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Gays in Colombia

The other evening in the pub, a friend of mine from the West Indies (a part of the world not especially renowned for its approval of the gay lifestyle) asked me about my impression of Colombian attitudes towards the gay/lesbian/bi/et al community. I replied that, in my experience, Colombians seemed to veer towards the tolerant. That, although there was little of the proactive support of the gay community that you can find here, and that gay people were very frequently the subject of ridicule, there was no obvious animus towards them: gay couples, for instance, could go about their business without significant danger of verbal or physical abuse. Colombia's social attitudes thus being more 'live and let live' than say Trinidad's or Barbados’ (not to mention Jamaica’s, where they can be literally murderous).
I'm just wondering if, in your opinion, I'm correct in my assessment. Or is Colombian society more permissive, or less so, than I may have intimated over that pint or two of Guinness?

By kalder on Jan 4, 2007, 08:58 in Friendly Talkzone.

Simon says on Jan 4, 2007, 10:39:

Don't be ridiculous, there are no gay people in Colombia, at least that's what I heard.

"Tu vas a ver, llegaras a mi edad y veras que Colombia seguira igual"-----Simon Sr.

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famsearch says on Jan 4, 2007, 10:52:

gays in colombia? of course there are, and wasn't this discussed ad nauseum?
dan

dan

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sweetg30 says on Jan 4, 2007, 10:55:

that's so funny, no gay people in colombia there are some colombians that would take money from gay people to have sex with them, I knew some of these "men" when i lived in Colombia, in my eyes they are bisexual or gays as well or just male prostitutes or all of it. But in general Colombian accept the gay people,now if the family accept them, that's another story.
I remember this gay guy that used to dress all crazy and put on make-up and the guys used to scream "loca" and make fun of him, he used to get so angry and cursed at them, hasta les tiraba piedras.

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Simon says on Jan 4, 2007, 10:58:

"I remember this gay guy that used to dress all crazy and put on make-up and the guys used to scream "loca" and make fun of him, he used to get so angry and cursed at them, hasta les tiraba piedras. "

Well, what else did he expect after acting in such a looney manner? This guy obviously need to see a psychiatrist.

"Tu vas a ver, llegaras a mi edad y veras que Colombia seguira igual"-----Simon Sr.

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sweetg30 says on Jan 4, 2007, 11:00:

lol i don't know simon i felt sorry for him, it was his choice to dress and act crazy.

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Mr. Hollywood says on Jan 4, 2007, 11:06:

I'd say it's hard to generalize Talking about the attitudes of Colombians in general is kind of like talking about the attitudes of any other nationality in general. Gays in Bogota and probably Medellin have a quality of life similar to their cohorts in big cities in the US or Europe, with little to no overt predjudice against them (like NY or other places, some of the very best nightlife for people of all sexual persuasions is in the "gay neighborhood"). I somehow suspect that it's VERY different when you get to the small town level (much like America) but have no real way of knowing for sure.

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kalder says on Jan 4, 2007, 11:10:

Perhaps this topic has been discussed to the point of nausea. But for those of us who weren't privy or party to (or exhausted by) said debate, I say...discuss on!

"kalder- have you ever had a woman?"--Sam Salmon

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julio3440 says on Jan 5, 2007, 14:44:

it depends on the kind of people i'm gay and i live in colombia(medellin),and some people are tollerant,some aren't.it depends on the education,poor families in general are not tollerant,but the well educated and open minded people(not poors) are quite tollerant....:)

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