From pre-Columbian third genders to early 1900s sex scandals, the presence of the LBGTQ+ community is nothing new in Mexico.
So, as Pride month wraps up, here are five under-the-radar, queer owned businesses around Mexico. Each is highly rated and offers a creative twist on its particular business niche. Check them out whenever you get the chance.
Revuelta Queer House, an art gallery and rooftop bar in Mexico City
Revuelta Queer House is a community space in Mexico City’s Roma Norte neighborhood that offers cultural activities, a queer art gallery and a casual rooftop bar serving food and drink. “We want everyone to feel welcome, to express their identity and connect in community,” the group says.
Revuelta is located in Mexico City’s Roma neighborhood, in two old homes that the group’s five co-founders restored. They host a range of events including guest DJ performances, poetry readings and drag lotería, to name a few.
Location: Puebla 92-94, Roma Norte, Cuauhtémoc, CDMX
Queer Spanish Classes, online
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Queer Spanish Classes offers online small-group classes designed specifically for queer women and trans and nonbinary people. “I created Queer Spanish because I know first hand how intimidating it is to learn a new language and how vulnerable we feel when we are part of the LGBTQ+ community,” founder Sandra Romero writes on the Queer Spanish Instagram account. Sandra, who is based in Mérida, moved to Mexico from her native country of Spain in 2018 and has taught Spanish since 2014.
Sandra teaches all levels of Spanish in sessions focused on speaking skills and tying in grammar, reading and film. She describes her classes as “a safe, welcoming environment where you are allowed to make mistakes.”
Sandra told Mexico News Daily. “I teach aspects of the language that they won’t learn in a traditional class, like for example how to use inclusive language in Spanish, [which is] so important today in the queer community.”
She asks that interested students follow and send her a message on her professional Instagram page, @queerspanishclasses, to schedule an introductory call.
La Celestina in Celestino Gazca, Sinaloa
La Celestina is a seafood restaurant in Celestino Gazca, Sinaloa, a small beach town known for its yearly oyster festival. Oysters feature prominently on the menu, along with other Sinaloan seafood classics like pescado zarandeado.
The owners, Vicky Ibarra and Paola Cázares, married in 2020, just months after the Sinaloa state congress rejected a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage (in defiance of a Supreme Court mandate). In an act of protest, the couple married on the beach on neighboring Nayarit, one meter from the Sinaloa state border. Today, La Celestina is a sponsor of Pride parades in the cities of Mazatlán and Culiacán.
La Celestina is most active on the weekends, when day trippers from the Sinaloan cities of Mazatlán and Culiacán come to sip beers and chow down on aguachile in the shade of its beachside palapas, away from city crowds. On Sunday afternoons, it’s common to find a local female-fronted band playing in the main bar area.
Location: Playa Rosal, Celestino Gazca, Sinaloa
Mercadita Diversa in Monterrey, Nuevo León
Mercadita Diversa is an initiative from nonprofit Queer XP to highlight queer art and entrepreneurs as part of their mission to further the economic well-being of the queer community. The roughly monthly markets feature art, accessories, food, jewelry and more from dozens of LGBTQ businesses, and often take place at the Metropolitan Museum of Monterrey.
“Our goal for the future is to become a network of resources for the economic development of entrepreneurs of all socioeconomic backgrounds and emerging businesses that can benefit from our services,” said Rogelio González of Queer XP’s communications team.
Rogelio invited Mexico News Daily readers to support these queer owned businesses and entrepreneurs by following the social media accounts (Instagram @queerxp.ac y Tiktok @queerxp).
Casa Jacaranda in Mexico City
Founded by the husband-and-husband team of chefs Beto Estúa and Jorge Fitz, Casa Jacaranda offers traditional Mexican cooking experiences. The classes pick out fresh ingredients at the market then back at the house, chefs (including Beto and Jorge) teach recipes and techniques. The event finishes with a delicious, seasonal meal prepared together by the class.
The project began ten years ago, when the couple was living in a Roma neighborhood home “with one of the loveliest jacaranda trees in the city in front,” Jorge told Mexico News Daily. The house became a social hub for friends who shared a love of cooking. “We were always in the kitchen or hosting.” That experience and their proximity to markets inspired them to develop an experience “representing those childhood days we both spent in the houses of our grandmothers or aunts, cooking as a family to create a feast together,” Jorge said.
Casa Jacaranda offers private and group cooking classes as well as more intense multi-day bootcamps.
Any more queer owned businesses in Mexico that you think are worth visiting? Let us know in the comments.
Rose Egelhoff is an associate editor at Mexico News Daily and a freelance writer. She’s on Twitter and the internet.
