Gays y Latinos form alianza

I’m sitting in Theater 3 at The Denver FilmCenter on Colfax. Surrounding me are some of Colorado’s greatest political minds and most connected gays: Ted Trimpa, Morris Price, Nita Henry, Brad Clark and Katina Banks.

A couple of rows in front of me is Isaias Vasquez. Chances are you’ve never heard of him. But you’re going to want to remember his name.

Now showing, is the movie Mosquita y Mari. This 2012 film tells the story of two young Chicanas growing up in Huffington Park, a densely Hispanic neighborhood in Los Angles.

This coming of age film isn’t just about two baby dykes finding their way to each other. No, we’ve been there done that (see Go Fish). No, this modern-day tale of lesbian love is much more complicated. Yolanda is a U.S.-born Chicana while the object of her affection, Mari, was born in Mexico. As the story goes, Mari immigrated to California illegally as a child with her family.

The Saturday screening of Mosquita y Mari was part of the Cinema Q Film Festival produced by the Denver Film Society. And this particular movie was sponsored in part by One Colorado, the state’s largest LGBT advocacy organization.

One Colorado did not choose to sponsor this film for it’s a coming-of-age-lesbian story. But because of it’s a coming-of-age-undocumented-immigrant-lesbian story.

While the majority of us have been wrapped up in fighting for the Colorado Civil Union Act, One Colorado has been strengthening its ties with Latino and immigrant-rights organizations to form a stronger progressive coalition to advance a broad social justice agenda.

It’s no secret the gays and Latinos have been working closer together for about two years. In its first year, One Colorado signed on as a coalition partner and fought for the Colorado ASSET bill that would have established a new tuition level for children of undocumented immigrants who have graduated from a public high school. They fought for it again this year.

Meanwhile, Durango-based immigrant-rights group Compañeros stood with One Colorado as an advocate for the civil union legislation even after the Catholic Campaign for Human Development yanked a $30,000 grant.

$30,000 in donations was raised for Compañeros after the story went public in The New York Times. The Gill Foundation went on to match those donations, dollar-for-dollar. And later this month, One Colorado will honor Compañeros at the Ally Awards.

The most recent development in the marriage between the LGBT and Latino communities is the strategic partnership between One Colorado and the Colorado Immigrants Rights Coalition that was inked in April.

One Colorado’s Executive Director Brad Clark tells me the coming together of the two groups has been as much organic as it was needed.

He pointed to One Colorado’s initial community survey that showed people of color who responded identified racism as one of their top concerns.

At first, the two groups simply supported each others causes and events, Clark told me. But as victories and setbacks for both organizations continue to run parallel, joining forces just seemed like “the right thing to do,” he said.

So, Love Knows No Boarders, an alliance building project was born and an organizer, Isaias Vasquez, was hired to spearhead it.

Isaias lives in two worlds.

Not only is the 20-year-old gay, he’s also an undocumented immigrant who came to Denver 12 years ago.

Born in Zacatecas, Mexico, this gaytino is the manifestation of the agreement between One Colorado and CIRC and what it stands for — the intersectionality of identities.

His job is to bring the LGBT and Latino communities together, find common values and bridge the gaps.

It is Isaias’s belief, along with One Colorado’s and CIRC’s, that we have more in common than we might realize.

The lowest hanging fruit, or so I’m told, is our common oppressors.

“The same people who killed the civil union bill killed ASSET,” Isaias said.

(See state Rep. Robert Ramirez, cross-reference Speaker Frank McNulty, GOP en masse.)

Moreover, there are members of the LGBT community who are not only Latino but who are undocumented and, if my math is correct, there are members of the Latino and undocumented communities who are LGBT. And — long division here — there are dozens if not hundreds of Colorado couples in binational relationships who not only face the struggles of living sans civil unions, but the fear of deportation.

Without comprehensive immigration reform — OK, that’s a larger problem then McNulty — those couples can never have equality.

But, the argument has been made to me, we have to start somewhere.

And while Isaias has dipped his toes in the water — helping organize a group of gays and undocumented immigrants to march in Denver’s PrideFest Parade and the Mosquita viewing — the real journey will begin Aug. 14 at the First Unitarian Church at 14th Avenue and Lafayette when he takes his Love Knows No Boarders program on the road for an eight-city tour.

“We have to tell our stories,” he said. “We have to let the larger LGBT community know we’re here.”

Isaias started telling his story as a sophomore in high school. In the middle of his Bruce Randolph High School speech class, he stood up and shared that he was gay. He would later share that he was also undocumented.

“I needed to say this. When I say it, it feels like it frees me.”

Speaking of sharing stories, after the movie ended, five local women of color shared their own about the intersection of sexuality, race and immigration.

Isaias moderated the conversation.

“Mosquita and Mari, they are right here, in front of you,” he said.

And he wasn’t talking about the silver screen.

Reach associate publisher Nic Garcia at nic@outfrontonline.com.