Latino GLBT History Project honors outstanding Latinas Thursday night
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Thursday night, the Latino GLBT History Project will host “Mujeres en el Movimiento”, an annual awards evening honoring outstanding queer Latinas for their work in the community. This year, the night will celebrate the accomplishments of Maria Alejandra Salas-Baltuano, Joanna Cifredo and Dulce Benavide.
We interviewed LHP Women’s Committee member Lena Hernandez about the event and its impact in the Latino and LGBT community.
Please tell us more about the “Mujeres en el Movimiento” program.
“Mujeres en el Movimiento” is a place for queer Latinas to come together to build a strong and supportive community with other like-minded women. It’s a great opportunity for networking and sharing inspiring stories and achievements. Come out and enjoy drinks, great Latino music, and a historical digital photo exhibition. Over 100 women are expected to attend. Past honorees are women who have made significant contributions to the Latino community and the LGBT community at both the local and national level such as Laura Esquivel, Letitia Gomez, Lisbeth Melendez-Rivera, and (DC Police) Officer Rosa Roldan-Torres.
Each year a committee of volunteers helps to organize the event. This year’s committee includes Esther Hidalgo, Nancy Cañas, Ana Gomez, Miriam Perez, Tamira Ramirez, Alexa Rodriguez, May Sifuentes, Jennifer Sanchez, Cristela Solorio Ruiz and myself. Without these women this even would not be possible, we are grateful for their commitment and vision.
This is the fourth year that you have hosted this event, what was your inspiration to host the event in the first place?
Historically celebrated during Women’s History Month we saw the need to recognize queer Latinas’ contributions. This event spun out of that vision and continues to grow.
How has this event and the queer Latina community in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area impacted your life?
For me personally, this event reminds me every year of the contributions of our Hermans to the LGBT movement. It makes me proud to not only be Latina but a lesbian. I can only hope that it inspires the next generation and does justices to those who have come before me.
What were the guidelines for choosing the winners this year and in previous years?
For the nomination Process: We solicited nominations from the public. People could submit their nomination via a form that was on the Mujeres page of the LHP website. The Women’s Committee then took a final vote.
Can you tell me a little bit about each of the three recipients: The Legacy Award Winner, and the two Rising Star Award winners?
Maria Alejandra Salas-Baltuano, born in Lima, Peru and raised in Northern Virginia, works as education organizer for Many Languages One Voice (MLOV). She has used her own experiences and identity as a queer immigrant women to create a safe space for all intersections of our identities through projects at the Latin American Youth Center and her efforts to provide more support for English Language Learner students in the District.
Joanna Cifredo is a writer and the founder of FireBreathingTGirl.com, the Brand Ambassador for the DC Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC) and a fierce advocate for transgender issues. Joanna was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico and raised in Kissimmee, Florida. Joanna has mentored youth at ¡Empodérate! Youth Center at La Clínica del Pueblo, currently serves on the board of directors to Whitman Walker Health and is the recipient of the 2015 Visionary Voice Award by National Sexual Violence Resource Center for her work on Trans-Inclusive Healthcare. Joanna, in conjunction with DCRCC, is launching a city-wide conversation called “SIS to Cis,” a conversation between cis and transgender people of color.
The Legacy Award will be presented to Dulce Benavides to recognize her long history of service to the LGBT and Latina/o communities. Since her early 20’s, Dulce has been involved with improving the lives of LGBTQ people from her activism at University of Texas in San Antonio, as a co-chair of San Antonio Lesbian Gay Assembly (SALGA), or in her role as advisory board member at the Lesbian Services Program at then Whitman Walker Clinic after she moved to DC in 2002. She works as a practicing Psychologist with the belief that we live our lives at the intersections. It is at those intersections of identity, where we as Latino/a LGBTQ people can make lasting social change for nuestra gente and nuestro futuro.
What are your main goals in terms of helping the GLBT community?
The Latino GLBT History Project is a non-profit volunteer-led organization founded in April 2000 and incorporated in May 2007 to respond to the critical need to preserve and educate about our history. Our mission is to investigate, collect, preserve and educate the public about the history, culture, heritage, arts, social and rich contributions of the Latino GLBT community in metropolitan Washington, D.C. It is our hope that events such as the, “Mujeres en el Movimiento reception do exactly that.
What are you most excited about for this year’s event?
I often times wish we had more events like it. I love being in a room full of amazing women all gathered to celebrate the past, present, and future.
“Mujeres en el Movimiento” takes place this Thurs., April 9, 6:30-8:30 p.m., 2017 14th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009 from 6:30-8:30. Find out more on the Latino GLBT History Project website
—Sarah Miller
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