Our Roots, A History of

A group Latino/a LGBTQQ community members united in working for social and political change.

Our goals are to promote education, provide leadership development, and to increase Latino/a

LGBTQQ awareness within communities.

mission

formation

National Latino/a Gay Bisexual Transgender Organization (LLEGO) Closed 08/2004

Sigmos Adelante Conference10/2004

Creating Change 11/2004

Sigmos Adelante Chicago 03/2005

Due to the closing of LLEGO, the 2004 Encuentro was cancelled. Entre Hermanos, the hosting organization in Seattle, Washington, sponsored the Sigmos Adelante Conference to discuss the implications of LLEGO closing and the Latin@ LGBTQQ community’s next steps.

formation

Five Chicago Activists Attended

Sigamos Adelante Chicago El Foro Orgullo en Accion

The original five activists organized to create a group to work on social and political issues impacting Latina/o LGBTQQ communities locally within Chicago, before trying to rebuild a national organization.

Participated in Call for Action campaigns, promoted Latin@ LGBTQQ community mobilization to respond to important political and social issues impacting LGBTQQ Latin@s in local, regional, and national levels.

Created strong and united Latin@ LGBTQQ contingents in multiple marches and demonstrations (LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights, workers rights, anti-war, etc).

Created strong collaborations with local, regional, and national grassroots groups, collectives, and community based organizations.

Evolution

(In the context of a segregated city such as Chicago) OEA attempts to bring LGBTQQ Latin@s  (from various gender, sexual, and cultural identities) together at the same table to discuss, create, and implement action steps and plans to organize around important political and social issues impacting LGBTQQ Latin@s within the Chicago land and abroad.

Created the first Chicago Latin@ LGBTQQ Pride event, which has evolved to OEA’s Annual Signature Event to celebrate our multiple identities, cultures, families, intergenerational community members, and to increase Latin@ LGBTQQ awareness.

OEA hosted Chicago’s 1st Latino/a LGBTQQ Leadership Summit (2006). Topics included: Latino LGBT history, Fundraising, Grant Writing, Agency Longevity, Polices & Procedures, Adoption, Marriage, Immigration, Deportation, and Lobbying & Legislation. Speakers conducted these educational and leadership-development forums in an attempt to inspire and foster Latin@ LGBTQQ leaders of future generations to come.

WHAT MAKES OEA UNIQUE?

OEA Leadership Summit

It was a new group that included a bit more diversification than other groups.

OEA is about taking social & political actions and creating movements for all LGBTQQ Latin@s communities which is very unique and revolutionary.

Co-founder

Introduction by a participating board member.

Envisioned stronger solidarity within Latina/o LGBTQQ communities around social and political issues.

Activist

How did you come to participate in this work?

To demonstrate OEA’s name, vision, and presence as a new grassroots collective/group emerging within the context of many already-established organizations.

Recruitment of Board Members and low retention. OEA membership, involvement, and development.Limited collaboration from other LGBTQQ Organizations around the

planning of Latin@ pride. Predominantly LGBTQQ resources located in the north side.Lack of LGBTQQ awareness in some neighborhoods and communities of

Chicago.

CHALLENGES

Organizing Latin@ LGBTQQ community members to volunteer and participate in community demonstrations and events.

Narrow communication deliveries- need to be diversified (not just by email or postings in the same communities).

OEA board members experience high levels of burn-out, (unable to be present in numerous LGBTQQ events) which created a sense of OEA not being present or supportive of community efforts.

Challenges

LGBTQQ communities had to get to know OEA’s mission, and see the organization’s follow-through and accountability in our work.

Same people respond and there is not a lot of action taken.

For numerous community members, OEA Latina/o LGBTQQ Pride Picnic was a positive and significant event in their lives and for our communities. However, to some it was not seen as a necessary event for Latina/o communities. Overall lack of community support in helping to create or sustain the event.

COMMUNITY RESPONSES

LGBTQQ Latin@s (and LGBTQQ people of color) have begun organizing together to discuss and address issues of immigration and how they are impacting our communities.

LGBTQQ awareness has increased in certain neighborhoods and communities.

Creation of safe places where LGBTQQ families are welcomed.

OEA , Amigas Latinas, & CLIA (to name a few) have added transgender people to their mission statement and are attempting to be more inclusive in

their services and programs.

There has been more LGBTQQ youth involvement around volunteering and participating in events and demonstrations.

Community changes since OEA

Center on Halsted opened the doors to their new home on April 30th, 2007.

Launch and completion of Amigas Latinas Proyecto Latina Survey in 2007.

LGBTQQ health workshops and events focused on body image, reproductive health, and breast cancer awareness.

Ambiente del Paseo (LGBTQ) collective’s launch of the 2008 "Más Color, Más Poder" campaign against homophobia / transphobia in our communities.

LGBTQQ spiritual awareness and services within our communities Achurch4me.

Community changes since OEA

Work to increase solidarity among LGBTQQ Latin@s (and LGBTQQ people of color) in the Chicagoland area in order to create more unified and powerful responses to social and political issues disproportionately impacting our communities. 

Diversification of LGBTQQ communities (working class, families, other neighborhoods, accessibility).

LGBTQQ reproductive health and comprehensive health care.

Youth friendly events.

Transgender awareness and education in all communities.

Inclusion of communities with disabilities- collaboration with Feminist Response In Disability Activism (F.R.I.D.A) and other groups to work on social and political issues.

What are emerging needs that your organization has observed?

Spiritual awareness and access to LGBTQ-friendly services (individual context or description).

Increase in numbers of LGBTQQ homeless youth in Chicago

Need access to more resources: monetary, community, and volunteers.

Language Barriers in outreaching to our LGBTQQ families who work in the factories, who don't speak English and who have children.

Family oriented events with child care (during events).

Proyecto Latina Survey results identified some of these issues as those most impacting LBTQ Latinas: financial hardship, relationship issues, discrimination, difficulty negotiating identity with family, and an overall lack of accessible services (health care, mental health services, immigration services, etc.). Amigas Latinas Project Latina: Discovering All of Us. 2007

What are emerging needs that your organization has observed?

Most organizations target and outreach within the same communities- it will remain the same, unless we organize together as organizations and collectives to create change in all communities.

We hope to see LGBTQQ Latin@s and LGBTQQ people of color continue to work together to advocate for and address issues that are disproportionately impacting our communities.

Based on your experiences, where do you see the community going?

We hope to see LGBTQ organizations in Chicago expand their agendas beyond issues of gay marriage, to include issues such as racism, transphobia, sexism, reproductive rights, the prison industrial complex, police brutality, immigration, workers rights, the economy, war, etc, all of which are issues impacting LGBTQQ communities (though not traditionally thought of as such).  

OEA believes that one person's oppression is everyone's oppression, and that no one is free until all are free. We hope that LGBTQQ organizations nationwide will begin to understand and address the very interlocking nature of our oppressions.

Based on your experiences, where do you see the community going?

Chicago's 2008 May Day March

OEA has organized, marched, and participated in protests for immigrant rights, workers rights, and LGBTQQ rights, such as the Matthew Shepard March with Gay Liberation Network, Dyke March and May 1 March (among others).

Conversation on Same-Sex Coupling: Black & Latino Layers of Discrimination, A Special Evening to Discuss LGBT Black &Latino Families.

Connect Yourself Chicago LGBTQ Immigrant Alliance Community Forum. “A Girl Like Me” film and discussion with Alejandra Aranda and Sebastian

Colon.

OEA partnerships/events

Dyke March 2008

October 11, 2007, The First Latin@ LGBTQ-A Conference.

Ambiente del Paseo "Mas Color, Mas Poder”

Lambda Legal “Freedom to Marry”

Amigas Latinas, ALMA, Chicago Windy City Black Pride, Howard Brown, Broadway Youth Center, Center on Halsted, PRCC, Steamworks, Homofrecuencia Radio Arte, National Museum of Mexican Art, and many more.

oea partnerships/events

Comprehensive OEA Latina/o LGBTQQ Pride

Growth, community building and diversification of outreach and education. Building solidarity with other organizations beyond LGBTQQ orgs.

Orgullo En Accion hopes to effectively mobilize members of various LGBTQQ communities (particularly communities of color) to begin to advocate for and address issues that are affecting our many communities. 

What do you see as the future of your agency?

We hope to aid in building a unified and powerful movement of LGBTQQ Latin@s (together with our allies) to begin to address and make a difference around various social and political issues that are disproportionately impacting our communities. 

Create a unified LGBTQQ Latin@ national presence that can accomplish some of the following: influence important legislation or policy; help to create more accessible and culturally competent services for LGBTQQ Latin@s; and to respond effectively to various issues affecting our communities.

What do you see as the future of your agency?

1st ANNUAL OEA LATINA/O LGBTQQ PRIDE 2006

OEA BOARD MEMBERS (PRIDE 2007)

Artists

Artists

Artists

Artists

INTERGENERATIONAL & FAMILY ACTIVITIES

Familia: Community

Familia: Community

Familia: Community

Familia: Community

Familia: Community

Pictures from Ed Negron and Freddy MirandaAmigas Latinas. Project Latina: Discovering All of Us. 2007http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/LatinaPrideJuly2007/http://www.chicagofreepress.com/node/54, photos by Gary Barlowwww.orgulloenaccion.org

Sources