HRC Arkansas partnered with Revolucion LGBTQ to host a workshop and panel discussion at the 16th Annual Conference of the Hispanic Women’s Organization of Arkansas (HWOA). The workshop, entitled the “Colors of the Rainbow,” marked the first time the HWOA featured content about the LGBTQ community. Lourdes Castro Ramirez, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, was the keynote speaker at the conference.
HRC Arkansas moderated the panel discussion focused on the Latinx experience. Members of Revolucion LGBTQ, a program of the Center for Artistic Revolution (CAR), shared their experiences as LGBTQ people who migrated to this country. Jose Gutierrez, CAR’s executive director, discussed his upbringing in a missionary Baptist church in Arkansas and the difficulties of reconciling his faith and his sexual orientation. Diego Barera described the complications he faced as an undocumented immigrant pre and post transition. Now even with documentation, his documents carry his birth name and he will never be granted a passport that reflects his gender identity from his native El Salvador.
The Colors of the Rainbow workshop is just one of the many public education efforts that HRC regularly undertakes. To learn more about HRC’s work in Arkansas, click here.
Over the past several years, HRC has extended its reach to the Hispanic/Latinx community. While members of the LGBTQ community share much in common, it’s important to recognize the differences that shape our unique experiences.
The hub of HRC’s Hispanic/Latinx resources can be found at Being Latino/a & LGBTQ: An Introduction. There you can find links to HRC’s Spanish-language resources, including Guía de Recursos Para Salir Del Clóset and La Guía de Sexo Más Seguro. Our English-language resources, found on the same page, cover topics ranging from coming out to religion to youth.
Additionally, HRC’s A La Familia is a bilingual program promoting inclusion of LGBTQ people within communidades Latinas. It was created por comunidades Latinas, para comunidades Latinas, knowing that an effective conversation about LGBTQ inclusion must address faith. A La Familia fully engages faith and religion in a way that is both deeply respectful and theologically sound.
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