luis gerardo mendez

You might not know about Luis Gerardo Méndez, but he's kind of a big deal.

He plays Chava Iglesias in "Club de Cuervos," Netflix's only original Spanish-language show. And he's been using his fame to speak up about an incredibly important issue: homophobia.

Recently, he posted a video about homophobia, which is still an incredibly big problem in Mexico, to his Facebook page.

His video has gone viral, with over 850,000 views and 14,000 shares so far.

The caption reads: "Mexico is more than its divisiveness. I am in favor of same-sex marriage. We are all family. #TodosSomosFamilia."

In the video he says (in Spanish):

"Hello, I'm Luis Gerardo Méndez. The diversity of our families is what makes Mexico strong. We are all Mexico. We are all family. Being able to get married is a right, recognized in a universal declaration of human rights, and in Mexico by the Supreme Court of Justice.

But the reality is that in the majority of states in Mexico, same-sex couples must pay for protection to be able to get married. That's unacceptable. Because we are all family.

Congress has in its hands legislation that would end this injustice. It would also protect all families in Mexico, and their children — because we're all family.

To the political parties in Mexico, we ask you to vote in favor of all the families. This is a priority. To all Catholics, we ask you to listen to the pope's message to love, and to be inclusive of people of all sexual orientations. We are all family.

To the defenders of human rights, feminists, our partners from various social movements, artists, businessmen and women, students — we ask for solidarity with the LGBT movement. We can't leave them to fight alone. We ask of the families in Mexico to support this initiative because same-sex marriage protects us all. And to you, we ask that you contact your local lawmakers, your senators through social media, and ask them to approve this legislation for same-sex marriage. Remind them that we are all family.

Congress should approve the legislation for same-sex marriage. Because it's only fair, because it demonstrates love, and because it's the law.

Mexico is so much more than its divisiveness and its hate. Let's build together a country that's inclusive — without discrimination, in which we are all family."

While this might seem like a run-of-the-mill speech in America, Mexico is an entirely different story.

Recently, thousands of people held huge pro-family/anti-gay marriage marches in several big cities across Mexico. And the country has been slow to fully accept the LGBTQ community in general, as the machista mentality still rears its ugly head in Mexico all too often.

But Méndez bravely breaks down the power of inclusivity in his video, using the idea of family, which is hugely important in Mexican culture, to highlight a key point (which he repeats several times throughout the video): "Todos somos familia."  

I love that Méndez is using his fame to "come out" against homophobia.

It takes a lot of guts to post a video calling out the Mexican government for not allowing the LGBTQ community the same freedoms and rights as others ... especially when it comes to marriage, a sacred institution. So huge kudos to Méndez for posting this video.

It's only through brave, poignant commentaries like this that we can continue to move toward a more peaceful and unified future, where love is love is love.