LGBTQ bars in Latin America: A reporter’s notebook
Editor’s note: ReVista: the Harvard Review of Latin America originally published this story on Oct. 5. La Purísima is an unapologetically irreverent gay bar on Avenida República de Cuba in downtown Mexico City.
One of its most endearing features is the staff who dress as Catholic priests and nuns. I was on assignment in Mexico City for the Washington Blade, the oldest LGBTQ+ newspaper in the United States for which I am the international news editor, in July when I decided to go to la Purí, as the bar’s known for short.
I arrived shortly after 11 a.m. and spent the next 90 minutes or so dancing and slowly sipping shots of mezcal. I was walking outside to get some fresh air when Sergio, a staff person who was dressed as a priest, approached me in the hallway that led to the door and asked me if I wanted to go to confession.
I said yes, and he led me to a small booth on the sidewalk. He unlocked the makeshift confessional and we went inside. I had learned in my childhood Confraternity of Christian Doctrine class at St.
