Christian Chávez, international musical sensation and LGBTQ+ advocate, started out on the Mexican telenovela Rebelde and skyrocketed to fame with the wildly successfully pop group RBD. Among other projects, he’s currently featured in the Disney+ series El Rey de los Machos. The 2023 RBD reunion tour was a global phenomenon that Chávez used as an opportunity to raise his voice artistically and personally.
We recently had a chance to catch up with talented singer-songwriter and actor to learn more about his incredible personal journey as one of the few out gay performers in Mexico who has proudly celebrated his identity, entertained millions, and used his platform to advance LGBTQ+ issues.
The Advocate: You’ve endured homophobia, discrimination, bad treatment by the media — yet still emerged triumphantly in full pink glory in your most recent tour. How were you able to arrive at that position of strength?
Chávez: Well, in retrospect, it looks like I won, right? Like, wow, he made it. And it's so amazing. But at the moment, it was very fucked up, honestly. And I went through moments when I honestly thought that I wasn't going to be able to survive certain parts of the process. But now it's like I can look back and I can look at all those things that happened to me. They happened for a reason, and they took me to this place of acceptance and self-love that its’ worth it. Totally worth it. So, it is a process.
The Advocate: Self-acceptance is so often about also accepting the difficult parts or the challenges as part of who we are. Do you feel like you've been able to do that with some of things you’ve had to go through?
Chávez: It's learning. Of course, therapy has taken me to the place of acceptance and acceptance is like, okay, right now I feel like this. I feel like shit. I feel alone, etc. So you have to accept that part of yourself, of your life, what you’re going through. And when you accept that, you listen to your yourself and to your body and to your soul, and it's way easier to be present in the here and now. That's very powerful. It takes a long time to get to there.
LEFT: Chávez shows off his Tour of the Year and Best Duo or Group/Pop awards at the 2024 Latin American Music Awards in Las Vegas. RIGHT: Chávez says he now proudly celebrates both his queerness and culture.David-Becker / GettyImages (left), courtesy Christian Chávez (right)
The Advocate: How would you describe what the word “puto” means to people who don’t know?
Chávez: Well, puto, is Spanish for “fag.” It's a way to refer to someone, especially a man, as feminine.
The Advocate: What did it mean to you to be able to reclaim the word “puto” in such a public and powerful way during the recent RBD tour?
Chávez: It was like the pinnacle of my work on myself. It was like that aha moment that I was waiting for. To realize that a word that hurt me for so long and that took away my strength, my power — that it’s just a word. That's kind of shocking. I mean, it's so obvious and it's so in your face, but at the same time, it is like when we take those words that hurt us so much and we use them as a shield. Now it's different because it's just a word I would say.
The Advocate: Mental health is so important to our queer community and a good quality of life. How can we work to destigmatize mental health issues?
Chávez: Well, I guess we have to talk about it a lot. We have to put our stories out there. Representation is very important. People need to feel like it's okay to not to be okay. For example, it's a key point that I'm talking about everywhere that I go. I always talk about mental health.
