Are Latinos Anti-Gay?

Posted by David M. Perez on 05/18/2012 @ 07:00 PM

Are Latinos Anti-Gay?

The unequivocal answer is no! Over 83 percent of Latinos support housing and employment non-discrimination protections for gay and lesbian people. Is this a new trend? The answer again is no! Looking at the nation’s leading Latino civil rights organizations as a barometer for pro-LGBT support shows significant national support for more than five years.

In 2006, the nation’s oldest and largest Latino civil rights membership organization, the League of United Latin American Citizens, founded its first LGBT council in Dallas, Texas. Next, representatives from LULAC’s 900 councils from across the United States and Puerto Rico passed resolutions in 2008 and 2009 at the LULAC National Assembly to sup- port equal treatment of LGBT brothers and sisters in the military and the workplace.

In 2011, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund featured Russell Roybal of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force at their annual Latino State of the Union in Washington, D.C. In June 2011, LULAC joined the Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality to co-release a fact sheet about Latino transgender discrimina- tion, which was featured at the LULAC National Convention among a week-long track of LGBT workshops for 30 LGBT Latino leaders from Unid@s.

In April 2012, National Council of La Raza (NCLR) co-released research with the Social Science Research Solutions debunking the widespread myth that Latinos are less accepting of the LGBT community than the general public. Several recent studies have demonstrated that over 70 percent of Latinos support either marriage recognition for gay and lesbian couples and support school policies to prevent harassment and bullying of students who are gay or perceived to be gay.

What are the next steps? Latino civil rights advocates, LGBT human rights advocates and those of us working at the intersection of these identities as LGBT Latinos must work collectively to continually educate our sisters and brothers that familia es familia and we deserve equal rights for all. We must join forces to turn these positive public percep- tions into political power and equality at the ballot box through innova- tive partnerships with Latino organizations, LGBT organizations and LGBT Latino organizations. Through this process we must also commit to building the capacity of Latino LGBT organizations so that we build our movement as we advance our collective cause of equality for all.

President Obama's remarks on May 9th have brought marriage equality to the forefront of public debate. Let's continue in LULAC's tradition of fostering positive dialogue between LGBT and Latino community advocates, who have a common goal: full equality.

Join me today to commit to using May to finding a local Latino organization or business to partner with you to celebrate LGBT Pride Month in June. In Washington, DC, the Latino GLBT History Project partnered with radio El Zol 107.9fm to broadcast Spanish language LGBT tolerance PSAs during the week leading up to the Capital Pride Parade in Washington, DC. I challenge you to ask your local Spanish language radio station to make a similar commitment. You never know what will happen until you ask… ¡Sí, se puede!

Written by:
David M. Pérez
Director of Development
League of United Latin American Citizens
www.LULAC.org/programs/lgbt

David M. Pérez
President
Latino GLBT History Project
www.LatinoGLBTHistory.org

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La Voz de Nuestros Lideres: Irene Graciano, LULAC National Intern

Posted by Irene Graciano on 11/21/2011 @ 12:20 PM

My name is Irene Graciano and I am from Los Angeles, CA. This is my third year in college and I am majoring in Government and Sociology at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. However, this semester I am attending American University as part of the Washington Semester Program. The emphasis of my program is Justice & Law. I am interested in issues concerning national security, law enforcement, and criminology. This program gives us the opportunity to hear from numerous speakers in the law enforcement field and from the federal level in DC. The best part of the program is that we are allowed to intern in order to make our semester in DC a worthwhile working experience in the capital.

Through this program, I heard about LULAC. In my search for an internship, I knew that I wanted to do something related to civil rights and Hispanics. As a Hispanic myself, there are issues that concern me and should be addressed by those in power. I was looking for an organization that was doing something for the Hispanic community, not only at the local level, but also at the national level. I love serving the community, volunteering, and empowering them with any resources that I can. When I saw LULAC’s homepage, I immediately felt attracted to it because I saw the involvement they had – and continue to have – in order to improve the condition, and protect the rights, of Hispanics in the United States. At that moment, I knew that working with LULAC would give me a more intimate approach to the many issues that the Hispanic community faces. Maybe I would not experience one-on-one contact with each community member, but, through all of our contributions to the LULAC organization, we can reach out to Hispanics and facilitate their access to all the resources that are available to help them.

Currently, I have been working on a variety of projects here at LULAC with an emphasis on community relations. I work behind the scenes by maintaining LULAC’s key web pages, posting events online to share with others via Facebook and Twitter, and serving the Hispanic community through the Internet. The Internet has become an important tool in the world of today; therefore, it is important to improve our online outreach for the benefit of the community.

After starting my internship this September, and now with almost a month left in LULAC, I can say that the work that I am doing here will definitely reach the Hispanic community and provide them with the information necessary to make a difference. I am looking forward to learning more during the remainder of my time here as I continue to work on issues that are important to the Hispanic community.

The League of United Latin American Citizens, the country's oldest and largest civil rights organization, recruits highly talented and dedicated interns year-round to work with our national office in Washington D.C. Interns can choose to collaborate with any one of the following departments: policy, programs, communications, membership, special events, development, fiscal or executive. For more information, or to apply for a LULAC internship, click here to learn more!

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