Late night rides on the Mexico City subway have been wild for some time, because after a certain hour public sex has become something of a tradition in the last few cars on any given train. But no more--at least, that’s the plan behind the subway’s officials denying entrance to the last five cars on several of the city’s lines after 10 p.m.
Anti-gay religious site LifeSiteNews posted an article on the subway’s late-night cruising culture under the headline "Homosexuals ’take over’ Mexico City subway cars to engage in sex acts." Only after two lurid paragraphs blaming gays for the problem did the site get around to mentioning that heterosexual couples also engage in public sex late at night on the subway. The anti-gay site drew on a Spanish-language story in Mexican newspaper Excelsior.
To be fair, the practice of public sex on the Mexico City metro--called "metroing" ("metrear")--has become known in gay circles. Gay Travellers Network noted in a Feb. 6 article, "If you tell a gay man in the country’s capital that you’re planning to metrear, he’ll know exactly what you mean. And the last carriage is often nicknamed the ’cajita feliz’ or ’happy box,’ " added the article.
However, gays are not the sole problem, the article pointed out. "Bluntly, everybody’s been doing it--men with women, women with women and men with men--as security videos can demonstrate. And it’s got so bad that the authorities have decided that it’s time to put a stop to it."
According to Cruising Gays, Mexico City has something of a split personality when it comes to homosexuality. There is a vibrant "scene," the article reports, but much of it is repressed and underground. "Mexico, like Ireland, wears its provincial Catholicism on its sleeve," the article states; "any deviation is firmly rooted in centuries of shame. The queer scene is rapidly making itself visible, but it has been and continues to be a long road."
LifeSiteNews was quick to view the subway sexual scene as proof positive that Mexico City was in swift moral decline following the legalization of marriage equality there.
Although real live sex on the subway has become a nuisance, sexual themes--and gay relationships--has been the subject of a public display of art in Mexico City’s subway, a June 19, 2008, article at Guanabee reported. The exhibit, by photographer Oscar Sanchez, was titled "Familias Mexicanas"--"Mexican Families." The exhibition ran for several weeks in June of 2008.
Anti-gay religious site LifeSiteNews posted an article on the subway’s late-night cruising culture under the headline "Homosexuals ’take over’ Mexico City subway cars to engage in sex acts." Only after two lurid paragraphs blaming gays for the problem did the site get around to mentioning that heterosexual couples also engage in public sex late at night on the subway. The anti-gay site drew on a Spanish-language story in Mexican newspaper Excelsior.
To be fair, the practice of public sex on the Mexico City metro--called "metroing" ("metrear")--has become known in gay circles. Gay Travellers Network noted in a Feb. 6 article, "If you tell a gay man in the country’s capital that you’re planning to metrear, he’ll know exactly what you mean. And the last carriage is often nicknamed the ’cajita feliz’ or ’happy box,’ " added the article.
However, gays are not the sole problem, the article pointed out. "Bluntly, everybody’s been doing it--men with women, women with women and men with men--as security videos can demonstrate. And it’s got so bad that the authorities have decided that it’s time to put a stop to it."
According to Cruising Gays, Mexico City has something of a split personality when it comes to homosexuality. There is a vibrant "scene," the article reports, but much of it is repressed and underground. "Mexico, like Ireland, wears its provincial Catholicism on its sleeve," the article states; "any deviation is firmly rooted in centuries of shame. The queer scene is rapidly making itself visible, but it has been and continues to be a long road."
LifeSiteNews was quick to view the subway sexual scene as proof positive that Mexico City was in swift moral decline following the legalization of marriage equality there.
Although real live sex on the subway has become a nuisance, sexual themes--and gay relationships--has been the subject of a public display of art in Mexico City’s subway, a June 19, 2008, article at Guanabee reported. The exhibit, by photographer Oscar Sanchez, was titled "Familias Mexicanas"--"Mexican Families." The exhibition ran for several weeks in June of 2008.
Kilian Melloy reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes commentary for EDGEBoston, where he also serves as Assistant Arts Editor.
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