Amigas Latinas was 'born of the heat,' and is still blazing on its way to its 'Diamond' anniversary.
In the summer of 1995—the year of the infamous Chicago heat wave—Amigas Latinas became more than just an idea as Latina lesbians and bisexuals gathered in the sweltering home of Christine Garza to talk about how the two identities intersect.
Amigas Latinas has grown into a non-profit support, education and advocacy group for lesbian, bisexual and questioning women of Latina heritage. Although the organization provides a lot with very little—platicas ( discussions ) , workshops, family activities and social events—it has big ideas for the future as it approaches a milestone.
Amigas Latinas grew out of Women of All Colors and Cultures Together ( WACCT ) . Now an Amigas Latinas board member, Evette Cardona, was one of the founding members of WACCT. Through the group's monthly potluck, Cardona met other Latinas and thought it would be interesting to do something just for them.
'At the time, I wondered, 'Where are all the other Latinas in Chicago?'' she told Windy City Times. An interest sparked among WACCT's Latina lesbian members at a brunch in June of 1995. 'That was my window of opportunity and I took it and ran with it,' Cardona said.
The next month, the first platica was held during one of the city's hottest months.
'It's always been rather symbolic to me that we were born of that heat,' Cardona said. A small group of women discussed what it means to be Latina and lesbian as mothers, sisters, aunts, grandmothers and 'all those things that encompass what a woman is,' Cardona added. Word started to spread as the group bounced to each woman's home.
In 1998, Amigas Latinas created a steering committee to move forward and formalize the group. The next year, one of the founding members, Aixa Diaz, passed away. In her honor, the scholarship fund was created, which helped the group honor her passion for education. The membership continued to grow and more serious fundraising occurred. They became an official non-profit and seated their first board of directors in 2002. Today, Amigas Latinas remains largely volunteer-driven, which has been a challenge for the organization. 'It's a lot of hard work that brings dedication and time,' Cardona added.
'We are at a real turning point,' Cardona said. 'We have provided a safe space for Latina women who partner with women to explore who they are, challenge each other and celebrate who we are. We're often the first place a woman comes to who might say the words 'I am a lesbian.' That's very powerful.'
Board member Aurora Pineda ( a.k.a Latina Drag King Andres de los Santos ) was seeking out fellow Latina lesbians and bisexuals when she joined as a member in 2000. 'I would go to nightclubs and bars, but I never really found girls I could meet in similar situations,' she said. 'I was like 'Am I the only Mexican that's a lesbian? What's going on?'' Amigas Latinas gave her an opportunity to seek out her community.
Platicas remain the 'bread and butter' of Amigas Latinas, Cardona said. 'We are a group that definitely likes to talk,' she added. 'I always thought it would stop being that, but we just kind of turned into this social thing, and I'm really happy and I'm not surprised anymore.'
However, the organization offers more than a space to talk. Proyecto BASTA ( Project Enough ) looks at the issue of domestic violence in the Latino lesbian community, and provides workshops for Latino social workers and providers such as Pilson's Mujeres Latinas—the Midwest's premier Latina-serving organization. Amigas Latinas tries to get other Latina organizations to address the needs of Latina lesbians. 'Because we can't do it all,' Cardona said. 'We're just not big enough to do that. And we shouldn't have to do it all. If you're a Latina organization that serves all women, then you should be serving us.'
The organization also recently created Real Deal Fridays, an alternative Friday night activity to discuss being a Latina lesbian. In addition, Amigas Latinas provides family events because many members have children. 'We've seen children come year after year and we've sort of watched them grow up,' Cardona said.
More than a year ago, Amigas Latinas also partnered with the Association for Latino Men for Action to create 'PFLAG en Español.' 'It's been pretty damn successful,' Cardona said. Pineda will leave Amigas Latinas in August to focus on running the group. 'There's a lot of people to meet and doors to knock on,' Pineda said. 'I really want to make it work.' She hopes to keep in touch with Amigas Latinas to provide an outlet for members' parents.
Even though the organization strives to create a comfort zone for its members, it also seeks to educate the larger LGBT and Latino community through education and cooperation with other organizations. 'You want to let the Latino community know that gays exist in the Latino community, and you want to let the gay community know that Latinos exist in the gay community,' Cardona said.
Serving that double purpose is one of the core reasons why Amigas Latinas chooses to provide much of its services for Latina lesbians and bisexuals only, and allows members to speak in Spanish if they want—without translation. After all, the organization has seen a spike in immigrant and Spanish-speaking women over the years. According to Cardona, having an affinity group such as Amigas Latinas is crucial, even today. Although the mainstream LGBT community is more welcoming of queers of color, she said, 'affinity groups don't necessarily exist because of being excluded; it's more about affinity.' It's not just a social service agency, but a celebratory space for Latina lesbians to be with each other. Ideally, Cardona added, 'I want to be able to send a woman to Center on Halsted or Howard Brown for competent bilingual services, and also have her come to us for services or celebratory space.'
Right now, Amigas Latinas is at a crossroads. Its future goals are to hire staff to ease the workload, gain more Latina financial supporters, gather more support groups for domestic violence, obtain an office at the Center on Halsted, hire an executive director, work with Latino religious leaders and reach out to Latina youth. In addition, the group will soon conduct a citywide community survey to learn more about the Latina community.
After 10 years, Cardona said, the board realizes it cannot stop. 'There are Latina women coming out every day,' she said. 'You walk through this world coming out all of the time. If you are Latina and you don't speak English very well and you're undocumented, you bet you are going to come to us.'
On July 16, the organization will celebrate its 'Diamond' anniversary with a dance at Plumbers Union Hall at 1340 W. Washington, 7 p.m. . A diamond pendant will be raffled along with original artwork by member Mabel Vilner.
Above all, Amigas Latinas hopes to continue to provide a space where Latina lesbians can celebrate their identity. 'I would like to think these women don't apologize for who they are,' Cardona said. 'Women leave our activities and events a little bit more fortified.'
