender youth.
Ricky Martin Faced Anti-Gay Opposition in Honduras.
Ricky Martin’s October concert in Honduras garnered controversy after far-right activists demanded that the government deny his visa. In the weeks leading up to the concert, anti-LGBT religious leaders sought the help of Africo Madrid, the nation’s Minister of the Interior, who stated Martin’s family “is not type of family that Honduran law and society wants to construct and promote to youth.” An age restriction limiting concert entry to those 15 years of age and older was added as a result of the protest. Nevertheless, the concert went off without a hitch in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. This story was extensively covered by the Honduran media as well as U.S. outlets such as Univision.com, Impre.com, Telemundo’s Al Rojo Vivo and Mega TV’s Paparazzi Magazine among others.
Developments in LGBT-Inclusive Telenovelas
In the last edition of LGBT en Español, we introduced you to Harold and Alcides, the two gay protagonists of the Telefutura re-airing of the Colombian telenovela, El Último Matrimonio Feliz (The Last Happy Marriage). Things are getting complicated as the two find themselves in a love triangle with Daniel (Felipe Calderon), Harold’s much younger and financially dependent ex-boyfriend who hasn’t come to terms with the relationship’s end. Meanwhile, Alcides is struggling with coming out to his friends and dealing with his feelings for Harold. El Último Matrimonio Feliz airs weekdays on Telefutura at it's new time 8:30p.m. ET/OT and 7:30 p.m. CT. Meanwhile in Mexico, a news outlet, El Gráfico, mentioned in an article that the Mexican television network TV Azteca is in the development process for a telenovela, Cada Quien Su Santo, which will feature a gay character and his relationship with his homophobic father. Neither an air-date nor U.S. syndication were mentioned in the article.
LGBT in Mexico: Catholic Church Challenged on LGBT Equality & LGBT Bloggers
Mexico’s nationally-distributed newspaper, Milenio, published an article about the LGBT community organizing to phone bank to reach Catolitel, the hotline of the Archdiocese of Mexico. The nature of the calls is to complain about LGBT exclusion from the Catholic Church, specifically the opposition to adoption and marriage for LGBT people. Reforma, another nationally distributed and high circulation newspaper, unveiled a new blog by columnist Genaro Lozano, who writes about LGBT issues in a positive way. Lozano recently posted a piece about LGBT equality in Latin America. And the Mexican political website Animal Político published an article by writer and journalist Miguel Cane, in which he tells of his experience as a victim of homophobia.
LGBT Occupation of Wall Street, Adoption, and Hollywood
Los Angeles-based Spanish-language newspaper La Opinión published an article by Yurina Melara Valiulis about the inclusion of LGBT people and organizations in the Los Angeles version of the national Occupy Wall Street Movement. Another article by Valiulis appeared in San Francisco’s El Mensajero, about Los Angeles County’s campaign “Raise a Child,” which aims to encourage LGBT couples to adopt children. In honor of Coming Out Day, English-language publication, Latina Magazine, published a piece on the top six openly gay Latino celebrities in Hollywood. And Univision.com reported in an article that Eva Longoria’s intimate scenes with Kate del Castillo in the movie Without Men have been censored in Spain. The article is also linked to a video interview that Univision did with the movie’s director Gabriela Tagliavina, who talks about some of the film’s LGBT elements.
- Daniel Alvarenga, Brian Pacheco, Monica Trasandes, and Enrique Torremolina contributed to this report.
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Every day, GLAAD’s Spanish-Language Media team monitors news and entertainment content in film, television, print and online media. We often find interesting stories that we want to share with you, which is why we created LGBT en Español, a look at depictions of LGBT people and issues in Spanish-Language media.
In recent years, we’ve seen a growing number of positive representations of LGBT people and issues in Spanish-language media. This means millions of Latinos are getting to know LGBT people as their neighbors, friends, co-workers and family members.
As with English-language media, of course, there’s plenty of room for improvement, and anti-LGBT defamation, invisibility and the use of stereotypes are persistent challenges. We’ll do our best to keep you apprised of the most interesting media representations, but we also need your help to monitor the large amount of content on the air and radio waves. Please help us by writing to incident@glaad.org if you see, read or hear anything problematic, offensive or defamatory in English or in Spanish. Or if you see or read a great story, please also let us know about that.
