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Chapter 3 “Abominable Sin” in Colonial New Mexico Spanish and Pueblo Perceptions of Same-Sex Sexuality Tracy Brown In June 1731, two Pueblo Indian men, Antonio Yuba and Asensio Povia, were accused of committing an “abominable sin” (“pecado nefando,” or, in this case, anal intercourse) in a pasture outside of Santa Fe.1 Yuba, from the pueblo of Tesuque, and Povia, from the pueblo of Nambé, were literally caught in the act by Manuel Trujillo, a Spanish resident of Santa Fe and the owner of the pasture in which Povia and Yuba were discovered. The two men had gone to Trujillo’s pasture to tend cattle for the local mission . It was there that Trujillo came upon them. He was so angry at his discovery that, according to his testimony, he spontaneously whipped the two men with the reins from the horse that he was riding. He then denounced them to the local Spanish civil authorities, which investigated the matter. In the end, after much testimony, both Yuba and Povia were whipped and then banished to remote pueblos for their transgression. Placed within the broader context of colonial New Mexican society, the investigation conducted by civil authorities into Asensio Povia’s and Antonio Yuba’s actions sheds light upon several issues which will be addressed in this chapter. Most generally, a close study of the investigation reveals attitudes that both Spaniards and Pueblo Indian peoples held concerning same-sex sex and masculinity in eighteenth-century New Mexico. Spanish civil and Catholic Church authorities perceived of such activity as an “abominable sin” in New Mexico as they did in the rest of the New World. All sexual activity, in fact, was in some way marked by Spanish moral codes; but some sexual activity was seen as being far more problematic than others. Sex between men fell into this latter category. The meager evidence concerning Pueblo attitudes concerning sex shows that they did not share this perspective concerning sex between men at contact; but by 51 the eighteenth century, some may have adopted such beliefs as their own. The investigation thus illustrates how a clash in belief systems might occur in New Mexico, and what happened as a result. A detailed study of the investigation also illustrates the methods Spanish authorities used to police Pueblo sexuality and to impose proper moral codes concerning sex, sexuality, and gender. The imposition of such moral codes concerning sexuality was part and parcel of the colonial project in New Mexico: Spanish civil and Church authorities sought to police Pueblo peoples in numerous arenas of their lives, and sex was one of those arenas. In the seventeenth century in New Mexico, missionaries were at the forefront of this policing; but after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and the reconquest of New Mexico beginning in 1692, civil authorities took over the role from the Church. Church power had weakened considerably by the eighteenth century due to a number of interrelated factors. After the revolt, officials in Mexico City decided that the only reason Spaniards would return to New Mexico would be to create an outpost of Spanish authority on the northern frontier. Conversion of Indian peoples in New Mexico was no longer a priority in, or a justification for the existence of, the colony as it had been in the seventeenth century.2 Thus, it is not surprising to find that all eighteenth-century sexual misconduct cases involving Pueblo Indians in New Mexico were prosecuted by civil, not Church, authorities.3 Such policing was obviously a form of social control, but as this case demonstrates, it may not have been that effective. Pueblo peoples attempted to negotiate and even resist the imposition of Spanish moral codes, sometimes with the assistance of defense attorneys (or protectors, as they were called) assigned to them by the authorities investigating cases. As I demonstrate below, both Povia and Yuba denied that sex ever occurred ; and their protectors offered numerous and varied explanations for what it was they were doing when Manuel Trujillo discovered them. The end result is, I argue, a muddying of the facts of the case: to the point that the governor himself expressed doubts about the veracity of the evidence. Despite this, the governor of New Mexico imposed punishment upon both Povia and Yuba. We should not read this as a triumph of Spanish over Indian power, at least in the realm of sexuality, however. Civil authorities prosecuted only two cases involving Pueblo sexual misconduct in the entire eighteenth...

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