CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE De Pueblo, Católico
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CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE De Pueblo, Católico y Gay A graduate project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Arts in Mass Communication By Eder Díaz Santillan May 2021 The graduate project of Eder Díaz Santillan is approved: _________________________________________ ______________ Professor Richard Chambers Date _________________________________________ ______________ Dr. Eddy Francisco Alvarez Jr. Date _________________________________________ ______________ Dr. José Luis Benavides, Chair Date California State University, Northridge ii Table of Contents Signature Page ii Abstract iv Introduction 1 Literature Review 10 Methodology 34 Findings 43 Conclusion 68 References 77 iii Abstract De Pueblo, Católico y Gay By Eder Díaz Santillan Master of Arts in Mass Communications According to The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, (GLAAD), LGBTQ+ representation in Spanish-language programming “continues to be rare, despite some high- profile stories” (Townsend, Deerwater, 2020-2021, p. 38).1 In 2016 GLAAD released its first ever report on LGBTQ+ representation in Spanish-language media and found then that only 14 of the 516 characters examined were LGBTQ (3%), and only seven of those characters appeared in more than half of episodes aired. Of those, only one character was transgender (Adam, Goodman, 2016). Although the report focuses on Television representation, the findings demonstrate the lack of inclusion of LGBTQ+ identities within Spanish-language media. This research looks at the marginalization of the Latinx LGBTQ+ community in Spanish-language media and answers, what happens when a community that has been marginalized by media, tells 1 LGBTQ+ is an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, and other sexual or gender identities that are not heteronormative. iv their own stories? De Pueblo, Católico y Gay, is one of the first Spanish-language podcasts dedicated entirely to the Latinx LGBTQ+ community, and the first to explore how Latinx LGBTQ+ gender and sexual identities intersect with religion and heteronormative-family values. This paper reports on the findings of over 100 interviews and finds that safe spaces created by Latinx content producers allow discourse to be more inclusive. This allows members of the Latinx LGBTQ+ community to share, for the very first time in many cases, the complex intersections of their Latinx LGBTQ+ experience and how this consequently informs their Latinx sexual and gender expression. This project also exposes the emotional and physical trauma that some Latinx individuals, who self-identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community, experience when raised with heteronormative family values and institutionalized religion. Keywords: Latinx, queer, jotería, podcast, intersections, counterpublics. v Introduction De Pueblo, Católico y Gay [From a Small Town, Catholic and Gay] is one of the first Spanish- language podcasts exploring the intersections of Latinx LGBTQ+ stories. Latinx is used throughout this paper as a gender-neutral term for Latin Americans. Queer and Jotería are also used to refer to the Latinx LGBTQ+ community and experience. The interviews collected show how Latinx LGBTQ+ sexual and gender identities intersect with faith and heteronormative family values. The podcast was launched in May 2018, along with my application to the Mass Communications graduate program at California State University, Northridge. The project today has over 100 interviews of individuals who identify as part of the Latinx LGBTQ+ community. The interviews focus on the formative years of a Latinx queer person and how the intersections of religion and heteronormative family values shaped how they self-identify and self-express their identity. The first four seasons were interviews that were conducted in-person with individuals who reside in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Most of them shared with me the memories of self-rejection rooted in the binary family values imposed on them in their childhood. In the middle of the fifth season the COVID-19 global pandemic forced me to explore ways to record the podcast from my home. The result has been over 30 interviews of individuals who live outside of the United States. Their stories added a valuable difference to the stories from the Los Angeles metropolitan area. That differentiator was geography. Before I expand on the stories shared on De Pueblo, Católico y Gay, via the virtual recordings done during the COVID-19 pandemic, I want to expand a little bit more on why geography is so important to this project, so much so that it is highlighted in the title. “De Pueblo,” means from a small town. A Latinx small town is usually a construct of traditional 1 family values and in the case of the Mexican pueblo where I was born, the town is also literally built around a church. The urban design rotates around the central plaza that houses usually a government building opposite of the location’s main church. In my hometown of Encarnación de Díaz Jalisco, la Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación, [Parish of our Lady of the Incarnation] is the physical and cultural center of el pueblo [the small town]. It stands opposite of the government building. This is true for almost every small town and every city in my home country, including México City, where El Palacio Nacional [National Government Palace] stands next to the Catedral Metropolitana de la Ciudad de México [México’s Metropolitan Cathedral]. How geography affects Latinx queer identities and queer expression is reflected in the interviews of this podcast. Almost every Latinx queer individual interviewed in Los Angeles has access to safe spaces where they can fully express their identities. Most of them have access to resources that help them or have helped them overcome the self-rejection experienced early in their life. The stories that were added from outside the United States showed a different reality. I have to be very careful not to generalize, but overall, the stories were not the same. The new interviews from outside the United Sates described more hostile social environments. They spoke of limited resources, for mental health, sexual health and even limited access to safe spaces. I also encountered a couple of individuals who had been tricked into faith-based conversion therapy that had been disguised as just clinical therapy. While Spanish-language legacy media both in the United States and in Spanish-speaking countries continue to underrepresent the Latinx LGBTQ+ community, the work of Latinx queer podcasters exposes the narratives that have been left out.2 2 Legacy media refers to print and broadcast media that existed before digital media. 2 Before I produced this podcast, I was the Senior Producer of the highest-rated Spanish- language morning radio show in Los Angeles. I was also on-air talent for KLVE 107.5 FM, a property of Univision Radio. I am also an openly gay man to my family and friends. I knew, from a personal point of view, that stories like mine were absent from Spanish-language media as a whole, but I also knew that as a content producer for a top radio show, I was partly responsible for my community being underrepresented. Around September 2017, I brought up the possibility of me “coming out” and sharing my story with our listeners as a gay man.3 I wanted to do it on October 11th, known as National Coming Out Day. It is an annual awareness day for the LGBTQ+ community and the impact their visibility can create. According to The Human Rights Campaign the date was established in 1988, and it lands on the anniversary of the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. The date seeks to empower individuals who feel safe, and willing to do so, to come out of the closet. “We first observed National Coming Out Day as a reminder that one of our most basic tools is the power of coming out. One out of every two Americans has someone close to them who is gay or lesbian. For transgender people, that number is only one in 10” (Kahn et al, 2018, National Coming Out Day). The hosts of the show, who had the last word on what went on the air responded to my request to come out on-air by saying, “no, we don’t talk about that on this show, our audience doesn’t want to hear that.” It broke my heart, I think because as a trained producer for that show and for that radio station, a part of me agreed. When I became a radio producer, I myself was actively not including the stories of Latinx queer individuals. I had been trained to believe that our story was not something people wanted to hear about. As a queer individual, I was still doing 3 Coming out is a colloquial phrase used to describe when someone from the LGBTQ+ community self- discloses their sexual or gender identity. 3 everything in my power to hide my queer identity. The first time I ever recorded my voice, a production manager heard my demo and said, “whoever that voice is, do not use him again because he sounds like a faggot.” It took me years to feel confident recording my voice again, and to this day, if I feel I do not sound “masculine” enough when I record, I feel I did my job wrong. When I was 28 years old, I moved to Las Vegas to host my first full-time radio show. The station was owned by Univision Radio, it was KRGT 99.3 FM. At the time, I was out to my friends and family, but I was not out as an on-air personality. The radio station that was considered our direct competition in the market, a station who I would rather not name, created a promo that outed me as a gay man in a derogatory way.