The first thing one notices about Maritxa Vidal, 57, is a warmth and openness that make you feel immediately at ease.
Everyone on Division Street seems to know Vidal. "They call me the mayor or la princesa del paseo," Vidal joked. With a black flowy dress, impeccably styled short brown hair and a friendly face, passersby can't help but be drawn to her.
Vidal was recently appointed the director of the health center of Vida/SIDA, a nonprofit that addresses HIV/AIDS in the Latino community. Vidal absolutely loves the organization and is proud of the work they do for the community.
However, things weren't always this perfect for her. As a transgender Latina in Chicago, Vidal had a long and difficult path to get to this point in her life.
Vidal and her family immigrated from Havana, Cuba in 1966. Though her parents were very loving, she said, her childhood was challenging because her parents were so often living paycheck to paycheck. At the age of 15 she began working the second shift at a factory in Skokie with her father. In addition to the poverty she faced, she began to grapple with her gender identity.
"I knew I was different," Vidal said. Her mother, brother, and sister accepted her immediately, but it took about a year for her father to come around. Although her mother loved her, Vidal said she was concerned because "she knew the road that was ahead."
After Vidal transitioned in the 1970s, she was arrested numerous times simply for being who she was. "During that time, if you didn't use at least three articles of male clothing, you could be arrested," she said. "Just for trying to feel comfortable in my own skin."
The mid-'80s became even more challenging for Vidal. During the height of the AIDS epidemic, many of her friends diedsome the same year they were diagnosedand this inevitably took a toll on her mental health. She began abusing drugs to cope. "I couldn't deal with the pain of losing loved ones," she said. "The drugs took over me. I lost my self-esteem. I lost myself. I ended up being homeless." To survive, there were times Vidal resorted to sex work.
Although she was no stranger to discrimination, this was a time in which she frequently experienced hatred, Vidal said. When she attempted to rent a studio, for instance, the landlord told her that he didn't rent to people like her. Because of machismo and Catholicism in the Latino community, she said there continues to be a lot of stigma surrounding sex, homosexuality, transgender people and HIV/AIDS. And while living on the streets of Humboldt Park, she began to understand the suffering of drug addicts, LGBTQ people, and those who were living with HIV/AIDS.
"That's when the Puerto Rican Cultural Center saw that need and opened Vida/SIDA," she said. "To teach, to empower. At that time, nobody knew what was going on." Founded in 1972, the Puerto Rican Cultural Center ( PRCC ) is a non-profit community-based umbrella institution that serves Chicago's Latino community. They opened Vida/SIDA in 1992 to address the growing HIV/AIDS crisis.
Vidal said that many myths about the disease circulated during this time. Many of the funerals for people who died from AIDS complications were closed-casket. During wakes, people were often on the sidewalks because they were afraid they might contract the disease. Some also believed it was spread through hugs or handshakes.
"They were very sad times for our community. And not just the gay community, but the human community," Vidal said.
In 1992, Vidal decided to seek treatment for her drug addiction. After her recovery, when her head was clear, she said, she became very politically involved and began working and volunteering at various nonprofits. She began volunteering at Vida/SIDA in 1999 and later became an outreach worker and health educator. Part of her job was to give presentations on HIV/AIDS in high schools, colleges, community center. Once she even gave a presentation at a bridal shower. "We always went outside the box," Vidal said.
One of her most memorable outreach experiences, she said, was when she and her colleague attended an event to commemorate a young man's death. His mother wanted to celebrate her son's life on the one-year anniversary of his death. Because she didn't want another young man or woman to die like her son, she asked Vida/SIDA to give a presentation. Vidal said the crowd there was very mixedheterosexuals, gays, gang members. "People were listening one hundred percent, and it was a crowd you would't expect. We arrived at 9 p.m. and stayed until 4 a.m. It was beautiful," she said.
"I love the work I do. The Puerto Rican Cultural Center gave me a big chance," she said. "They realize that sometimes people do fall down, and some places might kick you or step over you, but the PRCC sees that you get up and dust yourself off, they will lend you a hand." Vidal said that part of what also makes the center great is that it's "from the community, for the community, and by the community."
On May 16, Vidal was one of five women honored with the Henrietta Lacks Righteous Contributor Award at Mercy Hospital Pavilion for her social justice work throughout the years. And though she is proud of all the strides the Latino and LGBTQ communities have made, she said there is still so much work ahead, particularly when it comes to health insurance, poverty, and all the barriers undocumented Latinos continue to face.
"I feel like I've been fighting the stigma of HIV/AIDS for 30 years, but it's taking longer than I thought," she said.