Questions Raised After White Guy Wins Mr. SEXO, GALAEI Responds

Mr. SEXO 2015 Marcous Marchese with last year’s winner Syfr Gavriel, Elicia Gonzales and host Cyannie Famouz. Photo by Freedom G Photography

Last week I told you about the 2015 Mr. SEXO winner, Marcous Marchese, who was crowned (or, err, sashed) at Woody’s on Thursday night. I was a little surprised by the  news, considering Marchese is white and the competition was billed as a search for a “gay/queer Latino who is the epitome of sexy.”

The event, now in its second year, is sponsored by PhillyGayCalendar and Philly queer Latin social justice organization GALAEI, so I reached out to Executive Director Elicia Gonzales to see why a white dude took the prize. She told me that, “GALAEI is a queer Latin@ social justice organization. Latinadad is not who we serve but how we serve, so we treat everyone like familia. And we feel the new Mr. SEXO embodies this.”

When I shared the post on Facebook, however, a few readers voiced their opinions about the win. One commenter said, “Not to be rude … but why was a white guy even allowed to enter this competition designed specifically for the Queer Latino community? I’m confused … ”

I directed him to Elicia’s comment, and went about my business. But the controversy, if you want to call it that, continued—so much so, that on December 15th GALAEI released a statement on its Facebook page:

On behalf of the staff and board at GALAEI, we want to acknowledge that we have heard your concerns and value your feedback about the Mr. SEXO event that took place on Thursday, Dec 11th. This was the second time we partnered with Philly Gay Calendar and Woody’s to create this event, designed to allow the audience to select a sex-positive, body-positive, unapologetically sexy Latino. Last year, the diverse crowd at Woody’s overwhelmingly cheered for Syfr Martino, who continues to embody the qualities essential for Mr. SEXO.

Although we replicated the same process as last year, the outcome has been unexpected. The competition was very close, based on applause. Community members have expressed concern that the winner, Marcous Marchese, is not Latino. Even though the audience selected Javier Mata, a Latino, as runner up, we recognize and empathize with the hurt, even the rage, that this outcome produced. This was not our intention and we apologize for the impact.

We are, however, thrilled that we these two sex-positive people have agreed to work alongside us to help advance our social justice mission. GALAEI is talking with Marcous and Javier about how best they want to support, represent, and advance the whole of the queer Latin@ community.

GALAEI staff and board will consider different strategies for helping us select a Mr. SEXO who can best represent our diverse multiracial Latin@ communities. We envision a process that is inclusive, calls on community input, and offers clarity and intentionality about the purpose of this competition – to increase the visibility of gay/queer Latinos as beautiful, proud, dynamic, confident, and yes, unapologetically sexy.

We are all works in progress. We not only welcome critiques of our work, but have and will continue to respond with diligence and keen self-reflection. Honesty, transparency, and integrity are part of the struggle towards social justice. We rely on our community to support us, but not blindly. We need your eyes and minds to stay open so you can hold us accountable and work alongside us to seek justice for queer Latin@s.

That, however, didn’t seem to satisfy the most digruntled among us. The Gran Varones, “a storytelling project that uses video and photography for Latino Gay and Latino Queer* men,”  issued an open letter to GALAEI this afternoon not only voicing their disappointment about the win, but wondering if the competition is a positive thing for the Latin community at all.

I share this story, because this is the queer Latin@ experience that is seldom seen. We, as a community, especially Latino gay men, are often times portrayed has a “hot” and “spicy” cartoon version of who we are. This is why Galaei’s Mr. Sexo competition is problematic. In a city where there are absolutely no programs specifically designed or geared towards Latino gay men, the one queer Latin@ social justice agency puts on a show that requires gay Latino men to wear underwear in a generally White gay club to compete to win the chance of representing Galaei. Sure, one can call it a sex positive and body positive event, but let’s be real – it is a reduction and objectification of brown bodies in a community that does not even acknowledge us as whole people. I suppose this is why we should not be surprised that a White man was the winner. …

This not only angers me but saddens me because the Latin@ queer community that exists in the beautiful neighborhoods outside of Philadelphia’s Gayborhood will continue to NOT see themselves reflected in what Galaei currently represents. Let me be clear – Galaei’s mission suggests they are the home of Latin@ queers, that they are committed to being a community based organization. But if you do not honor, include, or show up in the community, you are not, in fact, community based. I challenge Galaei to unpack this claim by relocating their events like Mr. Sexo to the communities they serve.

The writer, Louie A. Ortiz, goes on to suggest ways that Mr. SEXO could be revamped, and the letter was signed by 13 people.

I reached out to Gonzales to see if she had a response, and she told me she hadn’t read the letter yet. I asked her if she regretted allowing Marchese to compete in the competition, and if she stands by her statement that the competition should be open to anyone. She told me that, “[GALAEI]’s perspective will be clearly articulated in a statement we are releasing.”