Challenging "Moral Renovation”: Lesbian Activism and the 1982 Economic Crisis in Mexico City

During what has been considered a resurgence of the Cold War in the 1970s and 1980s, political repression was commonplace throughout Latin America. As recently revealed by the National Security Archive's Mexico Project, the politics of the Cold War upheld surveillance and frequent repression of the left, including gays and lesbians. During this time period, Mexico City lesbian activists connected their struggles to those of other oppressed peoples and made alliances with feminist and gay male organizations, socialist and communist parties, and movements against political repression and for expanded democracy. From the founding of the first political gay and lesbian organizations in 1978, lesbians in Mexico City conceptualized their activism transnationally, working with organizations in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Latin America to fight against political persecution and repression. A worldwide economic crisis in 1982 only exacerbated the tensions in Mexico City between the ruling Partido de la Revolucion Institucional (PRI) party and all those political activists considered politically or morally dissident. Responding to the crisis, Mexican president Miguel de la Madrid instated neo-liberal economic reforms and a “moral renovation” campaign. In its crackdown on “immorality,” the government specifically targeted lesbian rights organizing. This paper will consider the strategies lesbian activists used in order to resist both economic austerity measures and political repression, including the creation of counter-discourses that re-interpreted and contested conceptions of morality in relation to national security. This paper will also examine the solidarity efforts between activists internationally to condemn the Mexican government's repression of lesbians and gay men.