Latina/o Archives

Roberto Gonzalez: Gay pastor brought LGBTQ rights to Argentina

by Kittredge Cherry | | April 1-15, Saints

Roberto Gonzalez was a trail-blazing gay pastor and LGBTQ-rights activist in Argentina. He died on April 8, 2024, at age 78 in Buenos Aires after several months of hospitalization. He is survived by his husband, Norberto D’Amico, who pastors the church that Gonzalez...

Dance of the 41 Queers: Police raid Mexican drag ball in 1901

by Kittredge Cherry | | Nov 16-30, Saints

Police arrested 41 people at a Mexico City drag ball known as the Dance of the 41 Queers in a notorious police raid on Nov. 17-18, 1901. Now the Dance of the 41 is being reclaimed by the LGBTQ community, and same-sex marriage is legal in Mexico City. Cross-dressing...

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Nun who loved a countess in 17th-century Mexico City

by Kittredge Cherry | | April 16-30, Nov. 1-15, Saints

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a 17th-century Mexican nun whose critically acclaimed writings include lesbian love poetry. She is considered one of the greatest Latin American poets, an early advocate of women’s rights, and some say, North America’s first lesbian...

Orlando martyrs: Pulse gay nightclub massacre recalled in art and prayer

by Kittredge Cherry | | Calendar, June 1-15, Saints

LGBTQ people and allies use art and prayer to remember the 49 martyrs killed in the massacre at the Pulse gay bar on June 12, 2016, in Orlando, Florida. A mass shooter killed 49 people and left 53 wounded at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The hate crime...

Saints of Stonewall inspire LGBTQ justice — and artists, authors and film makers

by Kittredge Cherry | | Calendar, June 16-30, Saints

LGBTQ Pride celebrations are rooted in sacred resistance — when queer people fought back against harassment at New York City’s Stonewall Inn, they launched the modern LGBTQ liberation movement on June 28, 1969. Their bold rebellion against government...

Gloria Anzaldúa: Queer feminist Chicana scholar of spiritual activism

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 1-15, Saints

Gloria Anzaldúa is an influential queer Latina feminist scholar whose spirituality often gets overlooked. She died on May 15, 2004 at age 61. One of the first openly lesbian Chicana writers, she grew up in Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border. In school she was punished...

Marcella Althaus-Reid: Queer theology pioneer

by Kittredge Cherry | | Feb 16-29, Saints

Marcella Althaus-Reid was a queer theologian who sparked controversy and opened minds with books such as “Indecent Theology” and “The Queer God.” Born and raised in Argentina, she became the first woman appointed to a chair in the School of Divinity at the University...

Sylvia Rivera: Latina transgender woman at Stonewall Uprising

by Kittredge Cherry | | Feb 16-29, Saints

Sylvia Rivera was a Latina transgender woman activist and one of those credited with starting the Stonewall Rebellion that propelled the LGBTQ liberation movement forward. She was a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front, which sprang up quickly in 1969 as a...

Queer Lady of Guadalupe: Artists re-imagine an icon

by Kittredge Cherry | | Dec 1-15, Saints

Our Lady of Guadalupe brings a message of holy empowerment that speaks to LGBTQ people — and angers Christian conservatives. Queer art based on Guadalupe is shown here for her feast day today (Dec. 12). She is an Aztec version of the Virgin Mary that appeared to...

Tibira do Maranhão: First indigenous gay martyr of Brazil

by Kittredge Cherry | | Dec 1-15, Saints

LGBTQ activists in Brazil launched a campaign for the sainthood of Tibira do Maranhão, the first gay martyr of Brazil. The indigenous man was baptized and then executed for sodomy by French missionaries on Dec. 8, 1614. Tibira is the first documented case of a person...