by Eric Jackson

Panama's 2007 Gay Pride march didn't set out until a little after 5 p.m. on June 30. For a couple of hours before, however, activists from the Association of New Men and Women of Panama (AHMNP, by its Spanish initials) gathered on Via España at Via Argentina to pass out "Myths about homosexuality" leaflets and condoms. There were the drag queens and studs to be sure, and also folks that fit none of the stereotypes. Beauticians? Yes, those, and canal workers, taxi drivers, teachers, musicians, retirees and folks from many other walks of life.

Most of the cars that passed by had their windows rolled up. Some lowered them to take the materials that were being handed out. Through the windshields of many fewer cars, one could see expressions of fear or loathing, but in two hours of watching this reporter only noticed two hostile gestures.

A politician who ended up unable to produce any proof had accused the AHMNP of distributing condoms to children and, maybe or maybe not as a setup, two boys aged about 10 or 12 came up and asked one of the women passing out condoms and leaflets about the purple packages they were giving to passersby. "Chewing gum," she said. The boys wanted some. "This chewing gum's only for grown-ups," she replied.

As the crowd began to gather for the march, Spanish was not the only language heard.

Some of the people were speaking English --- Queer Expats in Panama, an online gay and lesbian chat group that meets for regular dinners and is affiliated with the Panamerican Rainbow Alliance Together United (Para Tu) --- was there. A relative newcomer from Florida observed that "the gay scene down here is pretty closeted." (But then, nobody has been winning any elections down here by gay-bashing.)

Panama, you see, has a culture that embraces privacy in ways that seem odd to many gringos. It's considered way beyond the pale to intrude into the private sexual affairs of public figures, or anyone else. We have plenty of male politicians simultaneously maintaining multiple families, by their legal wives and by their mistresses. We have plenty of gay elected officials and lots of gay high-ranking government functionaries. Although one of the sub-texts of the emerging 2009 presidential race is a whispering campaign from a sure also-ran about a stronger rival being queer, the response of most Panamanians who hear this is "So what?" The flip side of the value placed on privacy is that most of Panama's gays and lesbians maintain their anonymity to the straight community, and a number of the participants in this year's Gay Pride festivities were masked.

Tolerance may be the cultural norm, but it's by no means the universal rule. There is still a lot of bias against homosexuals throughout Panamanian society. Lots of disparagement comes from the churches and a fair amount in the mass media. There are no laws preventing people from being fired from their jobs if their bosses find out their sexual preferences are for their own gender. When the government-funded "yes" campaign for the Torrijos - Alemán Zubieta canal expansion plan felt the need to annoy this reporter last year for not swallowing their propaganda unexamined, their supporters came by at four in the morning in an expensive SUV boom car blasting gangsta rap expressing hatred for "cuecos."

One segment of Panamanian society that has traditionally been explicit in its tolerance of homosexuals is the indigenous nations. The biases that got homosexuals burned at the stake came with the Spanish conquerors, but the societies they encountered tended to reserve honorable places in society for lesbians, gay men and others who cross cultural gender lines. Christian missionaries may have won some converts to their attitudes, but Kuna Yala remains a popular stop for gay and lesbian cruises because of its more tolerant culture.

Thus it should have been no surprise that a Kuna contingent from Veracruz was in the march. Nandín, a Kuna man with long, henna-tinted hair, explained that "we are a community of muscles, and we are also a community with long traditions."

The march made its way a few blocks up Via Argentina, looped around to Parque Andres Bello, and gathered for a few short speeches and ceremonies.

Lupe, the Colon transvestite who bore the rainbow flag at the head of the march, called for unity among gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered. "We have been taking to the streets for so long," he observed, adding that now isn't the time to quit.

The AHMNP honored Manuel Burgos for his help in the group's long struggle to get its status as a legal entity. "We live in a very exclusionary society, with lots of double standards," Burgos said.

The Pink Egg awards were announced for the most prominent foes of the gay community. First place went to psychologist and columnist Geraldine Emiliani, followed by radio and TV show host Lucy Molinar and the Roman Catholic archbishop of Panama, José Dimas Cedeño. It happened that La Cascara News, Ubaldino Davis's TVN comedy show, was at the event shooting video and telling jokes, and as Molinar's television show is also on TVN they accepted the pink egg for her. There was nobody on hand to represent the psychologist or the archbishop.

The day's festivities ended with a music and dance presentation by the Ukupnega Kuna dance troupe