For over a decade, I’ve never missed Pride Month marches. While for many the celebration and festivities are a joyous form of resistance, for me, they were always a serious demonstration. I was always standing behind HIV advocacy organizations, and I felt it was my responsibility to be there. I imagined my 15-year-old self watching me from the sidelines. It was my way of telling her that everything would be okay, that our family would accept us. And that life would, in fact, be beautiful.

Being a Latina in the LGBTQ+ community has always been a mixed bag. There are those who have lived it without major worries, with supportive families and friends, and with uninterrupted lives. For others, as in my case, coming out meant leaving home. It meant shaking the moral foundations of the family. And working twice as hard to prove to everyone that you deserve just as much love and acceptance as your heterosexual siblings.

The Responsibility of Being at the Table

More than 20 years later, I have the opportunity to work on a massive platform serving the Latino community. It is an honor but also a responsibility, and I am acutely aware of that. Today, there are very few LGBTQ+ people at the decision-making tables in the media. And while there are some in positions that influence global policies, such as at CBS, who are playing for the opposing team, there are also those of us who know that everything we have achieved over the past 60 years is on the verge of slipping through our fingers.

Sixty Years of Progress, But We’re Losing Ground

From the day the first stone was thrown on June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, we succeeded in not being classified as mentally ill in a significant part of the world. We managed to secure the right to marry and not be considered criminals, at least in some corners of the world. However, my brothers cannot travel the world without worrying about being detained and criminalized simply for being who they are. I, for my part, do not have that same luxury.

There are approximately 2.3 million LGBTQ+ Latino adults living in the United States, of whom nearly 300,000 are undocumented. In 2023, there were only 165 openly LGBTQ+ Latino elected officials (224% more than in 2017). Furthermore, 67.6% of LGBTQ+ Latinos in the United States still fear discrimination, and 43% struggle daily with suicidal thoughts.

In Latin America, there are more than 33 million LGBTQ+ people. And we have the right to marry in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay, and Puerto Rico. However, our trans brothers and sisters continue to die in high numbers, victims of hate crimes.

Contrary to what conservative people tend to repeat like a broken record, we are not a majority. Nor are we pushing a perverse agenda to influence Western thought. This is simply a projection of their own macabre plans. On the contrary, we are individuals who have undergone more therapy than all heterosexuals combined; we have rebuilt our identities from the ashes of social and intimate abuse; we are outstanding professionals; and today we represent a GDP of $30 trillion globally, with almost $9.5 trillion in the U.S. alone.

Moving Backward in the Americas

Despite those numbers, we are criminalized in more than 60 countries around the world, where penalties range from imprisonment and forced labor to the death penalty. And while this may sound like stories from distant lands, in the Americas as a whole, we are taking giant steps backward. The current administration sought to remove the Stonewall memorial and insists on persecuting and dehumanizing transgender people, while its new interventionist policies in Latin America are empowering governments like those of Javier Milei in Argentina, José Antonio Kast in Chile, and now, Abelardo de la Espriella’s campaign in Colombia. All of them oppose LGBTQ+ rights.

Why mitú Is Taking a Stand

That is why here at mitú, we have decided to stand on the right side of history and, more than just celebrate, observe, and reclaim LGBTQ+ Pride Month. There are millions of Latino LGBTQ+ people today, and there have been millions more for centuries. Without LGBTQ+ Latinos, there would be no Stonewall Riots, for without Sylvia Rivera’s anger, the revolution would never have begun. Without LGBTQ+ Latinos, there would be no Frida Kahlo, Johnny Caz, Juan Gabriel, or Chavela Vargas, nor would there be a future like the one so many of us want to shape today.

So, with or without rainbow flags, we know full well that this is the fight for justice and human rights for everyone, because no one is free until we are all free.

Happy and empowering Pride Month, gente.

Tags: pride month