When Bolivian President Evo Morales took the stage to inaugurate the World People's Summit on Climate Change and the Rights of ****** Earth on Tuesday in Cochabamba, he gave his thousands of politically correct attendees a surprise. Somewhere between appealing for an international climate change court and questioning why the United Nations still uses plastic cups, Morales went after genetically modified foods - by making a comment that some think meant that hormones cause homosexuality.
"When we talk about chicken, it's pumped full of female hormones," Morales said, "and so when men eat this chicken they stray from being men" (tienen desviaciones en su ser como hombres in Spanish, literally). The comment went over non-Spanish speakers' heads and so wasn't until sundown that it had rippled its way through the 10,000-participant gathering. By the next morning, the international press had gotten wind of it, Bolivian newspapers plastered it on their front page and Spain's national LGBT federation had issued a statement calling the comment "homophobic." (See the world's worst dressed leaders.)
The Morales government swears he meant no harm. "He made no mention of sexuality," the Foreign Relation's Ministry said on Thursday in response. "Rather, he said that eating chicken that has hormones changes our own bodies. This point of view has been confirmed by scientists and even the European Union has prohibited the use of some hormones in food," the government asserts, citing studies that have shown that sexual hormones in food can cause genital abnormalities in boys. The document has not assuaged all critics - especially since the Latin left, which Morales represents, has historically been considered less than sympathetic to homosexuals - but has taken some of the heat off Morales. (See a history of gay rights in the U.S.)
