Homosexuality in the Latino Community

The current passage of Proposition 8 in California this month marked a step backward in the progress of equality.  The right to get married is human right that, regardless of sexual orientation, should be allowed in order to demonstrate a union between two individuals.  Hence, denying homosexual couples to get married is promoting inequality in California and in the United States.  While the topic of homosexuality is taboo in the American culture, the issue takes on a higher level of controversy in the Latino community.  Religious and cultural backgrounds of the Latino community greatly influence the perspective that the community has in regards to homosexuality, and contribute to the lack of acceptance of the LGBT community.

The Latino community has a major influence from the Catholic religion, which condemns homosexuality.  As noted in the YouTube video Tal Como Somos/Just As We Are, being raised in a Catholic family makes the idea of coming out and expressing homosexuality an obstacle that one must battle through out their lifetime.  One of the couples in the video have difficulty coping with Catholicism in that while one has strong ties to the religion, the other resents the religion for not accepting who he is.  Growing up with a mentality that homosexuality is unacceptable and a sin affects how the youth interacts with the LGBT community.  As noted by David, his childhood consisted of being bullied for being different, which affected his idea of what it is to be gay and latino.  Homophobia is prominent in the Latino community due to the cultural identity of the Latino man and machismo.  The machismo culture of a Latino male negates feminine emotions and upholds the idea of a strong, firm, outspoken male that controls the household.  Therefore, homosexuality opposes the idea of machismo and creates a threat to Latino males who abide by such an archaic ideology.  The reality is that the homosexual Latino community does not pose a threat to Latino culture or society; in fact, it aids in the advocacy of equality.

Latinos deal with prejudice and racism in California and through out the United States; similarly, the LGBT community also deals with prejudice and shares similar struggles.  Ultimately, homophobia is the discrimination of an individual for being "different", which is the same for racism--there exist a fear or anger towards "different".  There is a larger population of gay Latinos that are coming out and bringing awareness of discrimination that occurs within the Latino community.  The Latino media greatly supported the vote for YES on Prop 8; television stations such as Univision and Telemundo and other spanish radio stations promoted the propaganda for YES on Prop 8 in order to "protect the families".  The media shows that the majority of the Latino community is still hesitant about tolerance for the gay Latino community.  Opposing the gay Latino community is another form of discrimination and prejudice in that one is discriminating another human being and negating equal rights.  For a community that has been, and continues to be oppressed, it seems hypocritical to promote prejudice towards the homosexual Latino community.