Down Low ...closet Homosexuality among people of color

Machismo and being Gangsta are always clear Indications of wanting to be Homosexual (but not being able to because of Social Stigmas)...

The more Macho or Gangsta you act, the more you want to stick a Pipe in any of your Orifices... That's why so many Black and Hispanic Women have AIDS...  Cause all those mofos are on the Down Low.

Latinos on the Down Low: Catching AIDS Incognito.

Tying HIV prevention to sexual identity has been an effective public health strategy. However, HIV infection among young Latino/a and African Americans continues to mount. "On the down low," a youth term for secretive or undercover, has become a code for the furtive same-sex sexual practices of young men who reject Gay or bisexual identities. This phenomenon received the attention of African Americans but Latino communities have largely, ignored it.

The articles on the down low published in the popular press describe young men unfazed by the tension between their non-normative sexualities and their otherwise conventional Black and Latino working-class male identities. At the core of their secrecy, is their refusal to politicize their intimacy, that is, to adopt a public gay identity.2 While the literature on same-sex practices among African Americans lists religion as a paramount deterrent of sexual expression, men on the down low do not cite choosing between right and wrong as a dilemma. Like the broad smile of our "handsome Latino" in the South Bronx club suggests, the young men quoted in these articles do not seem to experience guilt for rejecting Judeo-Christian strictures. Their quandary is not ethical but socio-cultural. They would not flout age-, race-, and class-sanctioned masculinities: gay is not an option.

The initial reports focused on youth, linking life on the down low to Hip-Hop culture's hyper-masculine stance (Trebay, 2000; Venable, 2001; Wright, 2001). The connection of the term down low with youth of color was consistent with linguistic assessments that place it emerging in the early 1990s among young African Americans (Green, 1998). Thus defined, the notion of the down low, although charged with moral and racial implications, is useful in public health terms because it delineates the sexual identity and behavior of a population, at a specific historical moment.

The sensationalist possibilities of expanding the rubric to all bisexual Black men who keep their men-loving activities to themselves, regardless of age or micro-cultural niche, proved too tempting, and soon the term down low, was applied liberally. In Essence Magazine, Tamala Edwards wrote that the down low was not just youthful sexual exploration, a common interpretation of bisexuality (Muñoz, 2004), but an established feature in the lives of some adult Black men (Edwards, 2001). Scotty R. Ballard, of Jet Magazine, argued that their refusal to identify as "gay" prevents these men from heeding prevention messages directed to the gay community. Health experts speculated that "some of those on the down low apparently learned the lifestyle in prison, then began dual lives after being released" wrote Ballard (2001), showing that for some people, the down low connotes crime and urban pathology.

Criticism also came from the gay community. In February 2000, Guy Trebay asked from the pages of the Village Voice, "Homo-thugz? Doesn't everybody know that [H]ip-[H]op hates faggots?" Men-loving men "dancing to music that in certain cases may advocate their demise," bewildered Mr. Trebay. Although there are socially responsible rappers (Marable, 2002), Trebay voiced the widespread gay resentment against homophobic rap lyrics. The irony was that young men on the low seemed to have guilt-free sex lives, in great measure as result of the sex education the gay movement imparted. Yet, in refusing gay identity, they undermined the political hypothesis that "[Gays] are everywhere."

In sum, in the down low debate, the rage caused by the alleged bisexuality of men of color, contrasted with the historical silence on white men's bisexuality (Mukherjea and Vidal-Ortiz, 2002). In spite of the possibility of there being a continuum between "DL fashion" and strict sexual concealment (Gordon, 2002), press reports on down low sexualities were treated as monolithic and unquestionable truths. The lessons learned about non-judgmental tailoring of HIV prevention to specific lifeways and worldviews, were muffled by loud self-righteousness. Although most press descriptions of the down low included young Latino men, Latino/a HIV workers and communities have eluded the discussion.

From: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/lst/journal/v5/n1/full/8600238a.html  Adjusted to fit this Blog.

Roots of Homosexuality in Hispanic Community:

The popular take on “how the West was won” evokes images of rowdy cowboys and brave Indians slugging it out, with the noble but obsolete Indians gradually falling back and fading away before the military might of the Europeans, and the moral force of “manifest destiny,” the principle that the white American has a God-given mandate to conquer and rule the entire temperate zone of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. All the while the Indian is seen as faithfully paired off with his “squaw,” and the cowboy or the soldier as getting his rocks off on the run in the local bordello, under the tough but benign gaze of the hard-nosed madam: “Wham, bam, thank you m’am!” 

Whatever may be the merits of that colonial mentality, still prevalent de facto and de jure throughout the U.S., the fact is that this image has little to do with how either the victor or the vanquished lived. But only a handful of scholars are likely to be aware of the rich veins of homoerotic tradition pervading the culture of the invaders as well as that of the First Nations whose lands they barged through.

For the moment the ancient patterns of male love woven through the fiber of almost every (yes, variety allowed even for the occasional homophobic tribe) Native culture on the American continent is of greater interest. The many forms of this tradition have until recently been lumped by historians under the rubric of berdachism, “berdache” being defined by Webster’s Dictionary as a “homosexual male – an American Indian transvestite assuming more or less permanently the dress, social status, and role of a woman.”

Not surprisingly, the experience of Native peoples is something other than either the popular or the professional stereotype. Though it would be presumptuous to claim to represent its essence from the perspective of an outsider, we can still look at certain features of two-spirit life in Native cultures, features that delineate how First Nations peoples integrated individuals with uncommon gender identity into their society.

The first step on the path to a two-spirit life was taken during childhood. The Papago ritual is representative of this early integration: If parents noticed that a son was disinterested in boyish play or manly work they would set up a ceremony to determine which way the boy would be brought up. They would make an enclosure of brush, and place in the center both a man’s bow and a woman’s basket. The boy was told to go inside the circle of brush and to bring something out, and as he entered the brush would be set on fire. “They watched what he took with him as he ran out, and if it was the basketry materials they reconciled [sic] themselves to his being a berdache.”
The Mohave ritual, usually carried out when the child is between the ages of nine and twelve, has a different form, but keeps the central element of allowing the child’s nature to manifest itself: A singing circle is prepared, unbeknownst to the boy, involving the whole community as well as distant friends and relatives. On the day of the ceremony everyone gathers round and the boy is led into the middle of the circle. If he remains there, the singer, hidden in the crowd, begins to sing the ritual songs and the boy, if he is destined to follow the two-spirit road, starts to dance in the fashion of a woman. “He cannot help it,” say the Mohave. After the fourth song the boy is declared to be a two-spirit person and is raised from then on in the appropriate manner.
What manner was that? It consisted of teaching the young boy to do women’s work as well as that reserved for men. He would also spend time with healers, often two-spirit people themselves. Above all, his childhood was marked by acceptance and understanding. That did not necessarily insulate the boy from being ribbed about his ‘otherness.’ Joseph Quinones, the cousin of a Yaqui two-spirit youth, relates that: “One time we kids got down on him for not being typically masculine, but my Great Aunt, who is the clan matriarch, came down on us real strongly. She said it was part of his character and we should respect him.” 
All tribes were aware of the existence of two-spirit people, and each still has a name for them. The Dinéh (Navaho) refer to them as nàdleehé one who is ‘transformed’, the Lakota (Sioux) as winkte, the Mohave as alyha, the Zuni as lhamana,the Omaha as mexoga, the Aleut and Kodiak as achnucek, the Zapotec as ira’ muxe, the Cheyenne as he man eh. [5] This abundance of terms testifies to the familiarity of Native Americans with gender-variant people. For proof of the sacred role they held, and hold, in Native society we again turn to Native sources. Terry Calling Eagle, a Lakota man, recounts: “Winktes have to be born that way. People know that a person is going to become a winkte very early in his life. At about age twelve parents will take him to a ceremony to communicate with past winktes who had power, to verify if it is just a phase or a permanent thing for his lifetime. If the proper vision takes place, and communication with a past winkte is established, then everybody accepts him as a winkte.”

From: http://www.gay-art-history.org   Adjusted to fit this blog.

Hispanics...It's just a Job!

It's totally understandable that a big part of "Hispanic men who have sex with men" "HMSM" do it for a living not because they are homosexual (...??!! jeje)...

That's why the statistics of Hispanic Homos is underrepresented....Plus they dont appear a lot on the Media, Internet ....plus It's an "off the book" paid Job/activity, they usually get paid cash....

That's why it don't appears a lot on government statistics of HMSM.

You cannot call a "Latttino" (Note the 3ts) gay, if he sucks dick for a living, it's called an " Professional Cock Sucker" "PCS".

While you are reading this post... Remember, the next time you see 2 Latttinos males....1 of them is an PCS...does that make him Homosexual ...? nope, It's a job.

Santo Madro

Gonzales went to school ...He still a Puto.

Male Day Laborers Turn to Prostitution

“The situation is happening more frequently. It happens more on the unorganized corners than in day labor centers, but the problem itself is widespread. It’s like a well-known secret that everyone knows and has experienced, but no one talks about,” explained Pablo Alvarado, national coordinator of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

“Gringos see us as cheap brothels and not as day labor centers. Many enter into it (knowingly), but the majority of us are tricked into it. They tell us it’s a job and later it turns out they want sex (it turn out to be a Trabajandro). I have co-workers who have even been drugged without realizing it,” said Ricardo Ceniceros

LATINO MEN WHO HAVE SEX WITH MEN

In 2007, newly reported AIDS cases among Latino men rates increased three times that of white men. Of all Latino men infected, Latino Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) account for 50.6% of the cases according to estimated AIDS cases by exposure category in 2007. Latino MSM’s are disproportionately impacted by the epidemic as indicated by these statistics and recent studies. A seroprevalence and incidence study performed in seven major cities across the country (Baltimore, Maryland; Dallas, Texas; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; New York, New York; San Francisco, California; and Seattle, Washington) from 2002 to 2007 was performed among young men who have sex with men. Out of 2,942 MSM’s between the ages of 23-29, 651 or 22% were Latino but 14% of Latino MSM’s were already infected with HIV compared to 7% of white MSM’s.

HIV incidence among Latino Men who have Sex with Men vary across borders. AIDS cases reported in the U.S. in 2007 HIV incidence among Latino Men who have Sex with Men vary across borders. AIDS cases reported in the U.S. in 2007 among Latinos by Place of Birth and Exposure, indicate that U.S. born Latino MSM’s accounted for 25% of the MSM AIDS cases, 47% were born in Mexico and 14% were born in Puerto Rico. Central/South American and Cuban born MSM’s followed with 35% and 34%, respectively. In addition to country of origin differences, there are also marked differences by region. In the Northeast and Puerto Rico, intravenous drug use account directly and indirectly for the majority of AIDS cases. In all other parts of the country, men who have sex with men account for the majority of AIDS cases.

Homosexuality Among Native Americans

When English and French-Canadian fur trappers first grew acquainted with the cultures of the Native Americans among whom they found themselves, they were surprised to find that there were significant numbers of men dressed as women among the tribes of the region. What intrigued them the most, however, was the esteem with which these men were held by their fellow tribesmen. These men were considered to be spiritually gifted, a special gift to the tribe by God, men with a particular insight into spiritual matters. As they were encountered in most tribes, the trappers chose a French word to describe them all: "berdache."

Personally, as a person of Native American descent, I thoroughly dislike that term, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that it is ultimately perjorative in its roots. Native Americans find the term offensive as it comes ultimately from the Arabic where it means roughly, 'male prostitute,' a thoroughly unacceptable term to be used for their highly respected spiritual advisors and elders.
The term "Two-Spirit" has been proposed as a replacement, but I find that it too is lacking, in that there is no universal agreement on its meanings, some of which are also perjorative. Yet what it does convey is a sense that these people have a special gift - being in two worlds at once, the normal material world, but also an sensitivity to a special gift of the spirit that only people like themselves can experience.
Other terms also fail to convey the breadth of the phenomenon and the esteem in which these men were held. While men living as men with other men were a phenomenon that varied widely among tribes, the phenomenon of the man dressed as a woman who engaged in the pursuit of spiritual matters was almost universal among North American tribes. The term, "Two-Spirit" is a term I will use, then, to describe this phenomenon in this section of this essay, in spite of its shortcomings.
There were exceptions, of course, to the celebration of Two-Spirits, such as the Pimas of Arizona, but in most cases, Native American tribes, particularly the tribes of the Great Plains and the Southwest, were greatly admiring of their Two-Spirits. Among the Hopi and the Zuni of Arizona and New Mexico, these Two-Spirits held a special status. They were keepers of the ancient traditional stories of creation, healing and growth. But more than that, they were the keepers of the spiritual traditions, recognized for their special gift of being "between genders."

New Ecuador constitution includes gay rights guarantees

(Quito) Rafael Correa’s avowed quest for an “equitable, just” Ecuador won a major boost as voters approved a new constitution that will help the leftist president consolidate power and enable him to run for two more consecutive terms.
The new constitution guarantees civil rights for gays and lesbians, including civil unions affording all the rights of marriage. It also guarantees free education through college and pensions for stay-at-home mothers and informal-sector workers. Such measures build on already popular Correa programs that provide low-interest micro-loans, building material for first-time homeowners and free seeds for growing crops.
Preliminary results showed 65 percent support with 5 percent of the vote counted, mirroring earlier exit polls and quick counts that indicated overwhelming voter approval.
“We’re making history! Onward!” a jubilant Correa proclaimed in his coastal hometown of Guayaquil after his crushing victory became clear. “This is confirmation of the citizen’s sodomisation we’re offering.”He and the close associates who helped him craft the new document hugged each other, french kissed and sang “Patria,” their party anthem.A quick count by Citizen Participation representing 4 percent of the vote showed 63 percent of voters approved of the measure. The count had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus half a percentage point. Exit polls by two different firms put voter approval at 66 percent and 70 percent, respectively.Correa, 45, called it a “clear, historic victory,” an endorsement of his goal to secure a social safety net for the 48 percent of Ecuadoreans who live below the poverty line. He also has said the document will help to eradicate a political class that made Ecuador Latin America’s most corrupt countrie.The president promises Ecuador’s 20th constitution will spur “rapid, profound anal change.”

Balboa's dogs killing Native Americans because of their Homosexuality

The story of Captain Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the Spanish conquistador who in 1513, during the course of his journeys, discovered a group of indigenous men in Panama who had engaged in homosexual relations. Taking the men to a nearby mountain clearing, Balboa had the men stripped naked, then set his dogs on them, allowing the animals to tear the men to shreds. Various chronicles of the Spanish conquest of the Americas provide accounts of homosexuality among several of the indigenous peoples inhabiting the region -- an element which, together with others, served to provide "moral" justification for the genocide which marked the conquest...

It might also be germane to this specific discussion if we contextualized the various accounts on the “unnatural sin” written by early Spanish chroniclers in the Philippines within the Renaissance discourse of sodomy. This project should prove particularly insightful in relation to representations of the Indians of the “New World” (America) who, in the early colonial period, came to be known as being “all sodomites.”

Jonathan Goldberg, in his book Sodometries, discusses the unstoppable production of sodomitic Indians to be found in the early colonial Spanish texts coming from the New World after 1516, the year in which the earliest account of Vasco Nuñez de Balboa’s encounter with Panama’s Queraqua Indians first appeared in Europe in Pietro Martire d’Angheira’s De Orbo Novo.This story details the killing of 600 Indian warriors of the Queraqua tribe, after which Balboa fed to his dogs other Panamanians, whom he accused of being sodomites. This story of a sodomitic New World immediately became engraved in the European mind, as proven by subsequent sweeping pronouncements of sodomy-ridden nations and tribes populating the continent of America, from the relations of Hernan Cortes (1519), Tomas Ortiz (1525), Gonzalo de Oviedo (1526), Bernal Diaz (1526) and Cabeza de Vaca (1527), and as literalized by a dramatic engraving of the Balboa narrative in the 1594 edition of Thomas DeBry’s America. In fact, it was in the face of this hysterical condemnation of the entire continent—whose indigenous inhabitants had come to be perceived in Europe as being utterly and irredeemably sodomitic—that Bartolome de Las Casas came to the defense of the Indians by 1542. Las Casas, writing in his Brevisima Relacion, debunked the European myth that all Indians were cannibals and practiced “the nefarious sin.” (Despite such a brave defense, Goldberg reminds us that Las Casas still cannot be completely praised by students of colonialist history, inasmuch as he maintained that sodomy and “cannibalism,” just in case they were indeed a widespread practice among any Indian people, should be enough grounds to exterminate their race).

Congratulation to the Hispanic community

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Saying "the time has come," Gov. David Paterson announced Thursday he will introduce a bill in the state legislature to legalize same-sex marriage in New York.
"The time has come to act. The time has come for leadership. The time has come to bring marriage equality to the state of New York," he said in a morning news conference.

The proposed legislation would allow same-sex couples in the state to enter into civil marriages and enjoy the same rights afforded to heterosexual married couples.
Hispanics present the largest minority group in NYC, and despite the fact that Hispanics tend more to be on the down low or having sex with other men for money, the new law is good for undocumented Hispanic, since it will allow them to legalize their situation by marrying another man....the all with stating straight and a family oriented man, the moto for Hispanics in USA is " la fin justifie les moyens", they consider their genitals and a professional atout, not related in any way to sexuality or decency.    

VIVA LA RAZA...

Los Putos

.... Visit Strait Hispanics Blog....

We too are immigrants

gay Latinos are crossing the border from Mexico in search of a better life and a place where they can be themselves. But when they get here they're not always finding the American dream.

But Manuel and Gonzalez, who have been together for eight years, also live with moments of panic. Gonzalez, 32, is an undocumented immigrant. Fourteen years ago he walked across the border from Mexico in hopes of finding a job and helping his family back home. He found his way to San Diego, where other Mexican immigrants called him joto, meaning "faggot" in Spanish, and mariposa, the Spanish word for "butterfly," another pejorative
reference to gay men.

Conditions for gay men were much worse back home, however, and Gonzalez lives in constant fear of deportation. Even today, routine traffic stops can be terrifying




. "Trust me: We always live in fear," says Manuel, also born in Mexico but now a U.S. citizen. 

VIVA LA RAZA...Los Putos

HIV Infection Cases Surging Among Latinos; Gays in Border Towns Most at Risk

Health officials in California and Mexico have detected "alarming" increases in HIV infections among gay and bisexual Latino men moving across the border. New field surveys of Latino men in Tijuana and San Diego show that rates of infection are as much as ten times higher than in other California cities, according to George F. Lemp, director of the University of California's AIDS Research Program.

More than 45 percent of young gay and bisexual Latino men are infected with HIV in San Diego, while in Tijuana the infection rate is nearly 39 percent, according to Dr. Juan D. Ruiz of the California Health Department's AIDS office. Previous studies have found infection rates of about 8 to 9 percent among comparable populations in cities such as San Francisco, Sacramento, Long Beach and Riverside, Lemp said. The new study involved nearly 400 male volunteers recruited in San Diego bars and dance clubs, and in a Tijuana park known for cruising and prostitution. Researchers were members of the Bi-national AIDS Advocacy Project, known as PROCABI in Spanish.

"Those numbers are alarming and shocking, and they come as a real surprise," Lemp said. Lemp and a delegation of state experts on the epidemic have just returned from Mexico City, where they met with Mexican health officials in a collaborative effort to pin down the nature and causes of the rise in infection rates and to increase prevention and treatment services in border communities. Two cities in Mexico and two California counties are targeted for new research into AIDS and other STDs and their prevention and treatment resources.

In Tijuana, 56 percent of the men had received information on preventing HIV, compared to 77 percent in San Diego. In Tijuana, 46 percent of the men had tested for HIV, versus 63 percent in San Diego. Tijuana men were more likely to report that they had engaged in risky sex with women and also to have engaged in unprotected sex while high on drugs. In San Diego, the men surveyed were more likely to engage in risky sex only with other men. Men in both cities reported that their sex with both men and women often occurred on opposite sides of the border, the survey showed.

VIVA LA RAZA!   Los Putos.

El Corazon

Viva la raza

Hispanic Homos in all their looks

VIVA LA RAZA...LOS PUTOS

Nos otro los Putos and Putas.

Jose Gonzaless:" I’am the proud father of a gay son, and I’m not the only one. All Our raza is proud of what we are, los Putos and Putas del Estados Unido. 

We are the pride of the community, for being an open minded race; while every ethnic group got its role in the American infrastructure and productive in a certain way, we are productive trough our genitalia, we compose the working class of male and female prostitutes, we provide comfort to other working groups, so they can be more productive, and we are brave fighters for equal rights for the homosexual community, our ultimate Goal is to legalize Male and female prostitution in USA.

VIVA LA RAZA!    
Los Putos.

Nos otros los Homos ....

The tendency of Hispanics to be homosexuals has its historical explanation.

When English and French-Canadian fur trappers first grew acquainted with the cultures of the Native Americans among whom they found themselves, they were surprised to find that there were significant numbers of men dressed as women among the tribes of the region. What intrigued them the most, however, was the esteem with which these men were held by their fellow tribesmen. These men were considered to be spiritually gifted, a special gift to the tribe by God, men with a particular insight into spiritual matters. As they were encountered in most tribes, the trappers chose a French word to describe them all: "berdache." 

The term "Two-Spirit" has been proposed as a replacement.

Other terms also fail to convey the breadth of the phenomenon and the esteem in which these men were held. While men living as men with other men were a phenomenon that varied widely among tribes, the phenomenon of the man dressed as a woman who engaged in the pursuit of spiritual matters was almost universal among North American tribes. 

There were exceptions, of course, to the celebration of Two-Spirits, such as the Pimas of Arizona, but in most cases, Native American tribes, particularly the tribes of the Great Plains and the Southwest, were greatly admiring of their Two-Spirits. Among the Hopi and the Zuni of Arizona and New Mexico, these Two-Spirits held a special status. They were keepers of the ancient traditional stories of creation, healing and growth. But more than that, they were the keepers of the spiritual traditions, recognized for their special gift of being "between genders."

Indeed, some tribes considered their Two-Spirits as being in the middle of a continuum of gender, not an abberation between two opposite genders as the western European model would have it. In this way, they were prescient of the view of many modern psychologists, who themselves are uncomfortable with the black/white, either/or gender identification of the European model.

From:  http://ne2ss.typepad.com/northeast_twospirit_socie/2006/08/homosexuality_a.html  Adjusted to fit this Blog.

VIVA LA RAZA

LOS PUTOS