A few months ago, my dad and I had one of the most remarkable conversations ever. This was the first time that I had ever taken the chance to actually talk to him about what he thought about my sexual orientation.
Prior to this conversation, my father had always been a silent supporter—I knew he believed in equal rights for the LGBTQ community, but he had never really voiced any support for the work that I do. During our conversation, I asked him what he thought about having two gay sons. He responded by reminding me of why my mom and he decided to leave everything behind and immigrate to the United States from Mexico.
Like many immigrants, my parents left their rural hometowns in search of a better future for my brothers and me. Part of that better future, my dad explained, was being able to live our lives comfortably—and that included being queer. That was the reason why my mom was unable to fully accept my sexuality. She was not upset because I was breaking Catholic dogma; rather, she was afraid because she could not protect me from homophobia.
To them, immigrating was about being safe, but being out put me in danger, according to them. My dad continued with affirming that my quest to find someone to love is a continuation of that immigrant story. He said, "I don't care that you will one day fall in love with another man. What I care the most is that you find someone who will love you and treat you with the respect that you deserve."
Our fight to have our love validated and respected is interconnected with our immigrant struggle to find a better future. Both communities yearn to be treated as humans with dignity. The bridging of these communities (LGBTQ and immigrant) has occurred with the labor of those who identify within both communities. The struggle and ardent activism of the undocuqueer movement, undocumented queer youth, highlights how our intersecting identities manifest themselves in our daily lives. As a queer Latino immigrant, I realize that there is no way that I can separate any of my identities. As much as I am queer, I am Latino as I am an immigrant. These three identities have played a role in the way my life has shaped up to be.
The LGBT community needs to be conscious of the fact that LGBT immigrants experience another layer of barriers that LGBT citizens are immune from. Many LGBT immigrants have a hard time accessing LGBTQ-specific resources. In many instances, the resources are not culturally sensitive or they are not available in languages other than English. There are also several resources that are inaccessible to LGBTQ immigrants because they require proof of residency.
For some, especially LGBTQ youth, these resources are a matter of life and death—and given the catastrophic youth suicide epidemic, it is imperative that we address this issue. Therefore, if our movement wants to be an all-encompassing one, the LGBTQ community needs to not just stand in solidarity with the immigrant rights movement but needs to be a part of the movement.
While most LGBT organizations have focused on binational couples, with one partner being a U.S citizen and the other being an undocumented immigrant, it is important to note that only 9 percent of LGBT immigrants are in a same-sex relationship. Therefore, there is a larger population of LGBT immigrants that are not in a relationship.
According to a report by The Williams Institute, "LGBT Adult Immigrants in the United States," (Gates 2013) there are approximately 904,000 LGBT-identified immigrants. Specifically, there are 267,000 LGBT-indentified undocumented immigrants, which account for 2.7 percent out of all undocumented immigrants.
While that number may seem small, our community's investment should be huge. The LGBTQ community is inherently diverse, there are people from all races, ethnicities, genders, faiths and economic backgrounds who identify within our community. And as the demographics of the country change, it is crucial that we begin to look closely at how our community and our allies are also changing.
According to every recent poll, Latinos continue to support equality for the LGBTQ community in huge numbers; in many polls, the support from Latinos is significantly larger than the national average. According to the latest poll by Latino Decision, approximately two-thirds of Latino voters are in favor of an LGBT inclusive immigration reform. The Latino/a leadership and community is ready to collaborate and work with the LGBT communities in addressing these fundamentals inequalities. It is imperative that we are also ready and willing to work in partnership and achieve equal rights for all people, whether LGBT and/or immigrant.
Immigration is not just an issue about good policy; it is about humanity and families. As LGBTQ people, we understand first-hand what it means to fight for our lives and our families.
Luis Roman is the Uniting America Fellow with ICIRR and Lambda Legal.** For more information and ways to get involved, please contact Luis at LRoman@lambdalegal.org .
(**Title and organizations for identification purposes only)
