Conversaciones: Relatos por padres y madres de hijas lesbianas y hijos gay [Paperback]

Mariana Romo-Carmona (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 9, 2001

Comprised of 25 original essays by the parents of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered children — accompanied by commentary from their queer sons and daughters — Conversaciones furthers the dialogue among Latinos and Latinas on sexuality, acceptance, and family life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A Chilean feminist, activist, and lesbian mother, Romo-Carmona has produced a groundbreaking collection of interviews to dispel the silence about homosexuality in Latino communities. With eloquence and honesty, 25 Latino parents living predominantly in the United States tell about their experiences raising gay and lesbian children in a culture where homophobia exists alongside migration, racism, and poverty. In many of the interviews, parents reveal, at times with a shocking directness, their pain about having a gay or lesbian child. Yet the book also presents more liberal and accepting opinions about homosexuality. A Honduran mother is more concerned with her daughter's depression than her sexuality, and a Puerto Rican lesbian mourns her gay son, who died of AIDS, leaving her with his informally chosen family. In several cases, daughters and sons respond to their parents, creating an insightful dialog for readers. With contributors from a number of countries, including Mexico, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic, and an afterword by the acclaimed gay Colombian American writer Jaime Manrique, this book is pivotal in addressing the isolation felt by Spanish-speaking parents who must deal with homosexuality while living in a discriminatory community. It is equally critical for gay and lesbian Latinos both young and adult who can learn from their parents' experiences. Recommended for gay/ lesbian library collections and general bookstores. Daisy Hern ndez, Women in Literature and Letters (WILL), New York City w
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Cleis Press (August 9, 2001)
• Language: Spanish
• ISBN-10: 1573441260
• ISBN-13: 978-1573441261
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,652,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #77 in Books > Libros en español > Gay y Lesbiana

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Latino parents of gay children have their say., October 23, 2002

By 

Jeffery Mingo (Homewood, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Conversaciones: Relatos por padres y madres de hijas lesbianas y hijos gay (Paperback)

I knew something important happened when my mother saw the film "The Wedding Banquet." She saw a family of color dealing with a gay family member and she saw how the Chinese mother looked silly being so devestated by her son's sexual orientation. This book works in a similar way. This was the first book I've ever read that was entirely in Spanish. The editor had an article in "Companeras", a Latina lesbian anthology, where the editor there said she reprinted whole Spanish dialogues in order to preserve the truth of people's words. Like that editor and others (such as Anzaldua and Moraga), I think Romo-Carmona wanted to be true to the contributors. This is a slim book and the essays are quite short, but as someone who learned Spanish in the classroom, it took me a while to read. It's amazing too that this family-oriented book came from the lesbian sex-positive/radical Clies Press. Like Anglo PFLAG materials, this book began and ended with the parents of famous Latino gays (authors, elected officials, ppl who have been on TV) writing. Almost every author is supportive of their gay child and every submission ends with them saying "I would never kick my child out of the house." The last contributor, noted author Jaime Manrique, even registers his shock about how supportive the parents are here. So this book is positive, rather than normative. The authors are quite diverse in terms of ethnicity/nationality. The book is somewhat scant on bisexual and transgendered issues, but they are covered at least. In many articles, the parents write and then their gay children add in: this gets very repetitive. Probably due to the author's gender, this book is heavily lesbian and woman-slanted (even more mothers write than fathers). That's cool because it fights lesbian invisibility, but we still need to recognize the burden that gay Latino MEN carry. One contributor says straight up that it's okay for her daughter to be gay, but that would not be acceptable for her son. There are many great entries from parents whose gay sons have died of AIDS. Some articles feature gay parents who discover their children are gay. Nevertheless, abuse, alcoholism, custody battles, and other family tragedies do come up often in this book. A big critique that I have of this book is that racism in the US and the US gay community is hardly brought up. For example, many of the gay Latino children seem to have non-Latino partners (including the editor) and the parents never discuss it. Still, I loved this text and want every Spanish-speaking parent of a gay child to read it. My parents never even considered going to a PFLAG meeting until they heard that a black chapter was being formed. If straight people only feel comfortable discussing gay family in race-similar environments, then we just have to deal with that reality.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book: but many typos, October 13, 2010

By 

Blake - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Conversaciones: Relatos por padres y madres de hijas lesbianas y hijos gay (Paperback)

This is a really great book, with a great subject matter... My only complaint is that there are a lot of typos in this book.. Many words are misspelled, and accents are used spontaneously.