Well, this is a movie, not social work or advocacy. I found the depiction of gay characters balanced and comparable to that given to non-gay characters.
You raise important issues. There are several easy ways to dismiss them, but I want to add that I do NOT agree with these techniques to automatically reject the types of questions you asked.
*This is just a movie.
*Don't worry about how some hypothetical audience will receive this: just focus on the movie itself.
*There shouldn't be any differnce in your opinion about a movie targeted to gay audiences and one targeted to straight audiences.
As I said, I don't agree with these three reasons I've given above which many people use to silence the line of inquiry you're making. But here's why I think it doesn't apply in the case of this movie.
First, all the relationships in this movie are examined critically, and many are found to be at least a little hypocritical or self-serving. Herman caves in to his mother's demands. His mother, despite her high principles for her son, doesn't give a damn about either his girlfriend or his child. Magdalena's aunt offers to help adjust the dress but hisses "catorce años" (fourteen years) as soon as Magdalena's mother is out of earshot. Magdalena's father fails to practice "love thy neighbor with all they heart, with all they soul, with all they mind". The progressive lesbian couple really want to make a buck, which means not renting to local Latinos. The girlfriends of Magdalena are two-faced.
Second, there are several queer relationships shown in the movie. The one we see the most of--Gary and James--are struggling with their marriage. In that, they resemble lots of straight couples except that they're more willing than most straights to consider three-ways not cheating. We also see a bit of the lesbian couple who end up doing the right thing by making a bit less off their rehab and helping out someone from the 'hood. Uncle Tomas quite likely was queer despite his vague stories about platonic love affairs with girls. And in the scene when his effects are being boxed up, one of the sisters says, "Who's this woman with Tia ...?", which suggests that this might have been Tia's partner. Finally, Carlos himself shows one way of being both queer and a part of a family.
Third, let's imagine that mostly Latino, mostly straight audience which hasn't seen many gay couples in cinema. No doubt, some will say they were put off by the sexual promiscuity that is shown as being consistent with monogamy. Probably not as many will really be upset by this but might find it thrilling and also familiar as they'll have known many people (predominately, but not exclusively, men) who also see no deep contradiction between plural sex and single marriage.
Finally, the greater unfairness, I think, is to Latinos who, no matter how conservative they say their culture is, often know through networks of extended kinship and friends, a number of queers. Many Mexicans have "un tio puto" or "una tia marimacha", who is loved, tolerated, mocked, adored, ostracized and relied on. Richard Rodriquez goes over this territory in many of his essays.
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