Last week, some anonymous person sent me a number of low-quality clips from a television show called “José Luis Sin Censura“.

The show, which thankfully I’ve never seen in my life, is apparently broadcast in some of the major US television Latino markets, including New York City, Los Angeles, Miami and Houston.

Think of a smuttier “The Jerry Springer Show” with no concern shown for FCC fines, particularly in their demeaning portrayal of gays, lesbians, women and transgender folk.

I have compiled the six or seven clips I was sent and uploaded them as a single clip on YouTube.  I believe the clips come from two separate shows…

Looking for additional info online, I was happy to see that the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) was already on the case.  An excerpt from their June 18th statement:

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) asks you to join calls for the reality talk show José Luis Sin Censura to immediately stop using defamatory terms and apologize to viewers. The terms “maricón” and “puñal,” which in English translate to “fa**ot” were chanted by audience members on the June 8 segment of the program. The same pattern occurred on the June 10 segment of the show, when audience members chanted “puto,” a word that also means “fa**ot” in many Spanish-speaking countries.
GLAAD reached out to executives of the company that produces José Luis Sin Censura to express our concerns, but the company has not responded.  The show is produced and distributed by Burbank, CA-based LBI, Liberman Broadcasting Inc. José Luis Sin Censura airs daily on Estrella TV in Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Houston and other large Latino markets. By one estimate, Estrella TV reaches about 70% of the nation’s Latino households and millions of Latinos nationwide.
The show’s format pits guests against one another in combative situations. This often leads to violence, which audience members are encouraged to cheer and sends a message that violence against LGBT people is okay.

They urge people to take action NOW and express their outrage.

I was also glad and not surprised to see that the amazing Jeremy Hooper of Good As You was on the case as well. He’s got additional damning footage of the show on his blog.

Looking for volunteers for a study of attitudes towards marriage and parenthood among engaged couples.  The study consists of a 25-30 minute online survey. To qualify for the study, you must be 20-35 years old, live in the U.S., and plan to marry or have a commitment ceremony within the next 365 days. You and your romantic partner must not have children, and this must be the first marriage for both of you.

You can:

-Help a doctoral candidate;
-Increase the pool of scientific knowledge;
-Support research on marriage and families; and
-Spend some time thinking about your relationship!

I am working with Dr. Charlotte J. Patterson, a Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia.  This study has been approved by the University of Virginia Institutional Review Board #2009025800.

If you and/or your romantic partner are interested in participating or want further information, please email me at survey.couples@gmail.com.  I will send you a link that you can use to access the study.

Thanks!

Cristina Reitz-Krueger
Doctoral Student
University of Virginia
(434) 243-8558
survey.couples@gmail.com

—————-

This is a posting from Ricky Martins personal website.  Ricky Martin Music. com

Version Español

3/29/2010

En los últimos meses me di a la tarea de escribir mis memorias.

VIEW ENGLISH VERSION BELOW

En los últimos meses me di a la tarea de escribir mis memorias. Un proyecto que sabia seria uno verdaderamente importante para mi porque desde que escribí la primera frase me di cuenta que seria la herramienta que ayudaría a liberarme de cosas que venia cargando desde hace mucho tiempo. Cosas que pesaban demasiado. Escribiendo este minucioso inventario de mi vida, me acerque a mis verdades. Y esto es de celebrar!

Si existe un lugar que me llena porque estremece mis emociones, es el escenario, es mi vicio. La música el espectáculo, el aplauso, estar frente a un publico me hace sentir que soy capaz de cualquier cosa. Es un tipo de adrenalina y euforia que no quiero que deje de correr por mis venas jamás. Si ustedes, el publico y la musa me lo permiten, espero seguir en los escenarios muchos años mas. Pero hoy  la serenidad me lleva a un lugar muy especial, uno de reflexión, comprensión y mucha iluminación. Me siento libre! Y lo quiero compartir.

Mucha gente me dijo que no era importante hacerlo, que no valía la pena, que todo lo que trabaje y todo lo que había logrado se colapsaría. Que muchos en este mundo no estarían preparados para aceptar mi verdad, mi naturaleza. Y como  estos consejos venían de personas que amo con locura, decidí seguir adelante con mi “casi verdad”. MUY MAL. Dejarme seducir por el miedo fue un verdadero sabotaje a mi vida. Hoy me responsabilizo por completo de todas mis decisiones, y de todas mis acciones.

Y si me preguntaran el dia de hoy ¿Ricky, a que le tienes miedo?  Les contestaría – “a la sangre que corre por las calles de los países en Guerra, a la esclavitud sexual infantil, al terrorismo, al cinismo de algunos hombres en el poder, al secuestro de la fe”. Pero miedo a mi naturaleza, a mi verdad? NO MAS! Al contrario, estas me dan valor y firmeza. Justo lo que necesito para mi y para los míos, y mas ahora que soy padre de 2 criaturas que son seres de luz. Tengo que estar a su altura. Seguir viviendo como lo hice hasta hoy, seria opacar indirectamente ese brillo puro con el cual mis hijos han nacido. BASTA YA! LAS COSAS TIENEN QUE CAMBIAR! Estoy claro que esto no se supone que pasara hace 5 ni hace 10 años atrás . Esto se supone que pasara hoy. Hoy es mi dia, este es mi tiempo, mi momento.

Que pasara de ahora en adelante? Quien sabe. Solo me puedo enfocar en lo que estoy viviendo ahora. Estos años en silencio y reflexión me han fortalecido y me recordaron que el amor vive dentro de mi, que la aceptación la encuentro en mi interior, y que la verdad solo trae la calma. Hoy para mi el significado de la felicidad toma otra dimensión

Ha sido un proceso muy intenso, angustiante y doloroso pero también liberador. Les juro que cada palabra que están leyendo aquí nace de amor, purificación, fortaleza, aceptación y desprendimiento. Que escribir estas líneas es el acercamiento a mi paz interna, parte vital de mi evolución. Hoy ACEPTO MI HOMOSEXUALIDAD como un regalo que me da la vida. ¡Me siento bendecido de ser quien soy!-

RM

ENGLISH VERSION

A few months ago I decided to write my memoirs, a project I knew was going to bring me closer to an amazing turning point in my life. From the moment I wrote the first phrase I was sure the book was the tool that was going to help me free myself from things I was carrying within me for a long time. Things that  were too heavy for me to keep inside. Writing this account of my life, I got very close to my truth. And thisis something worth celebrating.

For many years, there has been only one place where I am in touch with my emotions fearlessly and that’s the stage. Being on stage fills my soul in many ways, almost completely. It’s my vice.  The music, the lights and the roar of the audience are elements that make me feel capable of anything. This rush of adrenaline is incredibly addictive.  I don’t ever want to stop feeling these emotions. But it is serenity that brings me to where I’m at right now. An amazing emotional place of comprehension, reflection and enlightenment. At this moment I’m feeling the same freedom I usually feel only on stage, without a doubt, I need to share.

Many people told me: “Ricky it’s not important”, “it’s not worth it”, “all the years you’ve worked and everything you’ve built will collapse”, “many people in the world are not ready to accept your truth, your reality, your nature”. Because all this advice came from people who I love dearly, I decided to move on with my life not sharing with the world my entire truth.  Allowing myself to be seduced by fear and insecurity became a self-fulfilling prophecy of sabotage. Today I take full responsibility for my decisions and my actions.

If someone asked me today, “Ricky, what are you afraid of?” I would answer “the blood that runs through the streets of countries at war…child slavery, terrorism…the cynicism of some people in positions of power, the misinterpretation of faith.” But fear of my truth? Not at all!  On the contrary, It fills me with strength and courage. This is just what I need especially now that I am the father of two beautiful boys that are so full of light and who with their outlook teach me new things every day. To keep living as I did up until today would be to indirectly diminish the glow that my kids where born with. Enough is enough. This has to change. This was not supposed to happen 5 or 10 years ago, it is supposed to happen now. Today is my day, this is my time, and this is my moment.

These years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn’t even know existed.

What will happen from now on? It doesn’t matter. I can only focus on what’s happening to me in this moment. The word “happiness” takes on a new meaning for me as of today. It has been a very intense process. Every word that I write in this letter is born out of love, acceptance, detachment and real contentment. Writing this is a solid step towards my inner peace and vital part of my evolution.

I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am.

RM

————————-

Mexico’s Out, Proud Christian

By David Michael Conner

Christian Chavez is the heir apparent to Ricky Martin’s Latin-American pop star throne. Like Martin, Chavez helped a teen pop group — RDB — sell millions of albums throughout the Spanish-speaking world, and he is now poised to take the United States by storm. Unlike Ricky Martin, though, when photos of what appeared to be a marriage ceremony between him and another young man surfaced in 2007, the Mexican-born artist answered, “Yes, I am gay.”

“Tribeca responds to GLAAD’s stupid request to ban film”

A representative from the Tribeca Film Festival has issued this statement in response to GLAAD’s campaign to have the “transploitation” film Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives barred from screening:

“The filmmakers provided a copy of this film to GLAAD in February, and for weeks the organization had been supportive to the filmmakers. In fact, GLAAD representatives advised the film’s producer, director and cast on how to describe the film to its core constituency.”

“Tribeca is proud of its ongoing commitment to bring diverse voices and stories to its audiences, and looks forward to the film’s premiere at our Festival next month.”

Meanwhile, a GLAAD rep wrote to Movieline to object to our use of the word “censorship,” which they called “strong editorial. GLAAD is calling for the film to be removed from the Tribeca Film Festival and finds it troubling that the respected Tribeca Film Festival would give a film that sensationalizes anti-transgender violence and misrepresents the lives of transgender women…GLAAD’s campaign ensures that the Tribeca Film Festival knows many members of the LGBT community aren’t pleased with their decision to show the film — and those of us who are offended by this film will hold the festival accountable for showing this problematic film.”

Tribeca’s statement corroborates what a star of the film already commented on Movieline, which is that GLAAD had been well aware of the film for close to a year — and had even worked with the filmmakers — but for some reason chose to use the misleading language “was recently alerted” in their press release.

Here is an article that ran in today’s Dallas Voice:  Go to the film’s fundraiser!

Dallas filmmaker Israel Luna takes his ‘Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives!’ to the Tribeca Film Festival — but not without controversy

ANY WAY YOU SLICE IT | Jenna Skyy, left, and Krystal Summers, right, shouldn’t be so ticked off at director Israel Luna as their film heads to New York for the Tribeca Film Festival. (Photo by Arnold Wayne Jones)

NY OR BUST
Film fundraiser at JR.’s Bar & Grill,
3923 Cedar Springs Road.
April 13 at 10 p.m.
LaLunaEntertainment.com.

………………………………………..

When Israel Luna submitted his latest film, Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives, to the Tribeca Film Festival, he expected the usual “Thank You For Your Interest, We Wish You The Best Of Luck” letter. Instead, he got the news that his comedy-slasher-exploitation revenge fantasy had been accepted into one of the nation’s most prestigious film festivals, established in 2003 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkof in New York City.

The low-budget feature — shot in Dallas last summer over 18 days — follows a group of transgender women who are violently beaten by three men and left for dead. After they regain consciousness and fully recuperate, they are stalked by their attackers but turn the tables in graphically sadistic ways, resulting in a lot of blood … and a glimpse into the mind of a filmmaker with a seriously dark sense of humor.

“The idea actually came up when a group of us were watching the Grindhouse movies that Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez did,” Luna says. “After, we were just playing around and someone said I should do this with drag queens. That would be so much fun. I thought, ‘Well, let me try to think of how we could do this with absolutely no budget whatsoever.’ I thought a simple, old-fashioned revenge movie would be easy to write for me. And that’s what I did.”

Luna has always been a big fan of ’70s-era movies like Black Mama, White Mama and Cleopatra Jones, so he thought it would be fun to do a contemporary movie in that vintage style.

Rather than blaxploitation, as those movies were commonly categorized, Luna considers his to be a transploitation flick. And just as people argued that the stereotypical blaxploitation movies brought to light the injustices against the black community, many fought for the end of the movies claiming that they were causing more harm through their perpetuation of stereotypes.

Similarly, a Facebook page has been started by Dallas transgender woman Kelli Busey, calling for the boycott of the film at Tribeca based on concerns that it “exploits violence against trans women for cheap laughs” and that it “portray[s] trans women as murderous vigilantes hunting down their abusers [which] is hardly going to improve understanding about this heavily marginalized group of people.”

Luna wasn’t expecting this kind of backlash.

“I didn’t think that it would be such a topical thing or an issue, but we’ve been getting stuff about the name, the title, and using the word ‘tranny.’ And then there are people who are like, is it right to do an eye-for-an-eye kind of thing?” he says of the film’s critics. “When I was first writing the script, I just wanted to do an old-fashioned revenge movie. This group of people gets bashed. They come back for revenge. Done.”

Luna is puzzled somewhat by the controversy because the main theme of the film is empowerment, not victimhood — and certainly not mocking the trans characters.

“I thought the gay thing’s been done, the coming-out-to-the-parents thing has been done. We’re just so past all of that stuff,” he says. “Who’s now the most under-represented and misunderstood? The trans community. And now with all the new rights [issues] coming up and murders [against transgender people] happening, that’s what I wanted to do. Everyone says I have the corner on the market with the drag queens and the transgender women here in Dallas because I have them in all of my projects. I just have this fascination and love [for them].”

According to Luna, the Tribeca honchos told him this is the first featured they’ve screened where actual trans women play transgender characters in central roles (Krystal Summers, Kelexis Davenport and Erica Andrews), a bit of ground breaking he’s especially proud of … particularly since he didn’t condescend to the characters.

“When I was writing it, I saw them as women,” he says. “That’s why when Tribeca called us and said they wanted to include us [I was thrilled]. It was huge because this to me isn’t a gay story and Tribeca isn’t a gay festival.”

The title seems to be what has galvanized opposition to the film (so far, none of the critics has apparently screened the film).

“I ran [the title] past everybody. I had transgender women in front of and behind the camera. And I asked all of them what they thought of this. They were all OK with it. I even had other transgender women in the community say it was cool. There are people that disagree, but it’s not all of them,” he says.

Krystal Summers, who plays the leading role, says she was converted to its message.

“Just the other night Krystal said that she was a little iffy on taking the role, but now that all of this is happening, she’s proud to be transgender and she loves the fact that it’s in the title now,” he says. “It’s brought out this confidence in her.”
On top of that, it’s entertainment, Luna says.

“There are so many other elements filmmaking-wise that you have to think of to get people in the seats and the title is catchy. The biggest thing is that we beat anybody to the punch that wants to make a joke about it. We’re already telling you that these are transgender women, now let’s move on.”

Though that may be easier said than done for those offended by the title or plot, Luna hopes his movie simply achieves what he set out to do: Make people laugh, give them a good scare and fulfill latent revenge fantasies of anyone who has ever been a target of hate.

Whether its detractors will see it and find the transgender women who turn the tables on their attackers to be empowering remains to be seen. But Luna’s main goal will always be to provide escapist entertainment through his films by exploring taboo themes or putting his own twist on tried-and-true genres. Next up on his development short list: A (straight) musical hard-core porno.

Nope, that won’t be controversial at all.

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition March 26, 2010.

I spoke with Quintero today and we had a nice conversation on how he made the film, locations, wardrobe, the actors, Quintero had no money for a budget, but with the help of his friends, family, AND a borrowed camera – yes a borrowed camera – he put this film together.  When so many can’t get going because of what the don’t have, Quintero has no limits in his creativity and does based on his sheer desire to make films.  He talks of wanting to be a film director & producer – but he already is.

Quintero also revealed during our lunch and coffee in Col. Santa Maria la Ribera, how the movie Simple is also sort of autobiographical as well:  revealing such intimate details of his life.  I found Chucho, as he likes to be known, not only a heartfelt and modest person BUT a creative genius that is just beginning to grow.

Enjoy the short film Simple, that was shot in Mexico City:  Spanish w/English subtitles.

simple from Home Coming on Vimeo.

By JOHN ROSS  column from CounterPunch

As Valentine’s Day approaches, stationary stores in the old quarter of this megalopolis are awash with Cupids and hearts and the effusive iconography of romance. Ten-tiered wedding cakes spire to the chandeliers in the windows of the Ideal, the palace of such confectionary extravaganzas. Down the block, beribboned classic cars are lined up outside La Profesa, a colonial church much favored for high society weddings. Marriage is merchandise for the Roman Catholic Church – priests charge sumptuous (30,000 pesos) fees for tying the knots.

Meanwhile, Church and State, ancient rivals for the affections of the Mexican people, are nose-to-nose over who exactly can marry whom.

The Princes of the Catholic Church are aghast at the recent vote of the Mexico City Legislative Assembly to legalize same sex marriage that in their jaundiced vista has transformed this megalopolis into one monstrous Sodom & Gomorrah. This past December 21st, local legislators, led by the left-center Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) which holds a lopsided majority in the Assembly voted 39 to 20 to amend the city’s civil code by modifying the definition of marriage, striking down language that restricted such coupling to a man and a woman, and upgrading civil unions (“societies of conviviality”) between lovers of the same sex to matrimony.

The new law also specifically stipulates that same sex couples can adopt children, a right they previously enjoyed – any Mexican can adopt a child so long as they are 17 years older than the adoptee – but which has the Church’s testicles in a major uproar.

In the aftermath of passage, the scene in the old, ornate chambers of the Legislative Assembly was one of widespread jubilation – with pockets of bitter recrimination. Up in the balconies, gays and lesbians smooched and waved enormous rainbow flags. Down on the Assembly floor, the right-wing PAN party delegation led by Mariana Gomez, cousin of first lady Margarita Zavala, stomped out, threatening to take the notorious changes in the civil code straight to the Supreme Court.

Like passage of such liberalizing social measures as free abortion on demand, a right to die act that promotes euthanasia, and the aforementioned civil unions, both the PAN and its perpetual allies in the Catholic hierarchy have gone ballistic at the prospect of homosexual nuptials. Under the vaulting arches of the ancient Metropolitan Cathedral, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, the shepherd of the most populous archdioceses in Christendom, condemned same sex marriage as an “aberration” that “will invariably lead to the ruin of society” and called upon Mexico’s Catholics to disobey the new law, an edict that spurred threats by “Jacobins” as secularists are quaintly maligned by Holy Mother Church, to take the Cardinal to court on charges of “treason.” Grievously offended, Rivera protested that leftists are “trying to prohibit us from speaking in the name of Jesus Christ.”

Such Church-State conflicts have stippled the history of this neighbor republic since it declared its independence from the Spanish Crown 200 years ago this year, a bicentennial
that is being celebrated with much hoopla here and which the Church demands a piece of despite separation from the Mexican State that has been defined as a secular institution by three of its Constitutions.

Writing in the Archdioceses’ weekly “From The Faith”, Cardinal Rivera’s mouthpiece, Father Hugo Valdemar, advocated for excommunication of all legislators who had voted up same sex marriage and suggested that couples who adopted children would do so to abuse the youngsters or exploit them for kiddie porn. If a child has two fathers which one would be his role model, inquisitioned Father Valdemar? Would he emulate his parents by wearing make-up and mini-skirts? In Morelia Michoacan, Bishop Alfredo India added to the homophobic frenzy by avowing that even dogs did not engage in same sex fornication.

The Catholic Church was hardly alone in its vivid vindictiveness. Both Antonio Chaudruhi, Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, and Arturo Favela, president of the Confraternity of Christian Churches joined in denouncing such “sinfulness.”

The Mexico City Archdioceses’ hypothesis that same sex couples are child molesters is a textbook exhibition of the Church’s malignant hypocrisy. Recent scandals involving pederast priests have stained the hierarchy’s reputation and depleted its coffers. The Legionnaires of Christ have paid out millions USD to compensate victims of the order’s founder and serial sodomist Macial Marcial (the omnisexual priest also fathered children with three different women.)

Cardinal Norberto himself has been implicated in multiple imbroglios – as Bishop of Tehuacan Puebla and Mexico City, Rivera personally shielded Father Nicolas Aguilar, accused of as many as 600 incidents of pedophilia by moving him from parish to parish, ultimately shipping him off to Los Angeles where Cardinal Roger Mahoney continued the subterfuge. Mahoney and Rivera have been called to account for their cover-up by authorities in both countries.

Separation of Church and State as mandated by the Mexican Constitution has narrowed dramatically in the ten years that the PAN has held the presidency. Vicente Fox, the first opposition party candidate to take power, campaigned literally wrapped in the banner of the Virgin of Guadalupe and stunned so-called Jacobins by kneeling to kiss Pope John Paul II’s ring during the late pope’s last visit to Mexico. His successor, Felipe Calderon, whose Catholic zealot father was a hero of the “Cristero War” against the federal government that took 30,000 lives between 1925 and 1929, shares the podium with high Church officials at Vatican-sponsored venues such as the 2008 Catholic Families Congress in Mexico City.

The PANista governor of Jalisco lavishes state funds to refurbish churches that served as sanctuaries for the “Cristeros” and the governor of Mexico state Enrique Pena Nieto, the frontrunner for the once and future ruling PRI party’s nomination in 2012 presidential elections, just returned from a pilgrimage to Rome to obtain Pope Benedict’s blessing for his impending marriage to soap opera mega-star Angelica Rivera (no relation) AKA “La Gaviota” (“The Seagull.”)

Pope Benedict used the occasion to rail against same sex marriage in Mexico as “a crime against creation that will destroy the differences between sexes…”

When Mexico City legalized abortion in the first 12 weeks of gestation, Cardinal Rivera ordered the capital’s churches to ring their bells in mourning. Collaboration between the PAN and the PRI has resulted in the criminalization of abortion in 18 states and the two parties are expected to soon announce the introduction of a constitutional amendment to outlaw the procedure everywhere in Mexico, including the capital.

Despite raging homophobia in the provinces, Mexico City remains an oasis of sexual liberation. Men holding hands and women soul kissing women in public no longer invoke horrified stares in this cosmopolitan capital where every June since the Stonewall riots convoked the movement for gay, lesbian, and transgender rights, tens of thousands march and party to celebrate their sexual orientation. Despite the PAN’s and Cardinal Norberto’s obstreperous recriminations, in a recent survey of the right-wing party’s own base in preparation for an upcoming lawsuit to nullify same sex marriage when it kicks in March 4th, half of those polled supported the new law – although 70% vehemently opposed adoption.

As the tide shifts north of the border where six U.S. states, the nation’s capital, and one Canadian province now provide legal cover for same sex marriages and unions, in Latin America, a bastion of virulent Machismo, the times too are a-changing. Uruguay and Colombia have put a legal stamp on such arrangements, as have three provinces of Buenos Aires and a Brazilian state. Cuba, led by President Raul Castro’s daughter Mariela, is moving in the same direction. Mexico City was not even Mexico’s first jurisdiction to approve such legislation – Coahuila in the north held its first same sex wedding three years ago.

This Valentine’s Day all over the Latin continent, gays and lesbians will be exchanging hearts and flowers and vows of undying love as they hand out slices of wedding cake to celebrate unholy matrimony.

John Ross is on the road with his latest cult classic “El Monstruo – Dread & Redemption in Mexico City“

The crowd of GLBT people and their supporters gathered to start the March at the Angel of Independence in La Zona Rosa.  The March did not to towards the Zocalo in front of the Presidential Place but to the official residence of the President of Mexico, Los Pinos.

It was exciting to be at the March documenting the event, full of 100′s of participants and one Boy group doing some entertainment.  The march never made it to Los Pinos, because right before the March got to Los Pinos at one end of Chapultapec park, the March was stopped by 100′s of barricades, Federal Police in full body gear with helmets – with face guards.

Here is what I got of the event.

(In the March) by santogay

Here is a Boy group that did a song prior to starting the March on Paseo de la Reforma.  Song is called “Chico Gay” and is a take off of the song “Malchik Gay,” by T.A.T.U.