Tens of thousands of gay rights supporters on Saturday marched through Mexico City with both hope and some nagging doubts about the prospect of a presidential election victory by leftist front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Sunday.
Revelers sporting gaudy outfits and everyday garb waved rainbow flags and the Mexican national colors on the capital’s Paseo de la Reforma Boulevard.
A Lopez Obrador win would be a watershed in Mexican politics, but the electoral marriage of convenience he has forged with a socially conservative party worries some of his liberal backers about his commitment to gay rights.
Photo: AFP
His National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) is part of a coalition with another smaller leftist party and the religious Social Encounter Party (PES), an anti-abortion group with traditional views about family life.
Eager to avoid tension with conservative backers, Lopez Obrador, or AMLO as he is commonly known, has walked a fine line on gay rights, saying he would hold referendums to decide questions such as same-sex marriage.
“MORENA has been very quiet, and actually I’m going to vote for AMLO, but I don’t like that he’s been quiet and wants to put our rights to a plebiscite,” Diego Posada said.
“Like what’s the big fuss?” he asked.
The PES has softened its tone on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues in the campaign, but many liberal MORENA supporters express unease about the alliance.
“At the start they say they’re going to help you, but when the time comes, they forget us,” said Mitzariy Bonarroti, a transgender woman, originally from Oaxaca State.
Temistocles Villanueva, a gay MORENA congressional candidate running in Mexico City, acknowledged that the tie-up bothered some supporters, but said it had also changed the PES.
“The PES has had to moderate its stance during the election campaign because they know they’re with two progressive parties,” the 28-year-old told reporters. “They yielded to us.”
Paulina Carrasco Hernandez, 35, a transgender psychologist wearing a rainbow colored T-shirt, said she did not believe any party in Mexico truly represented LGBT people, and only used “pinkwash” strategies to court their vote.
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