THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

With the recent murders of so many Latinx LGBTQA people in Orlando, this edition of the series had more heft and a more immediate level of purpose. The interview subjects for the evening were trans activists Franky Piña and Maritxa Vidal, and the forum was dedicated to the memory of the Pulse nightclub victims.

Emcee Antonio Elizondo started the evening with a dedication of the event before reading the names of all 49 victims of the Pulse shooting. Next came an acoustic performance by Elijah Fallas, then the evening promptly dovetailed into the interview segment of the forum.

With Emmanuel Garcia moderating, Latinx activist Franky Piña spoke about how he came to this country and became an out activist when he realized the U.S. was far from what he expected.

Piña, Vives Q noted, is a writer, graphic designer, and videographer. In January 2015, at the age of 47, he reconciled with himself and accepted his gender identity. He openly began his gender transition from cis male to trans/queer. Currently, he is the editorial manager of the online magazine El BeiSMan. Before that, he co-founded several past and present cultural and literary magazines in Chicago: Fe de erratas, zorros y erizos, Tropel and Contratiempo. He is the co-author of the book Rudy Lozano: His Life, His People ( 1991 ). Piña was featured in Voces en el viento: Nuevas ficciones desde Chicago ( 1999 ). He functioned both as editor and publisher of Marcos Raya: Fetishizing the Imaginary ( 2004 ), The Art of Gabriel Villa ( 2007 ), René Arceo: Between the Instinctive and the Rational ( 2010 ), Sculpture by Alfonso Piloto Nieves Ruiz ( 2014 ).

Maritxa Vidal was interviewed next, and she spoke about her family's immigration from Cuba and growing up in Skokie, Illinois. She touched on a period where she was harassed by police routinely because of her clothing. She also spoke about her past addiction to drugs, her rehabilitation and her becoming involved in community activism.

When speaking on her activism Vidal said, "You can talk 'til the cows come home but you have to back that up with action. … Change comes with revolution. … I don't want something special, I want what everybody else has."

Vidal also stated, "I'm here, I'll be 60 at the end of next week and I'll be damned if I'm going back in that closet."

Vidal has worked for the Puerto Rican Cultural Center-VIDA/SIDA for over 15 years. She provides bilingual and culturally sensitive HIV/AIDS education, counseling and testing in Chicago and 11 suburbs. In addition to working to eradicate the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Vidal is also deeply committed to fighting for the rights of the LGBTQIA community, especially her transgender sisters and those who are undocumented. Presently, she is an executive board member for the TransLatina Coalition and a co-chair for its Chicago chapter. The TransLatina Coalition is a national association to increase equality for TransLatinas, including undocumented TransLatinas, in the USA and Puerto Rico.

The evening then culminated in a series of performances which included spoken word ( from Karari Olvera and David Victor Pavon ), drag performance ( by first-time performer Envy Firebender ), dance ( two performances from Yassss Productions ) and a special performance from Milani Ninja who performed "Heaven" by Beyoncé while volunteers from the audience surrounded the performance area with placards showing the victims of the Pulse shooting.

The next First Tuesday event is Aug. 2 at the National Museum of Mexican Art. Community partners for the event were the Chicago Freedom School, Project Vida, Gozamos, United Latino Pride, Queer Youth Exploring Spirituality ( QYES ), ALMA, and The ElevArte Community Studio.

The video playlist below contains multiple videos. Choose Playlist in the top left hand corner to watch videos out of order, if preferred.