AND THE GAYS ARRIVED ON THE RADIO! MIDNIGHT IN BABYLON

Abstract

Midnight in Babylon was the first openly gay program on Mexican state radio, leaving its mark on generations of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans people in the last two decades of the 20th century. Hosted by Tito Vasconcelos, it was a platform for reflection, learning, unity, and activism for LGBT+ rights and the fight against AIDS. This article compiles segments from interviews, articles, and documents by activists. Marc Bloch had intuited that there is no time other than the past to make history, and the past can be both distant and recent. This is an approach to the history of a radio program and its role in shaping an identity, a sense of citizenship, and social activism.

Keywords: Radio, LGBT+, AIDS, Identity, Citizenship, Activism