Gay, Latino groups host comedy fest

"Latino families are not more homophobic than other families -- they're just uniquely homophobic. They'll draw upon their time-honored traditions ...like the Inquisition." So explained stand-up comedienne Marga Gomez during her performance Monday night as a part of both Festival Latino de Penn and Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Awareness Days (B-GLAD). Gomez's appearance, which was sponsored by the Penn Women's Center, the Theater Arts Program, Seeking Common Ground, the Social Planning and Events Committee and the Women's Studies Department, was given in Memorial Hall in the ARCH, a room which Gomez remarked "just says comedy -- or maybe beheadings." Before an audience of about 100 students, Gomez, sporting a purple leather jacket and pants, a blue tee-shirt, and her self-described "Gladiator hair," did routines on topics ranging from bed and breakfasts to dancing at clubs to people she will never date again, such as vegans, "who are ruining restaurant menus across the country." Gomez, who has appeared on Comic Relief, Showtime's Latino Festival and Comedy Central's Out There, also drew upon the University's B-GLAD newsletter for some of her material. Seeing that there was a meeting on travel abroad for homosexual students, she remarked that this was important, because "you don't want to go to any hostile countries -- like Texas." Gomez, whose act also consisted of a lot of visual comedy, proceeded to describe to an audience roaring with laughter the time when she became separated from her Latino tour group at the Alamo. She says that she was the "only brown person" there and was "surrounded by the cast of Hee-Haw" who "all had matching tee-shirts" which read "I 'heart' Executions." Throughout the show, Gomez received enthusiastic responses from the audience and a standing ovation at the end. "It was a blast," said Eugenia Koo, an Engineering junior. "I thought that she talked about a lot of funny stuff that not only dealt with just comedy but really tied it into what's going on here, and just made it a really enjoyable time." There was, however, a serious side to Gomez's appearance. "Marga Gomez is an excellent person to have on campus who integrated a lot of different issues that I think are important to both [the homosexual community] and the Allies community as well here at Penn," said Ellie DiLapi, Director of the Penn Women's Center. "We believe very strongly in terms of non-discrimination for everybody and in promoting women in all our varieties of ways of being."