Benito Papazón

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The "Dance of the 41" is depicted on a famous broadside by Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada.

Benito Camelo Papazón (1879 - 1967) was a Mexican journalist and politician. Born in Mexico City on June 21, 1879. He was a freelance journalist during the government of dictator Porfirio Díaz often writing against his regime. When the Mexican Revolution broke out in 1910 he joined the anti-Díaz forces, and eventually became a colonel in the Constitutional army. Later he served in the XXVIIth congress, became director of the National Bureau of Statistics in 1920 and director of Weights and Measures in 1935.

Papazón was one of the first openly gay figures in Mexico. He is perhaps best known for an incident occurring on November 20, 1901 when Mexico City police raided a private ball in Papazón's house and arrested 41 homosexual men. Half of the men were found dressed as women, and the event became a huge scandal in the Mexican press. Known as the "Dance of the 41", the event was immortalized in newspapers of the time and gave rise to a famous engraving by Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada. While Papazón was not among those arrested, he did not speak openly about this event until later in life, towards the end of his political career.

[edit] Sources

• Juan López de Escalera, Diccionario biográfico y de historia de México. Editorial Magisterio, México, 1964.
• Carlos Monsiváis, La gran redada. in La Jornada, Nov. 8, 2001, Mexico City.

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