From: nyt@nyxfer.UUCP
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Subject: Europe Exported Lesbian/Gay Oppress
Date: 19 Dec 92 02:56:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:DDB1VB17w165w@nyxfer.uucp:-2054684824:000:3558
Nf-From: nyxfer.uucp!nyt    Dec 18 18:56:00 1992


Subject: Europe Exported Lesbian/Gay Oppression to Americas
From: nyxfer!nyt (NY Transfer News)

Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit


EUROPE EXPORTED LESBIAN/GAY OPPRESSION TO THE AMERICAS

As part of the ongoing commemoration of the 500th anniversary of 
Columbus' invasion of the Americas, Workers World offers the 
following excerpts from articles by Lucien Chauvin of the 
Peruvian group MHOL. Published in Bulletin 5/92 of the 
International Lesbian and Gay Association, Chauvin's articles 
shed light on an aspect of the invasion--how it created lesbian 
and gay oppression in the Western Hemisphere.

Like most of today's marginalized groups, Latin America's gays 
and lesbians continue to feel the fall-out of Columbus' arrival. 
Hernan Cortes and Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, for example, wrote 
about the widespread practice of homosexuality in what is now 
Mexico and the southwestern United States. Later, both used 
homosexuality as a justification for the policy of genocide. 

In Peru, the chronicles pointed out that Incas did not appear to 
practice "the abominable act of homosexuality." They were quick 
to add, however, that the same could not be said for other ethnic
groups. According to Artidoro Caceres, a noted Peruvian 
sociologist, the invading Spaniards were quick to destroy any 
references to homosexuality that existed in indigenous Peruvian 
cultures. 

According to the Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano, "along the 
Caribbean coast and in other `comarcas' homosexuality was 
permitted." Galeano's claim can be traced back to the chronicles 
of the conquest. 

Referring to the indigenous people Hernan Cortes, the Spaniard 
who conquered Mexico, wrote, "We have known and been informed 
that all of them are sodomites [sic] and practice this abominable
sin." 

Bernard Diaz del Castillo and Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, 
Spaniards who also participated in the conquest of Mexico, 
described the sexual practices of indigenous Americans. "All of 
them were sodomites, especially those who lived along the coasts 
and in warm climates," wrote Diaz del Castillo. 

A later conqueror, Pedro Cieza de Leon, explored the area from 
what is now Panama to Bolivia, and offered a detailed account of 
homosexuality in the region. According to Cieza de Leon, "the 
highland and lowland peoples held homosexuality in high regard." 

Writing in the Spanish magazine Entiendes, Jose Manuel Leon 
states: "Homosexuality among the American Indians is one of the 
elements that justified the conquest and genocide. The 
generalized practice of `sodomy' horrified the Spaniards, who 
were backed by Christianity." 

The Church's discrimination against gays and lesbians [today] 
remains constant. In Chile and Ecuador, for example, the Catholic
hierarchy continues to support colonial-era laws that penalize 
homosexuality. The Catholic Church also played a key role in 
promoting the repressive anti-homosexual law that was signed by 
Nicaraguan President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro on Aug. 13. In 
Mexico, the conservative Catholic group Pro-Vida played a key 
role blocking ILGA's plans to hold its 1991 annual conference in 
Guadalajara City. 

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if
source is cited. For more info contact Workers World, 46 W. 21
St., New York, NY 10010; email: ww%nyxfer@igc.apc.org; "workers" on
PeaceNet; on Internet: "workers@mcimail.com".)
 

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Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america