User:Sydcg/LGBT culture in Mexico

Luis Zapata (writer) was one of the most prominent gay writers in Mexican history. Zapata created literary productions and plays of his works which challenged participants and actors to address and explore the concept of personal identity. These concepts of identity acceptance and formation are prominent throughout his novelistic publications starting with Hasta en las majors familias, or ''Even in The Best of Families, which was published in 1975. ''

Zapata's fictional works display LGBT themes through the fictional worlds they create. He created these worlds in such a way that readers would be able to incorporate their own individual experiences with defying the patriarchy's oppressive idea in regard to gender and sexuality

Zapata's production works attempt to contradict typical essentialist theories about sexual performance and gender. He presents the ideas of identity and gender as "acts."

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Art and visual mediums in Mexico have been used throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and have become essential to the way Mexico views its identity surrounding factors such as gender and sexuality.

Several artists, known as bisexual or homosexual, were reluctant to express their sexual desire in a context of limited tolerance. Agustín Lazo Adalid (1886–1971), pioneer of surrealism in Mexican art, member of Los Contemporáneos, and lover of Villaurrutia, abstained from painting male nudity, even though he was known to be homosexual.

Only three paintings by Alfonso Michel (1897–1957), another member of Los Contemporáneos, show male nudity in ways that are subtly erotic. Michel was homosexual, and his wealthy family supported his perpetual wanderings around the world in order to avoid a scandal in the conservative state of Colima, where he grew up. Manuel Rodríguez Lozano(1896–1971), another member of Los Contemporáneos, never hid his homosexuality and expressed it with great candour in drawings and paintings. His studio attracted younger painters, including Abraham Ángel (1905–1924), Julio Castellanos (1905–1947), and Ángel Torres Jaramillo (1912–1937), with whom Lozano maintained relationships.

Frida Kahlo (1901–1954), is one of the most important artists in modern Mexican art. She has been converted into a gay icon due to her fighter and non-conformist nature. Her work is seen by artists and critics alike as a crucial contribution to the deconstruction of the art world's male prerogatives and to the recognition of gender and sexual diversity as legitimate objects of visual representation.

Rodolfo Morales (1925–2001) was a famous surrealist painter. Up until his death, Morales was regarded as one of Mexico's greatest living artists. Other LGBT painters and visual artists are Roberto Montenegro, Nahum B. Zenil, Julio Galán, Roberto Márquez, and Carla Rippey.

Another important way that art was utilized was for activism during the Frente de Liberación Homosexual (Mexico). or the Mexican Homosexual liberation movement, which emerged in 1971. This movement was led by Nancy Cárdenas, who was a lesbian activist, writer, and actor.[1]

One of the strategies utilized by this movement was to create and establish an annual cultural mobilization initially called Semana cultural gay (gay culture week). Since its creation, this even has gone through a few name changes. In 1992, the name of the event was changed to Semana cultural lesbica-gay, and the event's current name is ''Festival de diversddad sexual (sexual diversity festival). Starting in 1982, one of the key aspects of this event is an exhibit of artwork by members of the LGBT community, as well as allies, which is held at the National Autonomous University of Mexico's Museo Del Chopo. One of the founding member of this event was Mexican Artist Nahum B. Zenil.''

It was these art exhibits during Festival de diversddad sexual, as well as other notable exhibitions, including Propuestas temáticas in 1983 and Las Transgresiones al cuerpo in 1997, which helped elevate the discussions surrounding the normalization of visual representations of homosexuality.

These exhibits were highly praised by both artists and activists. Artist and LGBT ally, Mónica Mayer described the importance of the event, stating that it was an alternative social space where people could join together and interact, while Mexican writer and activist, Carlos Monsiváis commented on how he felt these exhibits were "critical to the demonstration of Mexican life."