Meet the newscaster in drag making LGBTQ+ history in Mexican television
In this frame grab taken from video provided by Canal Once, Amanda, right, the first-ever drag queen to host a news program for Mexican TV, interviews magistrate Ociel Baena, the first openly nonbinary person in Latin America to hold a judicial position, on the “La Verdrag” news program, in Mexico City, Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023. Baena was found dead on Nov. 13, 2023, next to their partner in their home in the central Mexican state of Aguascalientes. (Canal Once via AP)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — From its inception, the newscast La Verdrag was meant to radically transform the way the LGBTQ+ community are viewed in Mexican society.
First broadcast in October, the program goes against the grain in a highly “macho” country where nearly 4 in every 5 people identify as Catholic.
By stepping out under the glow of the studio lights, its host, Guillermo Barraza, has sought to push the boundaries of society in a place where both LGBTQ+ people and journalists are violently targeted. And Barraza is doing it at a moment when the issue has roared back into the public discourse with the violent death of one of the very guests on his show.
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