A Mexican documentary from 2006 about the Muxes (pronounced “mooshays”), a group of effeminate homosexual men whose socially defined roles within the Zapotec culture were established well in advance of the modern gay rights movement, will be the first offering in the fifth annual Damn These Heels Pride Film Festival, sponsored by the Salt Lake City Film Center.

The film will be screened Monday, June 2, at 7 p.m. in the City Library auditorium. As part of the public screening, donations of children’s books and school supplies will be accepted to benefit the UNP’s Youth Book Exchange, The Guadalupe School and the Utah Federation for Youth at Hartland.

Directed by Alejandra Islas, the documentary is based in Juchitan on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico and explores the boundaries and thresholds of acceptance for the “third gender” in the indigenous Zapotec culture in which the Muxes have established some form of “queer paradise.” The Muxes proudly embrace their domestic roles which include sewing, cooking, organizing celebrations, and providing lifetime care for their parents. They also are chefs, salon-owners, housekeepers and teachers as well as sexual surrogates for straight men who need an outlet in a culture that still solidly values virginity in their young women.

However, as the title indicates, paradise has its strains and stresses as the Muxes confront the occasional low thresholds of acceptance and affirmation and organize their campaign against AIDS in Oaxaca. Spirited in many aspects, the documentary focuses on personal accounts as individuals find affirmation, freedom, and love in their unique, historically-rooted identities.

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