After a two year hiatus due to the pandemic, the city of Long Beach recently welcomed back its three-day in-person Pride celebrations, which included the city’s annual parade, to commemorate, celebrate and support LGBTQ+ rights.
However, despite the return of Pride celebrations, many Latinos who belong to LBGTQ+ communities say that now is the time to press for more protections and prepare to fight for established rights, such as gay marriage, lest they be lost.
CALÓ NEWS interviewed a number of Latinos/as/x who identify as LGBTQ+ to find out what issues and reactions are most on their minds today.
Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.
KHLOE RIOS-WYATT, 33, Orange County, president/CEO of “Alianza Translatinx,” She/Her, Latinx
WHAT DOES PRIDE MEAN TO YOU?
Pride means that we are able to celebrate. As a trans-woman myself, a Latinx, an immigrant, II am able to celebrate my freedom of who I am. As a trans-woman, my freedom of being in this country and being free to be me and who I am.
HOW DOES YOUR LATINX IDENTITY CONTRIBUTE WITH BEING PART OF THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY?
I think it contributes to the intersectionality that a lot of our community members are leading, like myself, meaning that there’s a lot of trans-people that are immigrants, that are undocumented, that are brown. It means that we are able to provide visibility so that the rest of the LGBTQ+ community understand that trans-women who are Latinx are also part of the LGBTQ+ community.
WHAT ARE SOME ISSUES THAT YOU STILL THINK THAT MUST BE ADDRESSED WITHIN THE COMMUNITY?
I think that there is still a lot to do within our community about stigma. There is still a lot of stigma regarding trans-people, we still have not been able to acquire a lot of the jobs that we need to be able to succeed in life. There’s still discrimination against us, there’s still a lot of stigma related to us that we’re only “sex workers” and that is false. We are more than that. We are CEOs, we are doctors, attorneys, we are a lot more than that. And that’s what we still need to work on as a community. Understanding that.
WHY DO YOU THINK PRIDE MONTH IS IMPORTANT IN GENERAL?
Pride Month is important in general because it allows our community to be visible to the rest of the world and to the rest of the community. And to give us the place that we deserve as well.
WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES FACING THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY IN 2022 AND WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO HELP?
I think right now we are seeing a lot of backlash from the Administration, a lot of political leaders want to overturn a lot of the laws that protect us. I think there is still a lot of work that we need to make sure that doesn’t happen because there’s been a lot of trans and LGBTQ+ leaders that have worked so hard for us to be able to have the freedom that we have today and we cannot allow political leaders to overturn that.
MELISSA DEZA, 30, Long Beach, Social media marketer, She/Her, Latina
WHAT DOES PRIDE MEAN TO YOU?
Unity, for everybody even outside the community to just get together, support, be part of and making sure that we are all together. Also to make sure that no one is alone.
HOW DOES YOUR LATINX IDENTITY CONTRIBUTE WITH BEING PART OF THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY?
For myself, my brother is gay and I think just us growing up, the culture was very questionable for LGBTQ+ people and just being Latina getting to learn about what the culture does to support LGBTQ+ people. It gives me a lot of pride to be able to be part of that.
WHAT ARE SOME ISSUES THAT YOU STILL THINK THAT MUST BE ADDRESSED WITHIN THE COMMUNITY?
To speak as a heterosexual person, I have a hard time figuring out what exactly would be the right answer. I think it should probably come from someone who identifies as LGBTQ+.
WHY DO YOU THINK PRIDE MONTH IS IMPORTANT IN GENERAL?
I think Pride Month is important, but it should be an all-year thing. We’re kinda done just making it about one month only and being able to recognize its community. It should be all year that we should be recognizing it but I think it’s nice to see how people do choose to support and how they continue to have those ethos throughout the year as well.
WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES FACING THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY IN 2022 AND WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO HELP?
I think a lot of it has to do that, we need to support our LGBTQ+ views. Right now, we live in a scary time, I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. So, I think right now we need to stand together, be part of things like this, make sure everyone has support and vote. Really fight for it, fight for what is right.
SAMANTHA CAMPOS, 18, Santa Ana, Retail, She/Her, Latinx/Mexican
WHAT DOES PRIDE MEAN TO YOU?
Inclusivity, diversity, obviously it’s making the world more welcoming into much of a better place. We live in a government that’s very facist, they don’t want to see people happy so I think knowing that you have friends, a community that’s big is amazing and something to feel safe about.
HOW DOES YOUR LATINX IDENTITY CONTRIBUTE WITH BEING PART OF THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY?
Obviously, the Latinx community is very conservative, very religious, but we have to realize that we gotta separate religion from our ethnicity because not everyone is religious and people from this community, any support is helpful and keeps everyone safe. The Latinx community is very passionate about things, so we should be passionate about this because they’re human. They are our friends and our family.
WHAT ARE SOME ISSUES THAT YOU STILL THINK THAT MUST BE ADDRESSED WITHIN THE COMMUNITY?
I think schools are very [important]. They teach about history, school history, American history but they don’t teach a lot about the real world like Pride, Black Lives Matter, the current situation about legalizing abortion. They really need to teach about that and make people more welcoming and inclusive. Especially, because they are just very self-absorbed and focused in schools. Especially in all white schools, all Black schools, all Hispanic schools, they really need to hit those topics of the real world.
WHY DO YOU THINK PRIDE MONTH IS IMPORTANT IN GENERAL?
Pride Month is important because it’s a time where we don’t have an excuse to ignore that people can be different. It’s a new normal, it’s like we say they’re different but they’re just a human with a different preference and it’s time to acknowledge that. And for those people who don’t like it, well they’re just not educated enough. It’s a really good month to educate people about what are the facts.
WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES FACING THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY IN 2022 AND WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO HELP?
I think the issue is the discrimination, there’s religious people that just don’t support. There’s jobs that don’t give jobs to people because they discriminate by looks and stuff. Like I said, schools, people get bullied and stuff that’s really something that needs to be fixed in the community. More inclusivity throughout the streets. We shouldn’t have to come to Long Beach to find a Pride parade. It should be everywhere so everyone can be educated and inclusive. It should be all over the world.
SALVADOR ALATORRE, 25, Los Angeles, Sales Operations Analyst, He/Him/His, Latinx/Mexican
WHAT DOES PRIDE MEAN TO YOU?
Pride means a lot, it means to stay prideful of who I am. It means to be prideful of my community being one with ourselves and being one with everyone.
HOW DOES YOUR LATINX IDENTITY CONTRIBUTE WITH BEING PART OF THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY?
Being Latinx, my family was very unreasonable about it, it was very much that I needed to be who I am. But after, sadly, 20 years of it, they were like, “This is who you are regardless and we love who you are.” So, this is who you wanna be so this is who you are going to be and were very much familiar afterwards where they said, “lo que estaba costumbre” They started to come back. I was like, I didn’t want you to ostracize me and they very much became, I felt that I was finally part of them after, sadly, a very long time.
WHAT ARE SOME ISSUES THAT YOU STILL THINK THAT MUST BE ADDRESSED WITHIN THE COMMUNITY?
Machismo. Even in the gay community machismo is very much an issue primarily because especially the feminine, less machista people, are the ones out here fighting for our rights but supposedly the people who are more masculine are benefiting from it but hide in the background. So it’s like all of a sudden, you’re the hard one, the one with the muscles but here all our feminine queens and everyone is literally in the forefront fighting just so you can be you but you want to hide from it. That’s a no for me.
WHY DO YOU THINK PRIDE MONTH IS IMPORTANT IN GENERAL?
Pride Month is extremely important because you know who you are at a very early age but seeing this in front of you, it’s very much “Oh my god!” I could be much more and I can be who I am, which is much more limited because of what I’ve been exposed to. But seeing the endless possibilities of it, is just like I could be who I want without any other person telling me that these are your boundaries. Now, I can be who I am without letting anyone tell me who I am.
WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES FACING THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY IN 2022 AND WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO HELP?
Well one, in 2022, especially on what just happened with Roe V. Wade, no one thinks that the LGBTQ+ community is going to be affected by Roe V. Wade. But no, trans-people are being affected by this everyday, like first legislation and even Roe V. Wade is being attacked. Trans-men are being attacked because they [the government] won’t care about what they do especially in communities where they are not supported, like here in Long Beach, so I feel that’s one thing they need to look at. Start on what’s happening now before we go into the future but at the same time the future is not guaranteed and it’s a very scary area. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but for m,e I will use my white Latino-passing privilege to just fight it.
JOHN ARROYO, 29, Long Beach, Creative Director, He/Him, Latino
WHAT DOES PRIDE MEAN TO YOU?
Pride to me means to be able to express yourself in a safe space, love and acceptance.
HOW DOES YOUR LATINX IDENTITY CONTRIBUTE WITH BEING PART OF THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY?
I think nowadays Latinos are more expressive and are able to really be out and gay and express our sexuality. I feel like 10 years ago, it was a different story and now it is becoming more normalized. It’s easier for Latinos coming from religious backgrounds or Catholic families to be able to express who they are and without feeling like a burden on the family.
WHAT ARE SOME ISSUES THAT YOU STILL THINK THAT MUST BE ADDRESSED WITHIN THE COMMUNITY?
I would say racism even among the queer community is very real. Discriminating against transgender [people] in our community is real, although that the LGBTQ+ community is all about love. I would say not all aspects are accepted so not all aspects are so accepted.
WHY DO YOU THINK PRIDE MONTH IS IMPORTANT IN GENERAL?
I think Pride Month is an important time to recognize that there is an important group of people living here, among everyone and that it brings recognition. It’s also a time to make us feel safe as well, to branch out to one another, share stories and be more free.
WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES FACING THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY IN 2022 AND WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO HELP?
Inequality for sure, I think it’s going to take a lot more time for sure for people in America to do program where they see the LGBTQ+ community because for so long, we were marginalized, we were looked down upon and even back then when racism was more prominent, there was segregation. The LGBTQ+ community was not even recognized, now even though most of us struggle to be who we are. It’s still a fight to get acceptance from everyone.
DIEGO VALDIVIESO, 25, Los Alamitos, Host, He/Him, Latino
WHAT DOES PRIDE MEAN TO YOU?
Pride means to me, I think, as a time to express yourself, especially with [now] that the times changed, I came out when I was 20 years old. So my parents are Latino, it was kinda hard for me to come out but I think over time, being that my sister is Lesbian and having supportive friends, makes it easier. I feel like now in 2022, it’s easier for people to come out and I think this is the time to be your true self and it opens up for future people coming out.
HOW DOES YOUR LATINX IDENTITY CONTRIBUTE WITH BEING PART OF THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY?
I like that I am Latino and gay because I think it is harder for Latinos to come out. My parents are Ecuadorian. They grew up in a different culture in Ecuador so I think for them it was a lot harder. But I think it’s nice to be here in Long Beach Pride because there are so many Latinos here and it brings everyone together.
WHAT ARE SOME ISSUES THAT YOU STILL THINK THAT MUST BE ADDRESSED WITHIN THE COMMUNITY?
I think masculinity between gays and I think a lot of competition and stereotyping between people is an issue. Everyone obviously has a preference.
WHY DO YOU THINK PRIDE MONTH IS IMPORTANT IN GENERAL?
I think Pride Month is important because although they are so many gay people, it gives us the month to embrace it for other people to acknowledge that we have come a long way and that we have a voice as well.
WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES FACING THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY IN 2022 AND WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO HELP?
I think it’s just changing, like parents, the old generation’s perspective and kinda beginning in the new generation. I think just like us [Gen-Z] are bringing in something new, making it normal and making it easier for other people coming out because our parents were raised differently, which made it harder for people. Once we get past that, it’ll be easier for anyone to come out.