Orlando, Fla.
Many gay Latinos in Orlando have endured indignities, rejection or violence because of their sexual orientation.
But in the year since a gunman killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub, these men and others have sought to strengthen their wounded community, forming support groups and community organizations, seeking seats at the tables of power, and creating a foundation to champion gays and Latinos.
“There’s no question that the tragedy at Pulse has created an entire new generation of grassroots leaders who are young, who are queer, people of color, who want to make a difference and affect change,” said Smith, who was elected to Florida’s Legislature last fall.
Most of the dead at Pulse were gay Latinos, and the attack on June 12, 2016, highlighted the gulf between gay people of color and other gays.
Though Orlando’s gay institutions are open to anyone, some gay Latinos did not use them, either because of language barriers or because Orlando’s Latino communities are scattered throughout the metro area and much of Orlando’s gay life is concentrated downtown. There were other obstacles too, including cultural issues of “machismo,” deep Latino connections to the Roman Catholic Church and, for some, concerns about immigration status.
Before Pulse, many gay Latinos felt they could only meet each other in gay bars on Latin or hip-hop nights.
“In our community, there was an absence of spaces for people who were queer and people of color,” said Christopher Cuevas, who founded the support group QLatinx after the Pulse shooting.
Still, many regarded Orlando as a haven, both for its visible gay community and for its thriving Latino population. Of metro Orlando’s 2.3 million people, more than a quarter are Hispanic, with Puerto Ricans making up about half of the Latino population. Smith describes Orlando “as one of the gayest cities in America.”
“Which makes what happened here so shocking because this is already such an inclusive community,” said Smith, who grew up in South Florida and moved to Orlando for college. “This is a city that is very supportive of the LGBTQ community.”
In the aftermath of the attack, a joint venture between local governments and nonprofits offered mental health services and other assistance to Pulse victims and their families. But because of language barriers, immigration fears or previous feelings of disconnection, some of the victims and their families did not feel like they could use the services, Cuevas said.
The community had to “create our own because these spaces never catered to us before. They didn’t understand us, and they still don’t,” he said.
Thus was born QLatinx, a community group for Latino gay and lesbians. The Q stands for “queer,” and “Latinx” is a gender-neutral form of “Latino.” The organization holds support-group meetings every week and is starting a storytelling project in which they hope to dismantle stereotypes of what it means to be gay and Latino through the personal stories of its members.