A group of Latinx Queer people spoke about the future as Pride Month 2024 began in the present.
Saturday afternoon, the Matheson Museum hosted four Latinx queer members of the Gainesville community to share stories about the different ways they find joy in expressing their identities.
The discussion was titled “Otro Mundo es Posible: Queer Latinx Joy in Florida,” which translates as “Another World Is Possible.”
Cecilia Luna is a recent alumni of the UF Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies program. She moderated the discussion.
The panelists were all participants in Luna’s graduate thesis project about gender-inclusive language. The goal of their project was to bring trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people into the discussion of gender-inclusive language in the Latinx community.
The project was performed in two parts: a one-hour oral interview and then an art session. The participants’ creations were displayed at the discussion.
Luna’s project and the discussion focused on the intersectionality between Hispanic and Latino culture and queer culture. Many words and nouns in Spanish exist in a binary, Luna said. Masculine words are denoted by an “o” ending and feminine words by an “a” ending.
“The introduction of the ‘x’ ending and the ‘e’ endings offered new opportunities for expanding what the binary can be,” they said.
Latinx and Latine is a gender-neutral way to describe a person of Latin American heritage.
She began the conversation by asking the panelists what the word “Latinx” means to them.
Nelida Jean-Baptiste Pellot was born in Puerto Rico and is of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent.
They said, “the term Latinx is like an all inclusive, all encompassing, every person– regardless of gender identity or gender expression from the gender expanse.”
Pellot continued to discuss the importance of having a language that includes their identity.
“What it means to your siblings is something greater than what it would mean to you. You don’t get to necessarily experience that joy and that euphoria that we get when we’re included. And so that push back on Latinx or Latine is kind of… kind of scary.”
Michelle Boyd was born in Mexico and as a first-generation American noted how much of the discourse surrounding the term “Latinx” has come from America.
“I feel like a lot of this discourse isn’t happening in native countries. It seems to be happening here in the States with folks that are… you know, immigrated here young or are first generation like myself,” she said.
Jules Vento responded to Boyd’s comment by pointing out that people who live in Latin American countries don’t typically call themselves “Latin American.”
“We hold this very special identity as people who are in America of Latin American backgrounds,” they said.
Vento, who moved to Florida from Puerto Rico, discussed how many of their initial experiences in the queer community were with white people.
“My first exposure to the term Latinx was honestly not the most positive,” Vento said.
They said how, at the time, they were under the impression that Latinx was a term white people used to bring “this identity” into an American political space. They said they’ve since learned it is not.
Carolina Cotten shared how growing up she would watch reruns of “The Adventures of Superman.” She said when she didn’t even know what a crossdresser was, she wanted to be like Lois Lane. As a trans-lesbian woman, it took her some time to realize what she was feeling was more than just “gay.”
“This woman was there all the time, since early beginning. That's why she wanted to be a nun, she wanted to be Lois Lane,” she said.
Pellot talked about how allowing youth the space to share their feelings about gender and sex with their parents can help them not have to navigate those feelings alone.
“I went through a lot of things to reach the person I am today and it is in part because of the lack of language, the lack of knowledge, the things that we prohibit younger youth from accessing,” they said.
Throughout the hour-long discussion, the panelists shared the ways they’ve navigated their own identities.
Vento said they are grateful to have found a Latinx queer community to find solace in. Cotten said she is glad she has been able to socially identify as Latina for three years. Pellot said they think that discovering themselves as Latinx, Afro-Latinx, Queer, and non-binary has been both beautiful and chaotic.
The group then shared how all of these oral histories or “testimonios” were expressed in the artworks they created.
“I think art speaks for people when they’re not around,” Pellot said.
Boyd said she was inspired by the idea of solving for “x” when making her Spanish tile themed artwork.
“In my mind, it was like all coming together to solve ‘x’ as if we actually need to solve it,” she said.
Luna said she chose art as a medium for her project because she wanted to go beyond the behaviors that statistics and surveys measure.
“When you're talking about marginalized identities and intersectionality, art can be really powerful for all of that,” she said.
Luna said the title “Otro Mundo Es Posible,” was inspired by a recent panel at an Association for Jotería Arts, Activism and Scholarship conference where they discussed institutionalized violence. Luna said she thought it was important to tell the stories of what they as a group are struggling with.
“We wanted to focus on how art can be a pathway for enacting those new futures that maybe we don't have the words for yet. So it was all about centering joy, centering hope, and offering ways to navigate our future ahead,” they said.
Luna said she hopes this discussion will inspire others of intersectional LGBTQ+ identities to seek community in Gainesville.
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