Petrelis Files

NYT: Mexico's Subcommander Marcos' Pro-Gay Politics

Did you know leftist rebel Mexican leader SubCommander Marcos favors gay rights and same-sex relations and is raising these issues in a quixotic political campaign, even though he's not on a single ballot? I wasn't aware of this until I read an article about Marcos and his followers' involvement in electoral politics in the Jan. 6 New York Times, which I read today.

Putting aside the significance of gay concerns playing any part in a Mexican election for a moment, when reading the Times story, it reminded me of how much I miss the old Fenceberrry LGBT newswire that was operated by Aleta Fenceroy and Jean Mayberry.

Those women gathered hundreds and hundreds of gay-related news stories from thousands of news sources in the U.S. and around the planet, then emailed the news clippings to many grateful readers, myself among them. If the Fenceberry women were currently providing their service, I bet they would have shared this Times story with their audience. It's a shame no one stepped forward to continue the work of Fenceberry when they retired, because there's a need for an email listserv like theirs.

Now, about gay issues and Mexico's elections this year and future news coverage in either the domestic press or Mexican newspapers, please send them my way. I'd like to stay informed on this story.

From the Times:

> Marcos, a captivating speaker who now calls himself Delegate Zero, even has a stump speech of sorts, in which he blames "savage capitalism" and the sins of the rich for everything from gay-baiting to racism to domestic violence. [...]

> This time he used the story of his crippled Penguin as parable for the disenfranchised with whom he hopes to build a coalition: indigenous people, women, unionists, the young and jobless, homosexuals, factory workers and small farmers. His goal, he says, is "to transform society," not "from above, but from here below."

> An adroit humorist, Marcos brought guffaws from the crowd as he described his rooster's attempts to find love in the barnyard, which always ended in Penguin falling over before he could mate.

> That anecdote was told to persuade people to accept other kinds of love between same-sex couples. When someone in the back of the crowd shouted that Marcos could not heard, Marcos handled it like a seasoned stand-up comic.

> "That's O.K.," he said. "This part is rated triple X. It's better you don't hear it." [...]