Posts Tagged ‘lesbian’
Introducing Youth Media Maker: Espie Hernandez
9:28 am By BiancaLaureano · Media|media justice|sexuality|Women|youth · 3 Comments
24 Jun 2010I’ve decided that this summer I will take time out to interview media makers over at my Media Justice column. The site focuses on youth and often we don’t always embrace the media they create and find it valuable and worthy. Last week Vivir Latino was invited to attend the Human Rights Watch Film Festival’s youth track: Youth Producing Change. One of the films featured was by a young media maker named Espie Hernandez.
Espie’s film is about her experiences being a 15 year-old out Latina lesbian and planning her Quinceañera. Her short film MARIPOSA is below. I’m planning to use her film in my human sexuality class I’m teaching this summer and am very excited to hear what others think of her film (it was the only film that discussed aspects of sexuality and sexual orientation).
Espie’s interview was done on video and I’ve transcribed the interview as well. You may read and hear the interview at my Media Justice column.
Canada a Sanctuary for Mexican Lesbian Couple
4:19 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Canada|GLBT|Immigration|mexico|World · 1 Comment
20 Jul 2009
When we look with nostalgia and cultural pride at Mexico and other Latin American countries, it’s often easy to forget that the Latino motherlands are also home to discrimination in various forms, with a particular emphasis on race and sexual orientation. It was because of such persecution that a lesbian couple from Mexico traveled to Canada and have decided to stay and seek sanctuary from abuse. The Toronto Sun reports:
Norma Angelica Gomez, 33, and Alina Gallegos Lee, 34, say their dream is to get married in Toronto and be happy. The couple fled to Canada a year ago but claimed asylum last March after going public with their love in Mexico. They claimed they were harassed, followed and beaten by Mexican police officers for expressing that love.“Canada is a good country and we feel free,” Lee said yesterday. “At home we were constantly persecuted for being lesbians.” The couple claim the attacks against them escalated after they were detained and beaten by police last year in Mexico.
According to Amnesty International, gays and lesbians in Mexico are routinely beaten, sexually assaulted, raped or tortured by police and soldiers.
Since the couple entered the country, Canada has since (as a matter of fact, just last week) imposed a visa requirement on Mexican and Czech nationals due to the number of refugee applicants coming from the two countries. The couple is represented by an attorney and is fighting for their right to marry and remain in Canada permanently.
Via / CNews
Lesbian couple struggling through immigration hoops
10:34 am By la Macha · GLBT|Immigration|Justice · 1 Comment
3 Apr 2009
Immigration is rarely talked about within the context of queerness. But people who are queer have a much harder time in a corrupt screwed up system than others do–and the reason why is because of the Catch-22 of “family sponsorship.” Take this case of lesbian couple Jay Mercado and Shirley Tan.
Tan applied for political asylum in 1995, and thought her case was still pending, until immigration officials knocked on her door this past January. She said her former lawyer never told her a deportation order was issued in 2002. Her bid for asylum failed because the threat to her life in the Philippines came from a relative — who shot her in the head when she was young over an inheritance battle — instead of from the government.
So after living here in the U.S. for 23 years, having family, forming a new life–Tan was scheduled to be deported to a country where she had suffered extreme violence. She can not get sponsored by her partner, who is a U.S. citizen–because her partner is a woman.
Read more…
Schools Can Legally Expel Lesbian Students
10:04 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia|GLBT|Justice|society · 1 Comment
30 Jan 2009
Fresh off the heels of the Prop 8 victory, my beloved California is faced with another case of discrimination on the basis of orientation. The California 4th District Court of Appeal has ruled that a Lutheran school was within its right to expel two lesbian students based on their gender preference in partners:
After a Lutheran school expelled two 16-year-old girls for having “a bond of intimacy” that was “characteristic of a lesbian relationship,” the girls sued, contending the school had violated a state anti-discrimination law.In response to that suit, an appeals court decided this week that the private religious school was not a business and therefore did not have to comply with a state law that prohibits businesses from discriminating. A lawyer for the girls said Tuesday that he would ask the California Supreme Court to overturn the unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal.
The appeals court called its decision “narrow,” but lawyers on both sides of the case said it would protect private religious schools across California from such discrimination suits.
When I read this post over at WOC Phd, my heart sank. It details the story of a black lesbian mother who was gang raped by four assailants. At least two of those assailants are suspected to be Latino. Even worse, the assailants specifically stated that they were raping the woman because she was a lesbian.
The only thing I could think about when reading about this was how the white gay community insisted post-Prop 8 on making the loss about them. That is, blacks were conservative socially and voted against the Proposition even though white gays voted for Obama. And in the tit for tat business of politics, the blacks just fucked over the gays. But because white gays found it easier to wield the “you should understand what it’s like to not have civil rights!” against the black community, it was soon lost in the fray (among other things) that Latinos *also* voted against the proposition.
I want to say that Latinos would never do something like this. But I know better. I, like so many women before me, left home as soon as it was possible because I couldn’t stand the stifling sexism of my community. Even more to the point, I couldn’t stand the sexism that was steeped in queer hatred. Men weren’t ridiculed, ostracized, or violated because they were queer (although they certainly weren’t embraced either).
Salma Hayek=Half Lesbian. Er, Lebanese. Er…
4:57 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities · Comments Off
6 Oct 2008
So, either the common people are so unused to a Spanish accent or so unused to Lebanese as a reference point, that when a Mexican born woman of Lebanese descent speaks, she must be outing her queer self.
ITV talk show presenter Eamon Holmes made a gaffe while the actress was present to discuss her campaign to wipe out Tetanus, reports The Sun.
Holmes asked Salma, Hayek doesn’t sound very Mexican”. To which the actress replied that’s because she’s half Lebanese.
He didn’t understand what she said and mistakenly asked: “You’re a lesbian?”
Salma clarified that she was a Lebanese.
Eamon asked her to forgive him and admitted he’d thought she’d said she was “half lesbian”.
You know what is really amusing to me? That even though this dude is talking to a woman with such a thick accent he can’t understand her, he still has the audacity to question her Mexican identity! It’s so much fun to be mestiz@ some times.
Colombian School Principal : No Pal to Two Lesbian Students
8:00 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Colombia|GLBT|youth · Comments Off
28 Apr 2008The following video and story via / Blabbeando horrified me. It shows Colombian high schoolers returning to school after a court decided that the two teenage girls were wrongly expelled for being lesbians. When the girls went back to register, they were greeted with other students screaming, “We don’t want them.” One student in the video clip said that she supported the principal’s original decision because now everyone thinks that the school is full of lesbians. The principal maintains that they were expelled for disciplinary reasons not because they were lesbians and that her autonomy was violated.
Who is really getting their rights violated here? See the video after the jump.
Penelope Cruz helps spread lesbian rumors
8:38 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities|Chismes|GLBT · 3 Comments
21 Dec 2006
While the fantasy of hotties Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz being lovers might inhabit the mind of every man in the Western Hemisphere, Penelope herself says that it’s all just a publicity stunt. Apparently she has fomented the rumors herself by acting extra cozy with her Mexican friend:
Penelope Cruz claims she knows why those lesbian rumors refuse to die. The “Vanilla Sky” actress, who has long been the subject of speculation about her sexuality, says she helped keep them going.Cruz has been friends with Salma Hayek since she came to the U.S. from Spain about seven years ago. There friendship started a buzz, which grew a lot louder when she groped her friend’s behind at a press conference while the two were promoting their film “Banditas.”
“I grabbed Salma’s ass just to keep things moving, because everyone was a little slow,” Cruz said while promoting her new film “Volver” reports Australia’s Courier Mail. “And, of course, the energy changed when I did that.”
I guess Salma are the Latina Oprah and Gail, the girls with the friendship no one understands.
Via / National Ledger
Latino blogger makes a sport of outing
11:27 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Chismes|GLBT|Internet · Comments Off
28 Nov 2006
Perez Hilton, one of the most widely-read blogs on the internet, is the pen name of a gay Latino blogger, one Mario Lavandeira. You probably knew that already. But did you know that Perez feels he’s paving the way for gays and lesbians who want to come out of the closet by talking up their sexuality on the blog? His mission is to “out” as many celebs as possible:
On that point, as he sees it, they have forfeited their right to privacy.“In American culture, a lot of people still think that being gay is bad and that being gay will hurt your career. I generally don’t think that.”
Gay magazine reveals Lost’s Michelle Rodriguez’s love interest
7:14 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities|Chismes|GLBT|Magazines · 4 Comments
15 Nov 2006
The Advocate, the most widely read gay magazine, has revealed that Lost‘s Latina cast member, Michelle Rodriguez has been bitten by the love bug. In an interview with her co-star in BloodRayne(and apparent partner) Kristanna Loken , we get the scoop:
As we sat downstairs in her Los Angeles home, upcoming Advocate cover girl Kristanna Loken—the smoldering star of Terminator 3—found an adorable way of letting us know that she’s involved with her equally sexy BloodRayne costar Michelle Rodriguez.At first Loken, 27—who has a recurring role as lover of Shane (Katherine Moennig) on Showtime’s The L Word this season—affirmed that she’s in a relationship but wouldn’t specify the name or gender.Then we mentioned the tantalizing stories Loken has told in past interviews about getting tight with Rodriguez when they filmed BloodRayne in Romania. Here’s what happened next.
What about all the stuff that was said about you and Michelle on the shoot?
[Laughs, then takes a deep breath] There is the $64,000 question. Um…I don’t even know how to answer that.It seems like you both had a lot of fun partying.
Uh-huh. [Smiles, doesn’t say anything]
OK, your silence says volumes. [Both laugh]
Just don’t look upstairs, OK?
Ooh, OK. You don’t want me to print that?
You can print it. [Laughs again] The very hot housekeeper. No, just joking.
Hmm…hopefully having a gf will help keep Michelle out of jail.
Via / The Advocate
Hola!
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by Mamita Mala Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse Latin@ diaspora.
About | Advertise with us | Contact | Twitter
blog advertising is good for you
blog advertising is good for you
- Scrying Nicki Minaj, Stupid Hoe, and #Afrofutures | Nuñez Daughter: [...] forest of things that seem to matter a lot–like fingers waving in presidential faces [...]
- Karen: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/01/09/120109fa_fact_auletta [...]
- Karen: I just read this about Rubio. Let's see the GOP make him a VP nominee. LOL http://www.democraticu [...]
- Martes Media Minute : Roe v. Wade Anniversary, Medicaid Mama y Midwife Victory, Cervical Cancer Awareness month, & Mala’s Mami Closeup, | VivirLatino: [...] last week’s liveblog of a conversation on cervical cancer and Latin@s, Bianca Laureano s [...]
- Emiliano: thanks for your reviews. i feel like you tell it like you really feel. [...]
- Sexy Singing and Scary Primetime TV Latino Stereotypes : Glee & The River
- Explaining the Sudden Hiatus
- Eye on the Florida Primary : Mirror on the Wall, Who is the Most Anti-Immigrant of All?
- Live Blog/Tweet of Obama’s SOTU Address Tonight 8:45 EST
- Martes Media Minute : Roe v. Wade Anniversary, Medicaid Mama y Midwife Victory, Cervical Cancer Awareness month, & Mala’s Mami Closeup,
- VL Pelicula Giveaway!
- Today at 1 pm EST : Conversation on Latinas and Cervical Cancer
- Today in Latin@ History : Birthday of Martha P. Cotera
- Mistaking Immigration Proposals for Policy in an Election Year
- Casa Blanca Camino 2012: DREAMing of Hypocrisy in Iowa
