Advocacy
This famous LGBTQ+ advocate famously partook in the 1969 Stonewall Riots at barely 17 years old. She is the first transgender activist to be included in DC's National Portrait Gallery.
Sylvia Rivera
This Puerto Rican pop star shared his truth in a 2010 blog post on his official website. “I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man,” he wrote. “I am very blessed to be who I am.”
Ricky Martin
This bisexual Mexican artist broke traditional gender roles and was rumored to have dated Josephine Baker.
Frida Kahlo
This Representative became the first gay Afro Latino member of Congress when he won his seat for New York’s 15th Congressional District. Not new to making history, the Democrat also became the youngest member of the New York City Council in 2013 at just 25 years old
Rep. Ritchie Torres
If there’s one queer space that Latinx people have shaped, it’s the ballroom scene. This queer icon founded House of Xtravaganza, and was the youngest of the legendary mothers and made the group the city’s premier Latina house.
Angie Xtravaganza
This transgender activist interrupted President Obama at a White House event for LGBT Pride Month in 2015 to demand an end to the deportation of LGBTQ immigrants.
Jennicet Gutierez
This actor portrayed the longest-running LGBTQ+ character in US television history, appearing in 11 seasons and 239 episodes of the hit series Grey's Anatomy. Their volunteered addition of the character's bisexuality marked one of the earliest series regular queer roles on primetime television.
In 2021, this actress became the first transgender woman to earn an Emmy Award nomination in a major acting category; she was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in the third and final season of Pose[8] and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama.
MJ Rodriguez
As president of the San Diego City Council, this queer politician was born and raised in the city she now serves, just 15 miles from the Mexican border.
Georgette Gomez
Present at the first Stonewall Riots (becoming a Latin American ambassador for the Stonewall Riots Veteran Association (SVA). This queer icon was one of the first openly trans women in Puerto Rico, a Colonel in the U.S. Army and Vietnam War, and the founder of the LGBT pride parade in Puerto Rico in 2003.
Christina Hayworth
This Chicano video activist and artist co-founded the Latino Caucus of the organization ACT UP in New York City. He documented HIV & AIDS community activism, including the ACT UP’s “Stop The Church” demonstration at St. Patrick’s Cathedral against Cardinal O’Connor’s position on AIDS and contraception.
Ray Navarro
This Mexican singer is known for her renditions of Mexican rancheras. Her first album, “Noche de Bohemia,” was released in 1961. She went on to record more than 70 albums. Although many speculated about her sexuality, she did not publicly come out until the age of 81 in her autobiographical book.
Chavela Vargas
This queer Mexican singer became an LGBTQ+ icon inadvertently through his flamboyant stage performances. The renowned Mexican singer-songwriter made incredible contributions to Mexican popular music and broke the mold in a music industry filled with machismo.
Juan Gabriel
As president of Latino Commission on AIDS, this queer icon grew the organization from a staff of two to a staff of 45, with a budget of $5 million working alongside 380 organizations across the country. His feats include translating HIV information into Spanish and serving as Human Rights Commissioner in 1986, making him one of the first prominent Latinos in New York City politics, as well as one of the first officials to disclose publicly his HIV status in an 1993 New York Times op-ed.
Dennis deLeon
This Cuban-American activist was one of the first openly gay men living with AIDS to appear on television when he stared in MTV’s The Real World: San Francisco in 1993.
Pedro Zamora
This a Mexican-American lesbian professor, feminist, and writer, was best known for co-editing the important anthology, This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color (1981) and authoring Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1993). Her work reflected on the concept of imaginary division between Latinxs and non-Latinx gays and lesbians, offering keen insight into her experiences of Chicano, Latinx, and American cultures.
Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa
This Mexican born multimedia visual artist makes films shinning light on important issues related to undocumented LGBTQ life inspired by his personal undocumented and queer experience. His works enable people to realize they are not alone while also influencing political and cultural thought.
Julio Salgado
This Chicano poet in the ’90s was one of the few gay Latinos publicly talking about HIV/AIDS and its impact on the community. After his partner died and he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987, he took a writing workshop for people with HIV and began a journey of writing about his community that would last for the final eight years of his life. His works are believed to be the first chronicles of what life was like for Chicanos with AIDS. His book, City of God, is full of short stories and poems that deal with the experiences of queer Chicanos and, especially, queer Chicanos with AIDS. He was also one of the early chroniclers of the queer community in Los Angeles.
Gil Cuadros
Born of Colombian parents, this political activist, longtime drag performer, and WWII veteran was the first openly gay person to run for office in the United States.
José Julio Sarria
She was a key organizer in many of the first lesbian and women’s conferences, and worked to fight against anti-LGBT laws in California. She spent the next several decades continuing this work and blazing new paths for lesbians and wrote an award-winning memoir, When We Were Outlaws: a Memoir of Love and Revolution.
Jeanne Córdova