The friends I am staying with, John & Pepe decided to have a Christmas day party and it was fun. Met lots of new friends and reintroduce to others I had just recently met.

I most enjoyed the warmth and frienship love that was evening gave, much like my Oak Cliff Hommies group! It was something for me to again be at a party where Spanish was the only language spoken, I felt so International.

So onward to New Years!

Click the picture below for a slide show of the party. Photos by Jesus Chairez

Here are several entries in one post, something I am calling Pata de Perro. Click images for a slide show and all photos by Jesus Chairez.

Picture below is of graffiti on the streets of Mexico City near La Zona Rosa. This graffiti of Alfalfa was on a taco stand and I most like how the screws were used for the eyes.

I thought I had died and gone to Heaven when I ran into two Lucha Libre stores during my walking around.

Went to another Gay Posada given by Jose Luis Castillo y Luis Bautista in their home near the Metro Montezuma. They are both members and organizers of GHAI es un grupo de convivencia, socializacion y activismo pro derechos humanos de la comunidad LGBT de la Ciudad de México. For more information see http://ghaimex.hi5.com/

While on one walk I ended see my poetry reading, a piano concert and then first Pastorela given by a well talented theater group. It was informative and fun.

Well Friday night a friend of mine said he was taking me to have dinner with some friends of his. Well, when I arrived, it turned out to be not just dinner but a Posada! We even broke a piñata and lit some BIG long heavy sparklers . It was fun. I had home cooking for dinner made by this elegant queen, so very tasty. We sipped various kinds of tequila, like cream of tequila and tequila-flavored cinnamon. Later we drank coffee where we grinded the coffee beans by hand. It was a great evening, my first GAY POSADA in Mexico City.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I went to the Basilica to see the tilma of the Virgen de Gudalupe and mass, when I ran into a bunch of clowns. Well, here are a couple of pictures without the clowns. Pics are of the Basilica and the tilma of the Virgen de Guadalupe. See the reason millions of peopl flock to this site. Also, the Mexican flag under the tilma is not always there except during the holidays and especailly during the feast days of the Virgen -- A symbol of Mexico's pride.

Check this out. I went to the Basilica to see the tilma of the Virgen de Gudalupe and mass, when I ran into a bunch of clowns. The clowns were part of the 13th Annual International Convention of Clowns, XIII Convencion Internacional de Payasos. It was colorful and wonderful to be at the Bisilica when the clowns were arriving. The priest even blessed the clowns as the went into the Basilica all together like a parade, a circus.

click below for slideshow of the clowns at the Basilica. Photos by Jesus Chairez

Here are some pics I took during a walk yesterday in Mexcio City's Zona Rosa. The new building at 222 Paseo de La Reforma is great. It just opened and it has lots of condos at the top, new shops to buy shoes, clothes, eat AND with two NOT one Star Bucks! There is also a Chilis in the place too. As I left the building I walked in the main part of La Zona Rosa where I watched an artist paint.

Click pic below to view more pictures. Photos by Jesus Chairez

Wow, ice-skating in México City’s Zocalo - it's Invierno en la Capital? I went last night to see it for myself because everyone is talking about it. Well, every time someone finds out I am from Dallas, Texas they asked if I had already been skating or had seen the skaters in the Zocalo.

So curious, I went, and yep right there in front of México’s presidential palace the central point of México’s power base (think White House) AND what was once the central part of the Aztecs power base too is the worlds largest ice skating rink - suitable for the largest city in the world.

The rink was full of children, teenagers, grown ups, gays, straights and one Maria! Lots of people having a great time – MUY FUN.

I found a pic and article in the New York Times, so read all about it.

Here I am in México City arriving Saturday night December 15, 2007. Dallas was so cold when I left, but the weather in DF is GREAT; cool evenings and warm, like 70’s degrees in the afternoon.

Within 24 hours I was at my first Christmas party sponsored by Emaús a Spanish language Christian group that meets in D.F.’s Col. Roma. Last July when I was in México City I hooked up with members of Comunidad Cristiana de Esperranza. And now with Emaús. So I guess a name like Santo Gay is so appropriate after all!

Emaús party was fun, muy Gay y Muy Super NICE.

What a wonderful way to start off the new year!

---

Uruguay OKs gay unions in Latin American first

MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - Uruguay's Congress legalized civil unions for homosexual couples on Tuesday in the first nationwide law of its kind in Latin America.

Under the new law, gay and straight couples will be eligible to form civil unions after living together for five years. They will have rights similar to those granted to married couples on such matters as inheritance, pensions and child custody.

Uruguay's Senate passed the bill unanimously after the lower house approved it last month, a congressional spokesman said. The country's center-left president is expected to sign it into law.

Several cities, including Buenos Aires and Mexico City, already have gay civil union laws on the books. Uruguay's law would be the first nationwide measure in Latin America, which is home to about half the world's Roman Catholics.

In Uruguay, couples must register their relationship with authorities to gain the cohabitation rights, and they will also be able to formalize the end of a union.

Gay marriage remains illegal in Uruguay, a small South American country known for its secular streak.

The Catholic Church has said its opposition to gay marriage is non-negotiable and Catholic politicians have a moral duty to oppose it.

Earlier this year in Colombia, a group of senators shot down a landmark gay rights bill at the last minute, using a procedural vote to back away from the measure.

(Reporting by Conrado Hornos; Writing by Hilary Burke; Editing by Eric Beech)

Peru urged to protect LGBT youth

14th December 2007 12:05
PinkNews.co.uk staff writer

The Peruvian Congress is under pressure from gay rights activists to become a party to a convention on the rights of young people.

The Ibero-American Convention on the Rights of Youth seeks to promote and safeguard the rights of young people and remedy the inequality that thousands of young people confront for a variety of reasons, including for having a sexual orientation different from heterosexuality.

But the Foreign Relations Committee of the Congress of Peru has raised concerns in this respect, and opposes the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) young people.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and the Homosexual Movement of Lima (MHOL) are asking people to write to the Peruvian lawmakers about the convention.

In a letter to Dr. Luis Gonz�lez Posada Eyzaguirre President of the Congress of the Peruvian Republic, IGLHRC said:

"Far from promoting same-sex unions, the only right that the convention grants to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people involves non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

"This convention recognises that building just and humane societies requires recognising the diversity that exists in every community.

"We urge the Peruvian Congress to take these arguments into account and ratify the convention without reservations."

The Ibero-American Summit, a meeting of the Spanish, Portugese and Catalan-speaking nations of the world, has been held annually since 1991.

The convention was adopted at the 2005 summit, held in Salamanca, Spain.

The most recent summit in Chile hit the headlines when King Juan Carlos of Spain told the Venuzuelan president Hugo Chavez to shut up after he branded the former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar a "fascist."

IGLHRC points out that in 2002 the Peruvian President signed the Andean Charter to Promote and Protect Human Rights.

Article 10 of this Charter reaffirms the decision of Andean states to combat all forms of racism, discrimination, xenophobia and any other form of intolerance or exclusion against individuals or groups.

Section F of the Charter is devoted specifically to the rights of people whose sexual orientation differs from that of the majority. Article 52 recognises that all people, regardless of their sexual orientation or choice, are entitled to the same human rights.

In Article 52, the signatories commit themselves to combating all forms of discrimination against individuals based on their sexual orientation or choice, paying special attention to preventing and punishing violence and discrimination against those whose sexual orientation or choice differs from that of the majority.

The signatories also commit to providing legal resources for effective remedy in cases of damage caused by such crimes.

For more information on the IGLHRC campaign click here.