Video: Being Latino, gay and immigrant in DC

The photo belongs to the Mpoderate
LGBT group of La Clinica del Pueblo

 

 

 

Source: Carlos in DC

By Carlos A. Quiroz.

Being Latino, gay and immigrant [Indigenous, queer and refugee]. We are part of the LGBT community in Washington, DC, but very often we are invisible in the media.

We are a minority within a minority. We face a cultural shock when moving to a new country with different values and traditions, but here we are safer being queer and living in the U.S.

Here we learn to find ourselves, to deal with other types of discrimination, especially being from another countries and having a different race, ways of living and accents. Sometimes we find ourselves fighting self destructive behaviors, mostly due to lack of family support or self acceptance. But at the end we all thrive for equality, respect, dignity and happiness.

This is a brief video that I recorded and is intended to show a part of our community. This includes opinions of three "Latino" gay men in Washington, DC (in Spanish), and  images from the Capital Pride Parade 2010.
Appearing in this video are, Jose Gutierrez of Latino GLBT History Project, Luis Suarez, the friends of Fuego DC, the guys of Somos DC, Candy Wrapper and friends, the Latin American Youth Center, and the Orion Program of the Northern Virginia AIDS Ministry, among many others.