A Lifestyle Distinct: The Muxe of Mexico

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/weekinreview/07lacey.html
MARC LACEY - New York Times
12/7/2008

Mexico City — Mexico can be intolerant of homosexuality; it can also be quite liberal. Gay-bashing incidents are not uncommon in the countryside, where many Mexicans consider homosexuality a sin. In Mexico City, meanwhile, same-sex domestic partnerships are legally recognized — and often celebrated lavishly in government offices as if they were marriages.

But nowhere are attitudes toward sex and gender quite as elastic as in the far reaches of the southern state of Oaxaca. There, in the indigenous communities around the town of Juchitán, the world is not divided simply into gay and straight. The local Zapotec people have made room for a third category, which they call "muxes" (pronounced
MOO-shays) — men who consider themselves women and live in a socially sanctioned netherworld between the two genders.

Sunday, December 07, 2008
The Muxe Of Mexico
Posted by Monica Roberts at 10:12 PM

http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2008/12/muxe-of-mexico.html

TransGriot Note: The New York Times published this interesting story about the Muxe of the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. As I and other transgender people have pointed out, there are various cultures around the world that make room for either a third gender category or simply make room for those who feel from birth they are female to live their lives.