Gay Puerto Vallarta: Separate But Equal?

This past week, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico has been “Latin Fever”. It’s a week long event over the Thanksgiving holiday that offers dinners, dances, and parties for the gay tourists. I found this out, after a teacher from Houston, took me to the gay beach one day.

So we walked. We went down to the beach, took a left and kept walking. And walking. If you want to find the gay beach, here’s how to do it. Go past the pier. Go past the rows and rows of beach chairs. Go to the spot where the beach ends and look for the 100 or so men in speedos. See any women? Then you’ve found it.

At first I was thrilled to go. I have a general rule to always say yes to invitations, even if it means sticking out among the throngs of well groomed, well tanned, well sculpted young men. Puerto Vallarta is well-known as the gay-hub of Mexico. But then it occurred to me. Isn’t it odd that they are clustered on the southern most part of the beach? Isn’t it strange that they would pay all this money, to fly out to a gay-friendly vacation spot, only to be sequestered far away from the families and tourists?

It’s not unusual to see this kind of self selecting seclusion for the gay community back home. I went to school in Amherst, MA – just down the road from Northampton, MA– the lesbian capital of New England. In the summers we would vacation on Cape Cod and visit Provincetown—the gay male capital of New England. In Boston, we lived in Jamaica Plain, which housed much of the gay community.

On the west coast, it’s the same thing. Think of San Francisco or Capital Hill in Seattle. Every major city seems to have these nooks, where gay and lesbians go to be left alone. And the cities themselves are refuges for gay people growing up in rural areas, where they ultimately fled in large droves.

I get it. In college I campaigned for the HRC. I’m not gay, but I can understand the inclination to want to feel safe. I understand wanting to be able to vacation with your partner and hold hands without fear of violence. What I don’t understand, is how blithely we allow this to occur. Even with Proposition 8 being ratified in California, there seems to be a lack of public outrage.

In California. They won’t let gay people marry. One of the most liberal states in the country. The same people who watch Ellen every morning, think she is living in sin. And sitting on that beach, in sunny Puerto Vallarta, I felt a little sad. The last civil rights movement has turned into a marketing campaign for high priced resorts. Come here, we’ll accept you and your American currency. Come here and we’ll give you a special spot on this beach, far away from where the “normal” tourists are. Come and as long as you’re rich, we’ll let you stay.

So I drank my $4 coronas, and listened to techno remixes of Madonna’s latest album. But this week I found a video, that made me smile:

Also if you´re interested in visiting, here is a great site for
Puerto Vallarta Hotels! They have rates at discounted prices!