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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