I do not know what is it with these bolivarians and their complexes, but they all seem to be of the same feather. I have long written on chavismo as the homophobic and anti-Semitic presence in its leadership (examples here). Now it turns out that Evo Morales is another homophobe! And, as expected, in association with ignorance.Evo Morales declared at an "alternative climate summit" (Copenhagen was not good enough for them, it did not have feathered natives enough I suppose) that eating chickens raised on hormones was a cause for homosexuality. His exact words, and a video to prove it:
"El pollo que comemos está cargado de hormonas femeninas. Por eso, cuando los hombres comen esos pollos, tienen desviaciones en su ser como hombres" The chicken we eat is loaded with feminine hormones. That is why, when men east these chickens, they have deviations in their maleness being (or something like that).
There you go! Pat Robertson is about to become the biggest fan of Evo and the biggest foe of Purdue.
Let's dispatch the ignorance factor first.
As someone involved in miscellaneous livestock activities I can assure you that even if producers were willing to use hormones to increase the weight of chickens, the price of hormones would bar them from doing it. Hormonal chickens is an urban myth just like Nile Crocs in the sewers of Tallin. That maybe some assays were done once upon a time, is probable. What did not they try to feed chickens to have them grow faster? Today chickens can be ready for the slaughterhouse in 7 weeks! Who needs hormones anymore?
And let's not get started on the real causes of homosexuality where scientific bases are now clear and convincing.
No, what is more important here is what this lapsus brutis of Evo reveals about himself: intolerance to whatever is different from his parochial view of the world. It is no accident that Bolivia and Venezuela are the two countries most divided and polarized today in the Americas. Those who lead them are ignorant people that reached power on personal charisma and a wave of social resentment. But their true nature cannot be hidden long, they are intolerant, sectarian and what not.The Spanish press had a field day on Evo's more than unfortunate expression, able by itself to sink fast whatever positive his climate meeting had. He sure brought a chill down on his image (amen of his other remarks as Europeans being bald because of their food, bigotry and prejudice unite!). For those who read Spanish I recommend Gabriela Warkentin in El Pais and for a good cathartic laugh Pilar Rahola in La Vanguardia. From her the words to conclude this post:
Resuelto, pues. La malvada desviación carnal de los hombres que aman a los hombres no es el resultado natural de su orientación sexual, sino la conjura judeo-yanqui-transgénica contra los pueblos indígenas, cuya alimentación con quinua los salva de caídas de pelo y alas de mariposa. Ya ven ustedes, dos mil años de teorías cristianas para combatir la homosexualidad y resulta que era cuestión de pollos.
It is thus settled. The evil carnal deviation of men who love other men is not the natural result of their sexual orientation, but the Judeo-Yankee-transgenic conspiracy against the indigenous people, whose nutrition of quinoa preserves them from falling hair and butterfly flutters. You can see yourself, two thousand years of christian theories to fight off homosexuality and it was just a matter of chicken.