Mexico's lesbian feminist parliamentarian
* Mexico PRD
PATRIA JIMÉNEZ
Para Diputada Federal
Unidad para el cambio democrático
Lesbian activist Patria Jiménez was elected to the Mexican Congress in the July 1997 elections.
A member of the Revolutionary
Workers Party (PRT), 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 Cárdenas 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 PRT, 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 • 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, meting 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 meting 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 parlamentary group T'll be able to propose laws against antı-gay dıscrımination and move the debate forward on
This will also increase the PRT's prestige. The PRI has always been very clear in taking gay pople'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 discimination 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 AIDSbut 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