At the same time it inspired me to take a more proactive approach within our LGBTQ community to raise awareness and prevent something like this from ever happening again! I was so shocked and it completely broke my heart. They were ashamed of it and wanted to hide this side of him. They didn't want society to know he was gay and that this had been an homophobic assault. But suddenly one day I discovered he was victim of a homophobic assault and died, but what made it even sadder was that when the story broke out in the local media, his family had altered the news to make it sound like him passing away was a result of gang violence. We used to party together and hang out in Barranquilla. One very sad story of homophobia I experienced was when I was 24 years old: I was friends with another guy who was from a small town near the coast of Colombia. Today I'm able to look back on this and laugh. This scared me a lot, especially as it was my first erotic interaction with men, so it kinda messed up my view of what homosexuality was. For example he would choke and hit me and then try to kiss me. When I was around 8 years old, I was bullied by a guy. Meet cutie Jesus from Barranquilla, who tells us about gay life in Colombia Have you ever experienced any homophobia? I have of course had to educate them along the way with a few things, such as my mother's reaction at first was “but you don't look a loca” (Colombian slang for a very flamboyant and camp man) to which I had to explain that not all gays are screaming fairies. For example, when I was around 12/13 years old, I would gather all my family at my uncle's house to watch and dance reruns of Cher's concerts. They were extremely supportive and weren't too surprised when I told them.
First I came out to my friends when I was a teenager living in Barranquilla and then to my family in my early twenties. The optional gay salsa class, food tour and snorkeling excursion make this adventure muy caliente!įind out more Are you out to your friends and family? Out Adventures' brand new Colombia tour is hotter than Maluma! Beginning in Bogotá, the carefree escape will have you shaking your arepa at the largest LGBTQ club in the Americas, hiking humid jungles in Tayrona National Park and soaking up the country's sand, sun and sea in coastal Cartagena. In Cartagena, we met Jesus, who is an artist and a guide, who told us more about his gay life in Colombia and what it's like growing up by the coast in Barranquilla. As a gay couple travelling in Colombia, we were so pleasantly surprised by how gay friendly Colombia is. We felt extremely welcome and never had any problems anywhere. And if that wasn't enough, Colombia just keeps on getting gayer, electing its first lesbian mayor in October 2019.īogota and Medellin each have a thriving fun gay neighbourhood, especially Chapinero in Bogota where you can find the mega gay club Theatron – the largest gay club in Latin America. In addition, Congress passed a law banning discrimination based on orientation in 2011, adoption was legalised in 2012 and the right to change legal gender has been in place since 1993.
Local gay boy Jesus from Barranquilla gives us the lowdown about gay Colombia and what the day-to-day life is like for the LGBTQ community of Colombia.ĭespite its sordid history with the cartels, Colombia has undergone a huge transformation to not only become one of the most gay friendly countries in Latin America, but in the world.Ĭatholicism is still strong here and society largely conservative, but despite this, gay marriage was legalised in April 2016, with the first gay wedding taking place in Cali back in May 2016.