Happy Pride Month 2024! This year, NHCOA is thinking of the many Hispanic/Latino Queer voices making waves in their fields, and working for a better future for their communities. Here are five such influential people to consider and admire during your 2024 Pride Month celebrations.
⦿ Arely Westley Kafati
On March 31st, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Association announced Arely Westley Kafati as their 2024 Human Rights Award Laureate. She is an advocate for immigrant, Hispanic/Latino, and LGBTQ+ communities, working with such organizations as the Southeast Immigrant Rights Network, the Asheboro Latinxs Services, and the Southeast Dignity Not Detention Coalition (SDND).
SDND is a group of nonprofits and grassroots organizations whose work supports immigrant rights. As a member of this impressive coalition, Arely Westly Kafati has targeted ICE detention facilities with shutdown campaigns, in an applaudable effort keep immigrants from undue harm and ensure that they are treated with dignity and respect.
In her acceptance of the award, Arely did so on behalf of the trans community, and fellow indigenous peoples.
⦿ Jennicet Gutiérrez
Jennicet Gutiérrez is another activist for transgender and immigrant rights. She first began her journey as a trans Latina activist in 2015, and has since become a founding member of the Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement (TQLM).
Familia: TQLM is an organization working towards a vision of collective liberation for “trans, queer, and gender nonconforming Latinxs through building community, organizing, advocacy, and education.”
⦿ Maite D. Oronoz Rodríguez
Hon. Maite D. Oronoz Rodríguez is the first openly LGBTQ+ person to become a Chief Justice in the United States. She was sworn in as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico in 2016, following a long and seasoned career, including her previous roles as Deputy Attorney General and Acting Attorney General in the Department of Justice of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
She now acts a chairman for the Advisory Commission on Access to Justice and the Equality and Gender Committee of the Judiciary, and as commissioner for the Permanent Commission on Gender and Access to Justice of the Ibero-American Judicial Summit. Oronoz Rodríguez has become an influential voice in the world in support of gender equality and against gender violence.
⦿ Robert Garcia
The first Latino, openly LGBTQ+, and youngest person to be elected Mayor of Long Beach, California, Robert Garcia, is also the first Peruvian-American to be elected to Congress. Garcia held office as Long Beach’s Mayor from 2014 to 2022, when he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He represents California’s 42nd Congressional District.
While working as Mayor of Long Beach, Garcia piloted such progressive programs as tuition-free community college and universal basic income for single working mothers. Under his leadership, Long Beach also became nationally recognized for its COVID-19 safety measures. Since being elected to Congress, he has made a point of addressing gun violence, pollution from ocean vessels, and affordable housing.
⦿ Isa Noyola
Isa Noyola is the Director of Programs at the Ford Grantee Transgender Law Center. She has long been an activist for transgender rights, and in her current role she works to ensure that her programmatic strategies compliment the goals of the organizations impact on US law and policy. Under Noyola, these programs aim to empower trans folks in both urban and rural communities.
Much like her fellow activists in this list, Noyola not only advocates for transgender rights but for immigration rights as well, seeing an evident intersection of mistreatment and violence.
Recent Comments