The participation of men from Mexico City’s elite made the event particularly scandalous.Īn illustration of the dance of the 41 by José Guadalupe Posada At the time, the revelation of an organized group of gay and queer men was discussed at length, and often with a mix of humor and contempt, in the press. “The raid invents homosexuality in Mexico,” the Mexican essayist Carlos Monsiváis wrote of the event and its impact on popular culture. Nearly seven decades before the Stonewall Riots sparked a movement in the United States, the scandal was a seminal moment in Mexican queer history. Newspaper records from the time show that the men were then put on trains and sent to the Yucatan peninsula, where they were forced to labor in support of soldiers fighting in an ongoing war with Mayan communities in the area. Some of the offenders were forced to sweep the streets in their feminine attire. Quickly, and without a trial, the authorities punished the participants of this clandestine drag ball, as observers might think of it today. Beyond the standard revelry, what the raid uncovered would scandalize the city and realign notions of sexuality, gender and class in Mexico for generations.Īt the party, police found 41 men dancing together – about half of them dressed as women. In the wee hours of November 17, 1901, police raided a private house party in Mexico City’s central Tabacalera neighborhood.
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