Talking with Gil Camargo about LGBT and Mexico City - Episode #44

I spoke with Gil Camargo during my January 2016 visit to Mexico City. We talked about gay life, food, culture and so much more. Gil is my friend and the LGBTTTI and Music Editor at for Time Out Mexico City.

Gil Camargo (Foto: Alejandra Carbajal)

You might not expect it, but Mexico's Government has declared Mexico City as officially gay-friendly. Mexico City (know as DF "the Federal District") is the largest city in North America and like other large cities: New York, San Francisco, LA, Chicago and Atlanta it's very gay friendly with parades, bars, night clubs and more.

Mexico City also has some of the world's best restaurants (including 3 of the top 50), a great music including massive EDM scene, art, culture, great hotels, friendly people and a culture that stretches over several millennia.

Gil and I had the opportunity to dine at Biko enjoying wine and a 10 course menu. Biko is helmed by European Chefs (Gerard Bellver, Bruno Oteiza, and Mikel Alons) who have made Mexico City their home. Biko is currently rated as the 37th best restaurant in the world.

 

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Transcript:

(00:00:01)

Gil Camargo:

The government named Mexico City as a gay-friendly city. For example, in downtown is two places for gay people and it's not just bars. It's more than that, it's a cultural centers.

(00:00:14)

Harry Hawk:

Hello, this is Harry Hawk, and this is Talking About Everything and I am here in beautiful downtown Mexico City, and I'm about to talk to a friend of mine. Why don't you introduce yourself?

(00:00:26)

Gil Camargo:

Hi, I'm Gil Camargo, I am Editor in Time Out Magazine. I edit LGBT section.

(00:00:35)

Harry Hawk:

Which Time Out Magazine?

(00:00:37)

Gil Camargo:

Time Out Mexico Magazine.

(00:00:39)

Harry Hawk:

Mexico City?

(00:00:40)

Gil Camargo:

Mexico City, yeah.

(00:00:41)

Harry Hawk:

So this is something really strange because when we say like "Where are you from?", I'm from New York, so we'll say "I'm from New York." But we don't say New York City, and then a foreigner gets totally confused because "Are you from New York, or are you from New York City?" And here in Mexico, everybody's the same way. I say "Where are you from, is this your first time to Mexico?" "No, no, no, I've been to Mexico before, I've never been to Mexico City."

(00:01:04)

Gil Camargo:

Yeah, that's a problem. In fact, this year the government changed the name because the official name is DF, that is District of Federal, Federal District. And the foreigners knows the city as Mexico City, but we don't mention it as Mexico City it's just…

(00:01:21)

Harry Hawk:

Mexico.

(00:01:22)

Gil Camargo:

…Mexico, yeah, so that's confusing. 

(00:01:26)

Harry Hawk:

It's a lot of fun to come here and to see how people talk about the place and the different districts. And it's the same thing in New York where you get to know the districts, so again in New York, "Where are you from?" All I need to say is, "I'm from the city." And again, I hear people here saying the same thing, "Oh where are you from? I'm from the city. Have you been?" So, what does a local really say?

(00:01:47)

Gil Camargo:

We have a lot of locals. So for example, in my mother's town there is from Guanajuato. She’s from Guanajuato and the people in the town call Mexico as Mexico, never say Mexico City. And when I was a child, I always ask myself like "Okay, Guanajuato is Mexico, so why they said, they came from Mexico, I said we still in Mexico. We didn't went to Spain or another country, we’re still in Mexico, but is the _____(2:20) we used to. 

(00:02:22)

Harry Hawk:

It's all these strange idioms, right? And obviously all around New York City we talk about the different parts of town and if it's Bed-Stuyvesant or it's downtown Brooklyn or whatever. Do they have different nicknames for the different parts of town?

(00:02:36)

Gil Camargo:

Yeah. For example, on the East there is a park called Azcapotzalco and some people call them chintololos. It's like kind of strange. It's a very local. It's not like everybody knows them as chintololos, it's just some people. 

(00:02:55)

Harry Hawk:

All right, so a little bit of similarity there. And so, you are the LGBT Editor for Time Out Magazine Mexico City, which we'll refer to as Mexico to stick with the local idiom, but how long have you been doing that?

(00:03:08)

Gil Camargo:

Two years ago, around two years. I was making…before the edition, I was held in the magazine as a student and make some notes. The work brings you to more work and I finished two years later in edition. 

(00:03:25)

Harry Hawk:

As the editor.

(00:03:26)

Gil Camargo:

Yeah.

(00:03:27)

Harry Hawk:

Okay, so again, LGBT issues are not a stranger to this podcast. I am out as a gay man and there is a big perception, I would think, in the United States that how could there even be a LGBT editor in Mexico City, that we wouldn't think that there is…of course there's gay people there, but it's gotta be underground and it's probably hidden away and what's the reality here?

(00:03:52)

Gil Camargo:

Here, in Mexico City, in last November, the government named Mexico City as a gay-friendly city. Other people, including me, we have some vote because for example here in Santa Rosa, where we are, it's a very gay zone and you can see guys and girls kissing each other and it's very normal. If you go downtown it's a little normal, but nobody going to say nothing. But if you go to the north or to the south it's going to be a kind of awkward because it's not a gay zone so…

(00:04:33)

Harry Hawk:

I mean, is there a gay pride parade here? Is there a gay culture here in the city?

(00:04:37)

Gil Camargo:

Yeah. In June is the gay pride and they walk from the Angel to downtown, it's around four kilometers. 

(00:04:45)

Harry Hawk:

Is it a big parade? I mean, in New York it's like one of the biggest ones.

(00:04:49)

Gil Camargo:

It's a lot of people. In fact, the last two years I saw a lot of families that doesn't have any gay member in the family, but just bring the kids to teach them that it's very normal. A lot of people it's a kind of a scare because a lot of guys get naked and use this small, small underwear, but I guess the people start to accept and just they don't care. But this is strange because we have just three zones where the gay people is, it's not all over, but it's normal to see two boys kissing. But in other parts of the city it's kind of strange because it's not normal. So, that's why we are questioning about the gay-friendly city. If they are…

(00:05:41)

Harry Hawk:

That the government has named it. When you say normal there is a little bit of an idiomatic sense that normal being natural or biological as opposed to being kind of culturally acceptable.

(00:05:50)

Gil Camargo:

The Mexican culture is very macho, and even a lot of gay people are still having that kind of issues with the macho, so I say normal as I mean as usual. But it's strange, if you go to the south of the city and look two boys it's not a something un-normal, but it's not the zone where the boys kiss in. 

(00:06:17)

Harry Hawk:

Look, I think the same is true everywhere, I mean, that we would find there's certain parts of New York that it's not as customary as it would be in…also, I think as the LGBT community becomes more well known around the world, there's less of a need to just be always showing that affection, not there's anything wrong with it, but it's just natural so it just happens, but it's just part of life and it's not…it shouldn't be draw a lot of attention. Well, it happens everywhere.So for this little part of the interview, I want to kind of wrap it up. I'm going to change the batteries and we'll go on. But I want to really understand your name. It's spelled with a "G"? 

(00:06:54)

Gil Camargo:

"G" as Gil _____(6:55).

(00:06:56)

Harry Hawk:

But we're pronouncing with an "H". This is the Spanish pronunciation. So and your nickname would be Hil? 

(00:07:02)

Gil Camargo:

Hil, yeah.

(00:07:03)

Harry Hawk:

Just like Gil but it's Hil, I know I greeted you today with a Gil, so I apologize. You're still here with me, so you didn't run away scared. If you could just talk about, a little bit about what you cover. I'm not looking for a lot of in depth, but just somebody said what is the top four or five stories that you come back to on a regular basis as the LGBT editor? What are those stories?

(00:07:23)

Gil Camargo:

Usually, everybody comes to Santa Rosa to find something because here it’s like the concentration of the community, but each time more people is getting out from this zone, for example, in downtown is two places for gay people and it's not just bars. It's more than that, it's cultural centers, it's places with you can go to have a talk or to talk about books and…

(00:07:53)

Harry Hawk:

I understand that, but Hil, but what I'm really talking about is as the editor, what are the top stories that you cover on a regular basis?

(00:07:59)

Gil Camargo:

Now, when I get the section, they were just talking just about bars and it's okay, we are a guide city, but it's more than that. So I start to interview artists, stand-up people, drags, a lot of transsexuals because here the trans-phobia it's very hard. Here you can change your gender legally, there is no system to go, you have to go to the government and to another place, and the people doesn't know. 

(00:08:30)

Harry Hawk:

So, you're trying to raise awareness for this.

(00:08:31)

Gil Camargo:

Yes. So a lot of transsexual people who tell us their story. This month the section is about a tour in downtown, it's three hours tour with LGBT stories, since the Tenochitlan,  the old city to the New Spain, _____(8:50) Mexico and _____(8:53) in Mexico. 

(00:08:54)

Harry Hawk:

I think back to what ou were starting to answer before, if I was a person interested in the LGBT scene here in Mexico City, or Mexico, again that's what we’re calling it, and I'm coming here for the first time or maybe I haven't been here in a while, could you list me maybe the top three things I should do?

(00:09:09)

Gil Camargo:

You should go to a bar called La Purísima it's a very strange bar. There is a bar that a lot of people go, different people, old, daddies, bears, young people, lesbians, transsexuals, and it's a very nice place, always is full so…

(00:09:29)

Harry Hawk:

Okay, so that's number one, number two?

(00:09:31)

Gil Camargo:

The tour about gays histories in the downtown because they have a lot of histories and it's a way to recognize that the city has 500 years with LGBT stories, it's not something new.

(00:09:49)

Harry Hawk:

Okay. That's I think really important. And Hil, what would be the last one?

(00:09:52)

Gil Camargo:

The last one, I guess, go to a drag show. 

(00:09:56)

Harry Hawk:

Is there anything special about a Mexican gender performance compared to…

(00:10:00)

Gil Camargo:

Yeah. There is a drag called Yolanda, she is not a usual drag. I interview her before, and she said that she is not a drag, she is a character, obviously it's just to the theatre. The drags always try to appear like a beautiful woman, but she makes the womans that nobody wants to be. She made a Jesus Christ drag one, she is the housewife with two kids, she is the girl who gets her first period. And she is bring them back because on the stage is always beautiful womans with good bodies, and she said "Okay, these ugly womans are womans too." So she bring them back. It was very nice. 

(00:10:50)

Harry Hawk:

I think that's wonderful, I mean, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and we are all not all skinny and we are not all young. This has been really exciting to talk about this. We'll have another conversation and I'm going to ask you to give me some links and things, so that the things that you've mentioned, when the podcast comes out I can put links to maybe articles you've written or something else from Time Out. But what I would like now is just to tell…they can find the magazine online if you have any social media links, Twitter, so forth, if you could just tell everybody where to find you, where to find the magazine and then we'll call an end to this one. 

(00:11:23)

Gil Camargo:

Is www.timeoutmexico.mx. On Facebook we are Time Out Mexico and Twitter is the same, Time Out Mexico, and I'm in Twitter as Gil Camargo.

(00:11:38)

Harry Hawk:

All right, so please tell everybody where they can find you online. 

(00:11:41)

Gil Camargo:

Twitter, I am Gil Camargo.

(00:11:44)

Harry Hawk:

How do you spell that?

(00:11:45)

Gil Camargo:

Gil Camargo_ and on Instagram as Gil Camargo too, but it's Gil_Camargo.

(00:12:03)

Harry Hawk:

So two underscores? 

(00:12:04)

Gil Camargo:

Two underscores.

(00:12:05)

Harry Hawk:

This is Harry Hawk, and this has been Talking About Everything. We're here in Mexico, Mexico City, but we just say Mexico, and I hope everybody has a great week. Bye-Bye. 

(0:12:15)

Chuck Fresh:

My name is Chuck Fresh and I’m being paid to thank you for listening to Talking About Everything with Harry Hawk. Harry wants to hear from you on Twitter at HHawk or HarryHawk@gmail.comAnd now, a word from our sponsor.