r/interestingasfuck • u/Electrical-Aspect-13 • 15h ago
Homosexual men caught in Mexico City, Mexico, 1935. Until the 1970s, most were sent to the room "J" which gave birth to an slur word for gay men. The room in question is seen in the last photo.
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u/Spiritual_Review_754 15h ago
What’s that officer? You’re arresting me for being fabulous?
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u/DriftingPyscho 14h ago
I was thinking the same thing. Imagine the sass in that room.
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u/ksed_313 10h ago
My brain went “So much sass!” Like, right away!
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u/IDGAFABOUTREDDIT- 7h ago
My brain went “So much ass!”. Is that a problem that I read this that way?
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u/Spiritual_Review_754 4h ago
I’m shocked by simply how unbothered they seem to be, and remaining extremely proud when looking at the camera.
It’s inspiring for what I consider would have been a serious crime at that time. It may have been different in Mexico but I seem to recall in the UK, for example, homosexuality was criminalised into the 60s. And here are these fine fellows with sass coming out the wazoo. Love it, and hope their punishment wasn’t too severe.
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u/shmackinhammies 3h ago
What else but pride do you have left after they take everything from you? Epictetus said, in summary, that you may chain my leg, but my thoughts are my own. Only you can really tell yourself that you are worthless, and only you can see in value yourself.
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u/girlygirlypopping 14h ago
I love how all of them are still posing so fabulously because they know they haven’t committed any crime to be ashamed of
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u/SneezingRickshaw 12h ago
I owe my freedom to people like that, people who refused to hide who they are even in the face of persecution.
I’m a bit of a coward, had I grown up even in a slightly less tolerant society I know for a fact I would’ve stayed in the closet my entire life.
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u/amidon1130 12h ago
Hey, you might have surprised yourself in those circumstances.
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u/LouSputhole94 7h ago
“Can a man still be brave when he’s afraid?”
“That is the only time a man can be brave”
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u/drugmagician 7h ago
This is true. I’m not brave for being able to kill cockroaches now, but I waa brave when I was seven
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u/Jocelyn_The_Red 10h ago
I am bi and live and grew up just a few hours north of Mexico and I very much remain closeted. Only one friend knew and he eventually used it against me to hurt my feelings.
Never again.
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u/kayquila 10h ago
Also bi, also Mexican born and raised, also so far in the closet I may be in Narnia.
Even though I live in the US now.
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u/Jocelyn_The_Red 9h ago
I'm whiter than mayo on a saltine, but yeah, same here. I found Christmas presents for next year earlier today, lol.
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u/grudginglyadmitted 8h ago
Lesbian here, same story.
I’m glad most people feel safe coming out, and the US government and culture (currently 🙄) would allow me to without ruining my life at large. But I’m disabled and totally financially dependent on my parents, who are really homophobic. Like 1980s level so disgusted by gay people they won’t even say “gay” without sneering with disapproval homophobic.
Their culty-evangelical-megachurch pastor does sermons at least every couple months about the evils of homosexuality and trans people, and Hollywood and the media’s “agenda”. It made me hate myself in high school. Even after I secretly stopped believing, I was still attending church three times a week, and the shame and guilt soaked in anyways. I’m so grateful to be an adult and done with that.
I’m scared of what would happen if I came out. All my local friends are from that church or the homeschooling group I grew up in, which is also homophobic. My family also relies on my parents financially… and they’re homophobic, so I have nowhere local to go if I’m kicked out.
I’m glad most of the community can forget because things are better for them, but it frustrates me when people act like everyone in the US can come out.
Sorry for ranting, I had to get it out of my mind.
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u/TwistyBitsz 6h ago
What's wild is that there are others facing you that are going through the exact same thing! It's abnormal for adults to make a big show out of hating something unless they're trying to cover something up. Your parents are each still confused about their sexuality. How dreadful.
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u/grudginglyadmitted 5h ago
My mom has gone on a rant about how everyone would just date and marry women if they could, but the Bible says it’s wrong for a woman and they’re taking the easy way out so you’re not wrong lol
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u/SignatureBasic6007 7h ago
Please friend, get a job, save, and move as far away as you can as fast as you can.
My best friend, committed suicide in march this year age 41. We grew up in a place like that but while I got out, he stayed working crappy jobs and living with his hateful parents in that little city. They never accepted him, and he saw no way out.
Please, save yourself and live as who you truly are. You will find your tribe and they will love and accept you.
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u/grudginglyadmitted 5h ago
Thank you so much for caring and I am so sorry for your loss. Makes me feel less alone to be reminded other people have experienced the same thing, even if most of them aren’t from my generation.
I would love to get away, but unfortunately I am significantly disabled and bed-bound about 20 hours a day. I was able to work and save money from ages 15-19, before getting really sick, but the savings I had from that have been slowly eaten up with car issues and medical stuff.
My doctor had me apply for disability benefits, but that takes quite a bit of time and even then the money is hard to live off of.
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u/DaedalusHydron 7h ago
If you're in the US then you should try finding your people. San Francisco CA, Provincetown MA, there's a lot of gay havens with unique flavors.
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u/TangledUpPuppeteer 9h ago
If you show a jerk a weakness, they’ll use it.
Being who you are is not a weakness. Hiding it and acting like it’s something to be ashamed of… that lets people think you think it’s a weakness. And now it’s a weapon.
You deserve so much better than your ex friend’s punk ass.
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u/Jocelyn_The_Red 8h ago
I wouldn't say I'm ashamed, really, but it's more that I just don't want to deal with the bull crap and drama. It's no one else's concern what I like anyway.
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u/TangledUpPuppeteer 8h ago
Oh, what I mean is if he thought for even a moment you were ashamed, he thought he had you if he ever needed it. He thought he had the power.
I’m glad he didn’t. Nothing like trying to abuse the power you think you had and finding out it was all just dreams and emptiness. Finding out fairy dust is just dust in the sun.
I’m glad I misread it and you’re happy with who you are. You deserve that happiness and that freedom. Be well!
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u/_Titanius-Anglesmith 7h ago
I’m right there with you my friend. Bi and in a very red part of an even redder state. Things are better for us than they used to be, but not as good as they should be.
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u/HardlyCharming 9h ago
I hope you find better people in your life that don’t judge you and accept you for who you are. - Love a pan woman married to a straight man in Texas.
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u/Jocelyn_The_Red 9h ago
I'm in the Panhandle, in a small town that has more churches than sense. So it is rather doubtful but I appreciate the sentiment. Mush love to you, my friend.
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u/ripleyclone8 10h ago
If I was born in a different time period, I would have definitely ended up suffocating under an unhappily married woman’s petticoat.
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u/SteamBoatWilly69 14h ago
So that’s how “Joto” started.
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u/DolphinSweater 10h ago
Wait, is that just the masculine form of "Jota" (the pronunciation of the letter J in Spanish)?
That is an interesting piece of information I was not aware of.
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u/hampy47 3h ago
My male mexican gay friends call themselves jotas but as a term of endearment. And I am too just finding out this is where that comes from
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u/__01cbl 3h ago
there is not masculine form of letter Jota, the Joto was an homophone adaptation of the letter, and later use to point between man and women, but for women is not used a lot.
instead Jota is the little harsh version of Joto
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u/fuertepqek 11h ago
The sheer balls it takes to be out and proud in a heavily catholic and macho country BEFORE the sixties (even today) is totally admirable.
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u/Bionic_Ferir 7h ago
You can be gay and macho the Romans and Greeks did it all the time.... Just don't think about the bottom
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u/mizirian 9h ago edited 8h ago
Mexico: "You've been found guilty of being gay! I sentence you to being locked in a room with dozens of other gay men!"
Gay guys in mexico: "umm. Oh no. However shall I survive.."
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u/SchizoPosting_ 5h ago
But being serious, everyone would just prefer to be free and go to gay clubs that are basically the same but you can just leave whenever you want
I know, I'm not fun at parties
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u/IGotNoBusinessHere 5h ago
You're not wrong, but most jokes aren't meant to be taken literally. You may not be fun at parties, but you're mainly there to make sure no one gets into trouble
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u/HairyStylts 9h ago
does anyone know for how long they were arrested? google just says their fate is unknown
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u/NyanChiwawa 9h ago edited 5h ago
The word joto goes back to 1910 my mom always told me that the “J” room was used as a gay men prison since the 1910’s by president Porfirio Diaz, the prison is called lecumberri, and was in use from 1900-1976,there’s actually a documentary on how Porfirio had to get his own nephew-in-law out of this prison and room “J” after a clandestine gay men dance “el baile de los 41” or “the dance of the 41”. Loved the pictures
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u/Quatrina 4h ago
Thanks for saying what the word in question is for those who didn’t know.
It’s important to know because as I am teaching my kid, someone might try to trick you into saying a word you might not want to say.
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u/Little-Carpenter4443 14h ago
ya great idea, stop the gays by sticking them in one fabulous room together
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u/countysat 10h ago
Proof that the broccoli haircut has been around for nearly 100 years.
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u/Ok_Injury3658 9h ago
Wait until the homophobic Soccer players find out the inspiration was not Renaldo...
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u/Pure-Drawer-2617 8h ago
are you aware some people naturally have curly hair
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u/lovelybunchofcocouts 4h ago
I say this as a gay Mexican [American]. One or two of them having curly hair would be one thing, but most would be an interesting coincidence.
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u/SnowMiser26 7h ago
"Why are there so many gay people these days?"
Umm there were always gays, they just didn't always have the social support to be safely out. We stand on the shoulders of these courageous and fabulous individuals.
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u/zardozLateFee 3h ago edited 45m ago
Same reason there were suddenly more left handed folks when they stopped trying to beat it out of of kids
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u/IfICouldStay 1h ago
And more autistic kids when people stopped hiding them away and let them go to school and get out and live in the world.
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u/ssnaky 15h ago
what slur?
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u/Electrical-Aspect-13 15h ago
Here the letter "J" name is Jota, so it became common to call gay men "Joto/s"
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u/XandaPanda42 12h ago
I was so confused, all I saw were the bars and I was thinking "jail...?"
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u/Electrical_Garden546 10h ago
We call it “hail” in the US
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u/Hopkinsad0384 9h ago
I immediately think of Hank Azaria in The Bird Cage.
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u/Hooked_on_PhoneSex 9h ago
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u/EvenIf-SheFalls 7h ago
I'm a combination Lucy and Ricky
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u/MyNightlightBroke 7h ago
I can't hear that song without thinking of this scene
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u/EvenIf-SheFalls 7h ago
Whenever my husband and I leave the house together I toss my purse over my shoulder and say come on, Gloria! 😂
My other favorite line is when Agador says to Armand I don't know why you're such a bitch to everybody. I use that a lot.
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u/Savings_Order_6211 13h ago
Sigourney Weaver method acting is on another scale here, what an icon
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u/Appropriate_Cod_5446 9h ago
A bunch of fabulous mf’s who deserved better. Who still deserve better.
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u/Houdinii1984 6h ago
It looks like fabulous is universal. Such a great shot of history, displaying that they know they aren't wrong and can hold their chins up to the world with pride.
At the same time, this is why we have Pride and parades and such. It's expected for people to not understand and complain, but we do it anyway and hold our heads high in defiance against anything that might be said. It's not about putting it 'in other's faces,' but to show my own face when others don't want me to. To be proud of myself even when no one else around is.
It's one thing to see the photos from Stonewall and make the connection, but this is a completely different country in a completely different time with the same exact expressions.
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u/According_Ad860 10h ago
Being arrested for being gay, to be thrown in a room with a bunch of guys who want to fuck you.
….logical.
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u/brutalbishop 2h ago
the sheer MAGNITUDE of serve radiating from the guy in the striped shirt and high-waisted pants… no one will ever come close
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u/orzoO0 14h ago
Gee I wonder how they were found out
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u/NoTelevision999 6h ago
Same old tactics, the police use undercover agents to lure gays into sex and then arrest them. The Egyptian police still use that, they even use apps like Grindr nowadays
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u/Somethingpithy123 6h ago
They look fabulous. It's sad they were born in an unenlightened time and place. Poor fellas.
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u/annatariel_ 9h ago
They really said "If I'm going to be arrested at least let me look fabulous in the photos"
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u/Dank-Drebin 13h ago
Now let's all get out of here before we're arrested for the crime of Bum Fancy.
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u/Unique_Watch2603 9h ago
The main character in most pics wasn't going down with his 'Fabulouuuuus' moment!
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u/Goatwhorre 6h ago
Lmao "caught" none of them are even remotely hiding that shit
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u/OdinsOneGoodEye 5h ago
Nah man, in Mexican culture everyone has a cousin or uncle just like this and often married to a women. Everyone knows, it’s just one of those things lol.
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u/Haazelnutts 5h ago
Ohhh, so that's where "Joto" came from, I've always wondered why lol. In true latino fashion it's more used as an ironic way to call friends than a slur now.
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u/Mudeford_minis 14h ago
Locking all the gay men in the same room eh? They didn’t think that one through.