Voters in the city of Fresnillo have
elected Benjamin Medrano as mayor, making him Mexico's first openly
gay mayor.
Medrano, who was elected on July 7,
takes office in September.
Fresnillo is a township in the state of
Zacatecas, a rural state known largely for cowboy boots and drug gang
shootouts.
“Somewhat? Very machisto, I would
say,” Medrano told the AP of his region. “I am going to be mayor
of a township (roughly equivalent of a U.S county) where there are
258 villages full of tough country people, who don't necessarily have
much information on what's happening elsewhere and have even less of
an automatic sympathy with their gay mayor.”
“But it's not like I'm going to paint
city hall pink, either,” he added.
The 47-year-old Medrano is a singer and
the owner of gay bar. He said that his background and the fact that
he doesn't campaign on gay rights helped him win his election.
“I'm not in favor of gay marriage,”
said Medrano, a Roman Catholic, “I don't share that view, because
we are still very small town … in short, we're not prepared, in my
view. Not yet, anyway, because we have strong roots in our region,
and in our customs.”