Alex “El Chaparito” Pedroza said his first Pride March in México City was more amazing than he ever imagined (Photo by Jesus Chairez)
JESUS CHAIREZ | Contributing Writer
Facebook.com/JesusChairez
MÉXICO CITY — México City’s 48th annual Marcha de Orgullo (Pride March or Pride Parade) on June 27 — with its theme of “Ante los ojos del mundo: Mi lucha es tu lucha. ¡Igualdad, paz y solidaridad!” (“Before the eyes of the world: My struggle is your struggle. Equality, peace and solidarity!) — once again drew an estimated 800,000 to more than 1 million LGBTQ+ people and their allies.
The march began as usual at the Angel of Independence in La Zona Rosa and moved down the Avenue Paseo de la Reforma to the Zócalo, the usual ending spot. Originally, march organizers were told the parade could not end at the Zócalo as it has in years past because the FIFA World Cup Fan Fest is being held there. But, according to the Alonso Hernandez, a México City LGBTQ+ activist, historian and archivist, and according to a statement from the México City government office, June 17 meetings led to an agreement guaranteeing the orderly development of the LGBTQ+ activities at the Zócalo.
City government said that Pride March participants could reach the Zócalo on foot without any problems and access the area where the FIFA Fan Festival was taking place but that the main closing stage would not be set up in the Zócalo as usual but would instead be located on Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas, next the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts and known locally as, Museo Bellas Artes), with the artistic and musical programs held there.
The Zócalo plaza is important as the ending location for the march, Hernandez said, the plaza is where social and political movements hold their demonstrations. And it is the heart of the country and the site of various seats of power — including the National Palace (residence of the president and the executive branch), the Supreme Court of Justice building, the “twin” buildings of the México City Government Headquarters, the México City Legislative Congress and the Metropolitan Cathedral, which is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of México.
It is, Hernandez said, “symbolically the center of power in the country.”
Hernandez added that the Pride March is the longest-running expression of the LGBTQ+ community “where we have publicly denounced those in power and expressed the rights that have yet to be realized. In this sense, it expresses the sentiment of a political and social movement.”
Having the closing stage at Museum Bellas Artes, “does not fulfill this vision [of LGBTQ+ power], reducing the March to a depoliticized carnival. There are no powers to confront or denounce directly. Furthermore, it is clear evidence of how a government that claims to be leftist demobilizes a movement it has been engaging with for decades.”
While the community did not get stage time at FIFA Fan Festival, the contingent of mothers searching for their missing LGBTQ+ children spoke there through a wireless Bluetooth speaker, listing the names of their missing children. FIFA representatives chose not to interrupt, waiting until all the names had been called out.
The LGBTQ+ crowd entered the Zócalo in force, far outnumbering the soccer fans there, but there were no problems between the groups, and everyone respected each other. And after the names of the missing were spoken, the crowd began to dance, with the first song played through massive loudspeakers being The Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” The dancing revelers were featured on FIFA’s giant “dance cam” video monitors.
While there was a large LGBTQ+ crowd at the Zócalo, there were even more at the closing stage set up in the middle of the street — Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas — next to the Museum Bellas Artes. This is the main artery through the city’s center, El Centro Historico, and is one of the largest and longest roads running north and south in México City. Eje Central, the key street for moving product through the city, is drenched in history.
For the first time in LGBTQ+ Pride history, the LGBTQ+ community was accommodated in two locations.
The crowd was massive, festive and colorful. People of all ages were there, as always — drag queens and drag kings. Cowboys and leather men. Mariachis and people dressed as Aztec dancers and warriors. It was a beautiful march — a high-visibility, “in your face experience” proving the queer community community is not going away and not hiding.
Alejandro Pedroza, aka “El Chaparito,” a Mexican Dallasite who has moved back to México City, said he enjoyed his first March. Pedroza often participated in the Dallas Pride on Cedar Springs, handing out condoms and waving to people either from the float for Midtown Spa where he worked or from the float for Kaliente where he did a lot of partying.
Pedroza said his first Pride March in México City was “amazing,” and better than being on a float and throwing beads and condoms to the crowd.
Also attending their first March were Wilfred W. Labiosa and his artist husband, Seil Roman, recent transplants from Puerto Rico. Labiosa is a prominent public health advocate and social worker and the CEO and executive director of Waves Ahead Corp. in Puerto Rico.
Labiosa said, “Seil and I have visited many Pride celebrations and marches throughout the years [in many locations], but this one in México City is like no other. We were welcomed by many [and felt true] comunidad. The March was political and, at the same time, a celebration of our diversity. We can never take for granted these days our political stands and celebrations,” something that is slowly starting to deteriorate in the United States.
“We can never take for granted our rights,” he added. “The struggle continues here and everywhere around the globe. Let’s unite in the struggle.”
Jesus Chairez is an ex-Dallasite now living in México City. He can be reached at Facebook.com/JesusChairez.