Learn about the founding, context, and past successes of Orgullo en Accîon.

1. OUR ROOTS, A HISTORY OF

2. A group Latino/a LGBTQQ community
members united in working for social and
political change. Our goals are to promote
education, provide leadership development,
and to increase Latino/a LGBTQQ awareness
within communities.
MISSION

3. FORMATION
National Latino/a Gay Bisexual Transgender Organization (LLEGO)
Closed 08/2004
Sigmos Adelante Conference
10/2004
Creating Change
11/2004
Sigmos Adelante Chicago
03/2005
Due to the closing of LLEGO, the 2004 Encuentro was cancelled.
Entre Hermanos, the hosting organization in Seattle, Washington,
sponsored the Sigmos Adelante Conference to discuss the
implications of LLEGO closing and the Latin@ LGBTQQ
community’s next steps.

4. FORMATION
Five Chicago Activists Attended
Sigamos Adelante Chicago El Foro Orgullo en Accion
The original five activists organized to create a group to
work on social and political issues impacting Latina/o
LGBTQQ communities locally within Chicago, before
trying to rebuild a national organization.

5.  Participated in Call for Action campaigns, promoted
Latin@ LGBTQQ community mobilization to respond
to important political and social issues impacting
LGBTQQ Latin@s in local, regional, and national
levels.
 Created strong and united Latin@ LGBTQQ
contingents in multiple marches and demonstrations
(LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights, workers rights,
anti-war, etc).
 Created strong collaborations with local, regional,
and national grassroots groups, collectives, and
community based organizations.
EVOLUTION

6.  (In the context of a segregated city such as Chicago) OEA attempts to bring
LGBTQQ Latin@s (from various gender, sexual, and cultural identities)
together at the same table to discuss, create, and implement action steps and
plans to organize around important political and social issues impacting
LGBTQQ Latin@s within the Chicago land and abroad.
 Created the first Chicago Latin@ LGBTQQ Pride event, which has evolved to
OEA’s Annual Signature Event to celebrate our multiple identities, cultures,
families, intergenerational community members, and to increase Latin@
LGBTQQ awareness.
 OEA hosted Chicago’s 1st Latino/a LGBTQQ Leadership Summit (2006). Topics
included: Latino LGBT history, Fundraising, Grant Writing, Agency Longevity,
Polices & Procedures, Adoption, Marriage, Immigration, Deportation, and
Lobbying & Legislation. Speakers conducted these educational and leadership -
development forums in an attempt to inspire and foster Latin@ LGBTQQ
leaders of future generations to come.
WHAT MAKES OEA UNIQUE?

7. OEA LEADERSHIP SUMMIT

8. It was a new group that
included a bit more
diversification than
other groups.
OEA is about taking
social & political
actions and creating
movements for all
LGBTQQ Latin@s
communities which is
very unique and
revolutionary.
Co-founder
Introduction by a
participating board
member.
Envisioned stronger
solidarity within
Latina/o LGBTQQ
communities around
social and political
issues.
Activist
HOW DID YOU COME TO PARTICIPATE
IN THIS WORK?

9.  To demonstrate OEA’s name, vision, and presence as a new
grassroots collective/group emerging within the context of many
already-established organizations.
 Recruitment of Board Members and low retention.
 OEA membership, involvement, and development.
 Limited collaboration from other LGBTQQ Organizations around
the planning of Latin@ pride.
 Predominantly LGBTQQ resources located in the north side.
 Lack of LGBTQQ awareness in some neighborhoods and
communities of Chicago.
CHALLENGES

10.  Organizing Latin@ LGBTQQ community members to volunteer
and participate in community demonstrations and events.
 Narrow communication deliveries- need to be diversified (not just
by email or postings in the same communities).
 OEA board members experience high levels of burn-out, (unable
to be present in numerous LGBTQQ events) which created a
sense of OEA not being present or supportive of community
efforts.
CHALLENGES

11.  LGBTQQ communities had to get to know OEA’s mission, and
see the organization’s follow-through and accountability in our
work.
 Same people respond and there is not a lot of action taken.
 For numerous community members, OEA Latina/o LGBTQQ
Pride Picnic was a positive and significant event in their lives
and for our communities. However, to some it was not seen as a
necessary event for Latina/o communities. Overall lack of
community support in helping to create or sustain the event.
COMMUNITY RESPONSES

12.  LGBTQQ Latin@s (and
LGBTQQ people of color)
have begun organizing
together to discuss and
address issues of immigration
and how they are impacting
our communities.
 LGBTQQ awareness has
increased in certain
neighborhoods and
communities.
 Creation of safe places where
LGBTQQ families are
welcomed.
 OEA , Amigas Latinas, &
CLIA (to name a few) have
added transgender people to
their mission statement and
are attempting to be more
inclusive in their services
and programs.
 There has been more
LGBTQQ youth involvement
around volunteering and
participating in events and
demonstrations.
COMMUNITY CHANGES
SINCE OEA

13.  Center on Halsted opened the
doors to their new home on
April 30th, 2007.
 Launch and completion of
Amigas Latinas Proyecto
Latina Survey in 2007.
 LGBTQQ health workshops
and events focused on body
image, reproductive health,
and breast cancer awareness.
 Ambiente del Paseo
(LGBTQ) collective’s launch
of the 2008 "Más Color,
Más Poder" campaign
against homophobia /
transphobia in our
communities.
 LGBTQQ spiritual awareness
and services within our
communities Achurch4me.
COMMUNITY CHANGES SINCE OEA

14.  Work to increase solidarity
among LGBTQQ Latin@s (and
LGBTQQ people of color) in
the Chicagoland area in order
to create more unified and
powerful responses to social
and political issues
disproportionately impacting
our communities.
 Diversification of LGBTQQ
communities (working class,
families, other neighborhoods,
accessibility).
 LGBTQQ reproductive health
and comprehensive health care.
 Youth friendly events.
 Transgender awareness and
education in all communities.
 Inclusion of communities
with disabilities- collaboration
with Feminist Response In
Disability Activism (F.R.I.D.A)
and other groups to work on
social and political issues.
WHAT ARE EMERGING NEEDS THAT YOUR
ORGANIZATION HAS OBSERVED?

15.  Spiritual awareness and access
to LGBTQ-friendly services
(individual context or description).
 Increase in numbers of LGBTQQ
homeless youth in Chicago
 Need access to more resources:
monetary, community, and
volunteers.
 Language Barriers in
outreaching to our LGBTQQ
families who work in the factories,
who don't speak English and who
have children.
 Family oriented events with
child care (during events).
 Proyecto Latina Survey results
identified some of these issues as
those most impacting LBTQ
Latinas: financial hardship,
relationship issues, discrimination,
difficulty negotiating identity with
family, and an overall lack of
accessible services (health care,
mental health services,
immigration services, etc.).
Amigas Latinas Project Latina:
Discovering All of Us. 2007
WHAT ARE EMERGING NEEDS THAT YOUR
ORGANIZATION HAS OBSERVED?

16. Most organizations
target and outreach
within the same
communities- it will
remain the same,
unless we organize
together as
organizations and
collectives to create
change in all
communities.
We hope to see
LGBTQQ Latin@s
and LGBTQQ people
of color continue to
work together to
advocate for and
address issues that
are
disproportionately
impacting our
communities.
BASED ON YOUR EXPERIENCES, WHERE
DO YOU SEE THE COMMUNITY GOING?

17.  We hope to see LGBTQ
organizations in Chicago
expand their agendas beyond
issues of gay marriage, to
include issues such as
racism, transphobia, sexism,
reproductive rights, the
prison industrial complex,
police brutality,
immigration, workers rights,
the economy, war, etc, all of
which are issues impacting
LGBTQQ communities
(though not traditionally
thought of as such).
 OEA believes that one
person's oppression is
everyone's oppression, and that
no one is free until all are free.
We hope that LGBTQQ
organizations nationwide will
begin to understand and
address the very interlocking
nature of our oppressions.
BASED ON YOUR EXPERIENCES, WHERE
DO YOU SEE THE COMMUNITY GOING?

18. CHICAGO'S
2008 MAY DAY MARCH

19.  OEA has organized, marched, and participated in protests for
immigrant rights, workers rights, and LGBTQQ rights, such as
the Matthew Shepard March with Gay Liberation Network, Dyke
March and May 1 March (among others).
 Conversation on Same-Sex Coupling: Black & Latino Layers of
Discrimination, A Special Evening to Discuss LGBT Black
&Latino Families.
 Connect Yourself Chicago LGBTQ Immigrant Alliance
Community Forum.
 “A Girl Like Me” film and discussion with Alejandra Aranda and
Sebastian Colon.
OEA PARTNERSHIPS/EVENTS

20. DYKE MARCH 2008

21.  October 11, 2007, The First Latin@ LGBTQ-A Conference.
 Ambiente del Paseo "Mas Color, Mas Poder”
 Lambda Legal “Freedom to Marry”
 Amigas Latinas, ALMA, Chicago Windy City Black Pride,
Howard Brown, Broadway Youth Center, Center on Halsted,
PRCC, Steamworks, Homofrecuencia Radio Arte, National
Museum of Mexican Art, and many more.
OEA PARTNERSHIPS/EVENTS

22.  Comprehensive OEA Latina/o LGBTQQ Pride
 Growth, community building and diversification of
outreach and education. Building solidarity with other
organizations beyond LGBTQQ orgs.
 Orgullo En Accion hopes to effectively mobilize members
of various LGBTQQ communities (particularly
communities of color) to begin to advocate for and
address issues that are affecting our many communities.
WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE FUTURE
OF YOUR AGENCY?

23.  We hope to aid in building a unified and powerful movement of
LGBTQQ Latin@s (together with our allies) to begin to address
and make a difference around various social and political
issues that are disproportionately impacting our communities.
 Create a unified LGBTQQ Latin@ national presence that can
accomplish some of the following: influence important legislation
or policy; help to create more accessible and culturally competent
services for LGBTQQ Latin@s; and to respond effectively to
various issues affecting our communities.
WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE FUTURE
OF YOUR AGENCY?

24. 1st ANNUAL OEA LATINA/O
LGBTQQ PRIDE 2006

25. OEA BOARD MEMBERS
(PRIDE 2007)

26. ARTISTS

27. ARTISTS

28. ARTISTS

29. ARTISTS

30. INTERGENERATIONAL & FAMILY
ACTIVITIES

31. FAMILIA: COMMUNITY

32. FAMILIA: COMMUNITY

33. FAMILIA: COMMUNITY

34. FAMILIA: COMMUNITY

35. FAMILIA: COMMUNITY

36.  Pictures from Ed Negron and Freddy Miranda
 Amigas Latinas. Project Latina: Discovering All of Us. 2007
 http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/LatinaPrideJuly2007/
 http://www.chicagofreepress.com/node/54, photos by Gary
Barlow
 www.orgulloenaccion.org
SOURCES