For Muxes, Every Month Is Pride Month

In Mexico, down in the southern state of Oaxaca, muxes, pronounced MOO-shays, celebrate and honor their LGBTQ+ identities during and beyond Pride Month, and have done so since pre-colonial times. Assigned male at birth, muxes are distinctively identified as a 'third gender' amongst the Zapotec indigenous communities of Oaxaca. Muxes not only embody female physical traits and attributes, they assume familial and communal roles and responsibilities typically reserved for those assigned female at birth.

Derived from the Spanish word ‘mujer,’ meaning woman, muxes wear women’s clothing and apply make-up. They speak effeminately. Muxes learn to sow, cook and tend to household matters, much like biological girls. They braid hair and embroider dresses. When they are old enough, the muxes learn to craft artisan products to sell at the market. Some work as stylists and florists. Some muxes stay at home with their parents while their siblings marry and leave the house, caring for the elderly and the ill. For this reason, many families see muxes as a blessing, loved ones whose help is welcomed and appreciated. Muxes play an integral role in their communities and society, largely assimilated and accepted.

In the United States, muxes would arguably fall within the umbrella of gender nonconforming and transgender identities, but muxes prefer to identify as a third gender, a reality that goes beyond conventional male and female identities. In Mexico, in the United States, and elsewhere, they are part of the LGBTQ+ global fabric, contributing to the worldwide movement for LGBTQ+ visibility and equality.

An article published back in 2008 in The New York Times states that anthropologists believe muxes are socially accepted because of Aztec and Mayan priests who would cross-dress and considered both male and female. When the Spaniards took over Mexico in the 1500s, they forcefully imposed Catholicism amongst the indigenous communities and thus did away with the multi-gender phenomenon. Modern rigid notion of gender and gender identity is a byproduct of strict post-colonial practices.

Legend has it that San Vicente Ferrer, the patron saint of the Oaxacan town of Juchitán, carried with him three bags of seeds which were meant to be distributed around the world; the first contained male seeds, the second contained female seeds. The third bag contained both seeds, a mixture of both male and female seeds. Upon entering the town of Juchitan, Ferrer's third bag ruptured, and from the spillage came the beauty that are muxes.

In the town of Juchitan, the people host a three-day festival honoring the muxe community. Much like Pride festivities in the U.S., the festival, known as ‘Vela de las Intrepidas’—or Vigil of the Intrepids—attracts both members of the LGBTQ+ community and the general public. There is food, beer, shows and dancing. On the final night, a muxe is selected the queen of the festival and crowned by the mayor. The festival has been occurring since the 1970s.

And while Juchitan, Oaxaca has mostly served as a haven for muxes, Mexico, much like the U.S., continues to face incremental violence against all women, including transgender women and gender nonconforming individuals. In 2024 alone, at least 55 transgender women were killed in Mexico coupled with at least 32 fatal violent incidents in the U.S.

In part because of the imposed Roman Catholism and its astere doctrines, especially when it comes to gender and gender roles, Mexico has long dealt with deeply-embedded machismo, which, consequently, has fostered a culture and social standpoint which largely opposses LGBTQ+ identities, especially those who distrupt the standardized meaning of gender. And while muxes and their 'third gender' identities are celebrated in Oaxacan zeitgeist, the muxe community isn't immune to violence and discrimination. In 2019, Oscar Cazorla, a renowned muxe activist, was killed in his home located in Juchitan, Oaxaca, the same town that hosts the celebratory festival.

Interestingly, in 1970, the muxe community ignited their liberation movement, which coincided with the first American Pride parade. That parade took place in the Greenwich Village of New York City on June 28, 1970, a year after the iconic Stonewall Riots. Before the 1970s, muxes were prohibited from wearing women's clothing in formal public events and were often denied any opportunities in formal job employment and public education. Much like the LBGTQ+ liberation movement in the U.S. beginning in the 1970s, the muxe liberation movement manifested itself with the impetus of political and social demands to facilitate the liberation and visibility of LGBTQ+ people, particularly for transgender and gender nonconforming individuals.

In both the U.S. and in Mexico, the affinity month has adapted a more celebratory notion with elaborate parades and events. Still, in both countires, it has continued to hone the impelling for visibility and transparency of all LGBTQ+ people, particularly those breaking the gender binary and cisgender social convention.

In 2024, the 'Vela de las Intrepidas' reached American territory. San Francisco's Mission District hosted the inaugural "Vela Muxe" festival spearheaded by the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. Several muxes from Oaxaca were in attendance.

Today, muxes help comprise the many communities and demographics across the globe who continue to disrupt and dismantle the gender binary, creating visible space for those who identify as transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming. There are the hijras of South Asia or the fa'afafine of Samoan cultures. Much like the hijras and the fa'afafines, muxes are not only helping to dispel the adamant gender binary perpetuated by religious and cultural norms. Muxes are also forging their role in everyday civil operations.

Back in 2019, it was estimated that roughly 5,000 muxes lived in Juchitan, a town of about 75,000 residents. The duality in the gender identity of muxes, or perhaps even the absense of gender altogether, have allowed muxes to become an integral part of Oaxacan culture and society. Aside from assuming important social and economic roles, muxes have also now begun to partake in political aspirations, contributing to the improvement and betterment of the communities around them. Much like the slained Oscar Cazorla, Amaranta Gomez Regalado is a prime example of muxe participation in politics and civil duties. Regalado became the first muxe to run for Mexican congress.

As the LGBTQ+ community continues to combat hate and discrimination in both Mexico and the U.S., as well as the world at large, muxes in Oaxaca are continuing to claim their identities with honor, love and pride, during and beyond Pride Month.