Indigenous Mexicans' Mixed-Gender Acceptance Falters at Bathrooms Victoria Burnett - The New York Times
go to original June 22, 2016

Who Is Mexico's Ancient Third Gender Population (Seeker Daily)

To the people of this town in southern Oaxaca State, the existence of a third gender is as much a part of life as the ancient Zapotec language they speak and the huge, spiny iguanas that laze in the trees.

Here, the muxes — people born with male bodies but who identify as neither male nor female — are part of the social fabric, admired for their embroidery, hairstyling, handicrafts and cooking.

They even have a grand ball every autumn, and their queen is crowned by the mayor.

But now this town of fishermen, farmers and extravagant fiestas about 30 miles from the Pacific Ocean faces a challenge to its expansive notion of gender: the transgender community and its bathroom rights.

On a recent sweltering night, three muxes (pronounced MOO-shays) in brightly embroidered dresses waited outside a women’s portable toilet at one of Juchitán’s annual outdoor fiestas. Men whistled at them and pointed to the dark corner that served as their restroom.

The muxes held their ground, and when the toilet door swung open, one stepped inside.

“I’m a woman, 24 hours a day,” said Naomy Méndez Romero, her braids crowned with a fuchsia ruffle.

“Me, use a boys’ bathroom?” said Ms. Méndez, 24, who was born male but has lived as a woman for six years. “No.”

The issue is testing the limits of tolerance and prompting some to re-examine the Zapotecs’ complex gender taxonomy.

Read the rest at The New York Times

Related: Meet the Muxes: Mexican Indigenous Community Where Transsexuals, Transgenders Are Celebrated Since Birth (Latin Times)

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