Mexico's lesbian feminist parliamentarian
PRD
PATRIA JIMÉNEZ Para Diputada Federal Unidad para el
P R cambio democrático de los Tre
Lesbian activist Patria Jiménez was elected to the Mexican Congress in the July 1997 elections. A member of the Revolutionary Workers Party (PRI), She was elected on the list of the centre-left Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD). 12 International Viewpoint #293
• You're a feminist, gay, and a revolutionary activist. Three serious obstacles to election, particularly in a Latin American country.
The PRD had decided to put forward candidates of a broad alliance who would represent a range of political currents and Mexican social movements. The PRT and PRD reached a political agreement for these elections, in order to help make a decisive step towards the fall of the PRI regime and the democratisation of Mexico.'
Why me? Because of my political profile: as a feminist, a leader of the gay movement, and an activist in solidarity with the Zapatistas, I'm rather well known. The PRT put forward a list of eight names, from which the PRD chose me. I was relatively high on the list of PRD candidates for the part of the Congress that's elected by proportional representation.
The PRD decided to reserve half of their slots in these elections for non-PRD candidates, who would be representative of society. You have to understand that in 1996 the major parties (including the PRD) agreed to an electoral reform that made it virtually impossible for small parties and social movements to stand candidates. This reform shut out participation by civil society. In face of criticism, PRD leader Cuathémoc Cardenas decided to open up his party's lists.
This made possible the formation of a broad political front, which includes for example the debtors' alliance El Barzón (a huge movement of indebted middle-class people and small business people which is fighting against the exorbitant interest rates charged by the banks), intellectuals (such as the publisher of the major left daily La Jornada), parties like the PRI, indigenous rights' organisations, trade unions, neighbourhood groups and so on. It's also worth noticing that the PRD set aside 30% of the slots for women. Taken as a whole this strategy contributed to the PRD's big electoral success. • How do you interpret your election?
I waged a campaign focused particularly on the issue of gay and lesbian oppression. I held public meetings in a dozen cities. I ploughed through Mexico's gay meeting places (bars, meeting halls, etc.), presenting my candidacy and encouraging discussion. People reacted extremely well. It was extraordinary.
The gay movement is substantial in Mexico. Gay Pride on 28 June 1997 brought out more than 5,000 people in a very dynamic march. This dynamic explains why the PRD thought it was in their interest to have me on their list, and this is an important sign of recognition for the gay movement. I was able to hold a public meeting with Cárdenas himself in Mexico City. The campaign created a kind of effervescence and made it possible to strengthen the gay movement, which now includes more than twenty groups in Mexico City and twenty others in the rest of the country.
It says in the PRD-PRT agreement that Patria will be "the first Congressperson who as a lesbian will openly defend the gay movement's rights and demands". By taking part in the PRD's parliamentary group I'll be able to propose laws against anti-gay discrimination and move the debate forward on these issues.
This will also increase the PRT's prestige. The PRT has always been very clear in taking gay people's side; it stood me as a PRT candidate as early as the 1982 elections, together with two other gay comrades. • What is life like for gay Mexicans?
There's a serious climate of intolerance, particularly in the police and judicial system. There have been several killings in the last few years in which police were involved, in Chiapas state and elsewhere. The judicial system didn't make much of an effort to find the perpetrators, who have gone completely unpunished. Otherwise, it's the same story as everywhere else: families repress young people, the media presents caricatured, sensationalist images, there is discrimination in the workplace, and gay relationships are not recognised in civil law.
I'm going to introduce bills to change things in all these areas. The PRD's electoral platform stopped short. It talked about "freedom of sexual orientation" without going into more detail; we're going to try to push them to clarify their positions. We're demanding for example establishment of a gay community centre in Mexico City. • What about AIDS?
It's estimated that 45,000 people have died from AIDS in Mexico since 1985, 70% of them men infected through homosexual contact. The problems with treatment are tragic. We don't know how many people have access to the new drug "cocktails" But it's certainly a minority.?
Non-governmental organisations are doing what they can to improve access to health care for people with AIDS, but the ministry of health is passive. After one ACT UP demonstration, the minister agreed to make basic treatments available to people with AIDS-but since the elections supplies seem to have run out, there's nothing to be found any more!
We're going to fight about this. We also want to get Mexico City Hall (which Cárdenas is going to head) to organise an active prevention campaign, not using grotesque imagery of crazy drag-queens and junkies but
explaining intelligently that people should use condoms, not share needles, and so on. • What has the Zapatistas' attitude been towards the gay movement?
Extremely positive! They've consistently invited us to join in their initiatives and speak from the stage. They given us a substantial political space. I'm going to Chiapas soon, to discuss my role as a Congressperson with the Zapatistas, and see how I can contribute to their struggle from my new position.
Gay issues have been raised in Chiapas: there are groups in three towns in the state.
The Zapatistas talk about it openly. There are prejudices in Chiapas like everywhere else, but the EZLN has a very good position. • How are the links between the feminist and gay movements?
It's been my concern to introduce gay issues into the women's movement. In 1992 we formed a lesbian feminist group called "Sister Juana's Closet" , which organises workshops, political initiatives and parties. I'm also active in the feminist movement.(4) For example I co-organising the Fourth Mexican Feminist Congress in 1996. I'm also a member of the National Women's Convention, which was formed on the Zapatistas' initiative.
The issue of freedom of sexual orientation has been well integrated by the feminist movement. However, we have to admit that things are more difficult going in the other direction, trying to get the gay movement to integrate feminist concerns. My candidacy was also supported by a feminist political impetus, but it was mainly carried forward by the gay movement. * Notes 1. In the previous congressional elections in 1994 Edgard Sanchez from the PRT was elected on the PRD list. 2. These are combinations of drugs (so-called 'protease inhibitors") which in some people with AIDS can drastically reduce the presence of the HIV virus in their systems and restore them to apparent health. But besides the fact that a large minority of people cannot tolerate these drugs' toxic effects, they are extremely expensive, must be taken in large doses on a rigid schedule, and because they never seem to eliminate HIV completely, their effect lasts only as long as the patient keeps taking them. See the dossier in the April issue. 3. Las Margaritas, Tuxla Gutierrez and San Cristóbal de las Casas. 4. Patria was active in OIKABETH, the first lesbian political group in Mexico (1979-86). When the PRT stood Rosario Ibarra as their presidential candidate in 1982, not only was Ibarra the first female presidential candidate in Mexican history, it was also the first time that there were openly gay congressional candidates. A Lesbian and Gay Committee in Support of Rosario Ibarra (CLHARI) was formed. Patria was one of several gay PRT candidates for Congress in 1982. In 1991 she stood for the Mexico City council. She is a member of the PRT Central Committee and of the editorial board of the journal Cuadernos feministas. feministas.
Mexico *