Latinx Pride Indy launches Generación Orgullo campaign, sheds light on challenges
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — While there will be a lot of festivities happening this month the Latinx community will be celebrating a milestone in the gay rights movement.
Pride Month is more than just a celebration. According to Indy Pride, it’s also an opportunity to raise awareness, and in the Latinx community, there’s a new campaign that is shedding light on their challenges and triumphs.
“It’s a culmination of different generations, years of fighting to get to where we are today,” said Jose Castillo-Jimenez, vice president of community at Indy Pride.
The campaign is called Generación Orgullo or Pride Generation.
Jimenez says it focuses on how far they’ve come and their ongoing fight for equality.
“Generacion Orgullo is I think it’s a build-up of all the work that different generations have done to get to where we are today. To be able to be prideful, to be able to smile, dance, and just show who we really are and showcase our community,” Jimenez said.
Jaime Gonzales, the co-chair of Latinx Pride Indy, said, “It takes community. It definitely takes at least a few of us to break away from the norms, to break away from the silence, and then bring your community along with you.”
According to Jimenez, many Latinx LGBTQ community members have had negative experiences with religion because of how they identify themselves.
“We are born into like you know Dios, God, las vírgenes, los santos. Like all those things, and you feel like you’re losing a part of you because you want to be your true self and that’s not everybody,” Jimenez said.
Gonzales said, “It’s one of those things where I had to choose myself and be OK with myself and then be OK with other people not being OK with who I am.”
Despite these challenges, the group says there is hope.
“There’s a lot of trauma. There’s a lot of PTSD. There’s a lot of emotional and mental health issues that come with some of that, but I think everybody just has to come to terms and figure out what works for them,” Jimenez said.
Indy Pride will host its Latinx Pride Generación Orgullo event on June 24 at The Vogue Theatre.