Sexual diversity is part of human nature, any doubt?


If a young man with a beard and a thick voice comes out of the closet, it is common for them to say: really? You are not noticed. The operating stereotype dictates that a gay man is “mannered” and thin-spoken. The same can happen with a remarkably feminine woman: few or no heteronormative people will recognize her lesbianism, because prejudice seeks to fit that sexual preference into a masculinized woman. Of stereotypes and prejudices about sexual preferences and gender identities these lines could be exhausted.

“But in the same way that the heterosexual or cisgender population is very different from each other, so are sexually diverse people. It is necessary to open our minds to considerations”, insists the academic director of the Museum of Memory and Tolerance (MMyT), Adán García Fajardo, regarding the LGBT+ exhibition. Pride and legacy, which from this Thursday opened to the public in the portico of the enclosure in the Center of Mexico City.

No matter how many times you have to insist on the issue, it is necessary to continue raising awareness among the population in a country that ranks second in homophobic and transphobic crimes in Latin America, according to the National Observatory of LGBT Hate Crimes. García Fajardo and Dr. Laura Vélez agree on this, a researcher associated with the museum’s Academic Directorate of Temporary Exhibitions, a specialist in gender issues and curator of the exhibition.

As if that were not enough, notes Dr. Laura Vélez, the results of demographic censuses on the population of sexual diversity are still inaccurate due to prejudice, discrimination and lack of openness to diversity.

“Counts have been made in Mexico of almost 3 million people of sexual diversity, according to the different installments of the National Survey on Discrimination (Enadis, from Conapred),” says the specialist and estimates that these demographic figures could be at least three times higher.

“We would be talking about around 9 million people of sexual diversity in Mexico. And that’s a pretty low estimate. Hence, it is necessary to offer society the necessary conditions for people to live their freedom and be visible as an LGBT+ person.”

Visible again and again

It is from these needs that the LGBT+ sample. Pride and Legacy is divided into three blocks: a Timeline, to recognize the historical journey that the movement has had. “Sexual diversity is part of human nature and, therefore, it has been present since the emergence of humanity on the face of the earth,” says the curator.

In the second instance, the block A Pride with History is presented, as a tribute to gender dissident personalities who have contributed to the struggle through their art, education or social example, such as Frida Kahlo, Virginia Woolf, Harvey Milk, Magnus Hirschfeld, Chavela Vargas or Julio Galán.

Finally, the exhibition shows a block of General Data that, among other details, presents a glossary of words and concepts familiar with sexual and gender diversity and its struggles.

What are we talking about when we talk about minorities?

Our world has been built under a homo-anthropocentric model, argues Adán García. Man (as a gender) built the world in his image and likeness, and everything that is not like him has been diminished.

“In the world, women are more than men, therefore they are not a (quantifiable) minority, but men removed them from decision-making. There are also people with disabilities and sexual diversity, children, older adults or low-income people and people on the street, to name a few.”

All these social groups, he argues, are minorities only because decision-making power has been taken away from them. “But, in reality, if we added intersectionalities, we would resolve that this world is made of minorities. Now, the people who wield power and violence are the true minorities, although they have led us to believe otherwise,” she remarks.

Dr. Vélez adds another unfortunate fact. In Latin America, trans women have a life expectancy of 25 years, when the generalized life expectancy is above 75 years. This means that trans women are being killed for hate crimes motivated by transphobia. And from the MMyT it is up to us to highlight these circumstances, because they are real”, she affirms.

What is the position of the MMyT on inclusive language?

“Language is a living entity, just like us”, argues Adán García. “The dictionary has to reach society in most cases and it is already taking time. When the use of the x can be disrespectful because it devocalizes the language, the use of the “e” can be more friendly and respectful”, he concludes.

“LGBT+. Pride and Legacy”

  • Memory and Tolerance Museum
  • From June 23 to July 25
  • Free entrance

Two exhibit appendices

The LGBT+ sample. Pride and legacy, will also have two complementary exhibitions in two visible places in Mexico City, one in the Glorieta de los Insurgentes, a historically emblematic site for diversity and urban tribes, and another in the gallery of the bars of the Chamber of Senators, whose exhibition opens this Friday.

Year 8,000 BC

From this time date the oldest known representations of sex between men. These are cave paintings captured inside a cave in Zimbabwe, Africa.

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