by Rex Wockner
[story filed Nov. 12, 2002]
TECATE, Mexico -- About 400 marchers
and more than 1,000 spectators
turned out for the protest march by
transgender people and gays in this
small Mexican border city of 125,000
people Nov. 12.
The protesters sashayed down the city's
main street behind a sound truck
playing I Will Survive, Girls Just
Wanna Have Fun, Supermodel (You
Better Work), Vogue and Livin' La
Vida Loca.
The march was a protest against a new
city law that criminalizes any
"man dressed as a woman who transits
in the public way causing social
perturbation."
City councilors passed the law (Article
34.15 of the Police and Good
Governance Act) Oct. 21 because, they
said, cross-dressing prostitutes
are soliciting clients in the central
plaza, behaving crudely and
spreading HIV.
The law has not been well-received
by local residents, who lined the
street to cheer the marchers. It also
has been widely denounced by
newspaper editorial writers, talk
radio hosts and callers, and by local,
state and national human-rights officials.
"The Tecate mayor is trampling on our
rights," said marcher Oeuki. "We
are in a free country and he can't
violate our rights like that."
"We want this law repealed," said marcher
Miguel. "We want the city
government to respect every person's
way of being."
Jacqueline Ordhez and three of her
transgender friends came from
far-away Mexico City for the march.
They belong to the Active Homosexual
Revolutionary Front.
"The city officials and the police,
those fucking people make me sick,"
Ordhez said. "In Mexico City we are
very free. The police don't bother
us. If all the gay people get together,
we can do something for this
state, Baja California."
Tijuana activist and marcher Max Mejía
said Mayor Juan Vargas Rodríguez
"is trying the rule people's lives
as if Tecate were a tiny village far
away from anywhere."
"It's important to respond to this
as a supporter of gay and transgender
rights, and of human rights for everybody,"
Mejía said. "The support
from the people on this matter, if
you listen to the radio stations, is
just incredible. All the media people
are speaking very strongly against
this law. The media is really laughing
at the mayor."
Tecate residents lining the parade
route were unanimous in their support
for the marchers.
"It's great. They should be who they
are. It's their right," said Israel
Morales.
"They have the right to defend themselves,"
said Ana. "I have nothing to
say against them."
"It's important that the international
community know what's going on
here," said spectator Felipe. "Tecate
is a very nice town with nice
people but the government is not respecting
human rights. It's political
repression. We have a new president
nationally who ended 70 years of
one-party rule, but Tecate has not
changed politically."
Roberto Vázquez, the Tecate
representative of the Baja California State
Office for Human Rights and Citizen
Protection, joined the march.
"We are trying to help the homosexuals,"
he said. "City officials are
having good times making laws. Most
of the people of the city are
against the law; they are calling
to the radio stations and speaking
against it."
The march stopped for half an hour
two blocks short of the central plaza
when police had cleared traffic on
one side of the street but not the
other.
"Our permit gives us the entire street,
from sidewalk to sidewalk," said
Sheila Obregón Mange, president
of the Tecate Rainbow Gay Association.
The march resumed only after several
marchers carrying a huge rainbow
flag ran ahead and used the flag to
block oncoming cars -- something
police had been unwilling or unable
to accomplish.
"In Tijuana, we do just march on one
side of the street," said leading
gay activist Enrique Alejandro García.
"It appears the gays are a little
more radical in Tecate. They have
their permit and they want the whole
street."
Following the march, a large rally
took place in front of City Hall
which sits on the southeast corner
of the central plaza. City Hall
spokesman Roberto Rodríguez
said it was scandalous that three
transgender persons stood atop a van
in front of City Hall, raised their
blouses and showed their breasts.
"Did you see that?" he asked this reporter.
"Did you see that? Do you
think that's right, in front of little
children? This is exactly what
this law is trying to regulate. This
is exactly what we mean by 'social
perturbation.'"
As the rally continued, 12 local transgender
persons went upstairs to
the city council chambers for an impromptu
meeting with the police chief
and seven members of the 10-member
council. (Two non-councilors, one the
mayor, also have votes on the council
for a total of 12 votes.)
Although only three councilors voted
against the law when it was passed,
at least five of those present voiced
support for repealing it. The next
City Council meeting is Nov. 21.
"This is not a regulation against gays
or homosexuals," City Hall's
Rodríguez explained in an interview.
"The sexual contact of every person
for us is intimate and free. I want
to be very clear about this. We are
not against homosexuals, we're not
against lesbians, we're not against
gays.
"This regulation speaks specifically
to a man dressed as a woman
transiting in the public way causing
a social perturbation," he said.
"It's a matter of the image of the
city. They are bothering people, with
words and gestures and actions."
Rodríguez said cross-dressers
are free to walk around Tecate if they do
not cause social perturbation, but
Mayor Vargas told the local weekly,
The Newspaper of Tecate, that even
cross-dressers who do not "upset
public order" will be arrested.
The punishment for violating Article
34.15 is arrest and a fine equal to
40 days' salary at the national minimum
wage. That would be about $152.
Tecate sits on the U.S. border 42 miles
southeast of San Diego and 25
miles east of Tijuana. It is known
for its typically Mexican downtown
plaza, wineries, ranches, and the
Tecate brewery.