Exhibit: Latino/a/x HIV/AIDS activists & language barriers
En una serie de carteles, Latino/a/x Activistas del VIH abogan a través de las barreras de idioma en los Estados Unidos: una exposición.
Subtitle translation: In a series of posters, Latino/a/x HIV Activists advocate across language barriers in the USA: an exhibit.
Although the AIDS epidemic doesn't hold the same stigma in 2021 as it did in the late 20th century, there's still a lot of cultural evidence of struggles in different communities. One of those communities that faced their own set of struggles was anyone who identified as both queer and Latinx. As someone who associated with both the queer and Latinx community, I wanted to explore the question of how did activists advocate and educate around language barriers? I also aimed to make this digital exhibit as user friendly and interactive as possible, with many links and a digital map featuring the locations of all the members of the Latino Caucus of ACT UP.
Activism: Silencio = Muerte
ACT UP Latino: "¿Quienes somos?"
Although the specific details are unknown (such as the author, date, what demonstration this was a part of), this poster serves as a useful example of how Latino/a/x ACT UP members made posters accessible and informative to those who don't know how to understand English. "¿Quienes somos?" translates to "who are we?" The paragraph below it translates to: "The Latinos/as activists against AIDS, we are a caucus of the AIDS Coalition, showing that we can unite (ACT UP, New York) together and dedicate our actions to deter the AIDS crisis." "Silencio=Muerte" directly translates to "Silence=Death," the slogan Gay activists used alongside the inverted pink triangle from the Holocaust to label gay people.
The Latinx Project at NYU interviewed Julian de Mayo of the Latino ACT UP caucus; he noted the "obvious parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and the global AIDS crisis" because "AIDS activists were once on the frontlines of a deadly infectious outbreak." It's common knowledge that people of color struggle the most during a public health crisis because of barriers like education, language, and access to resources. A line on the poster presented here directly translates to "we are here because AIDS is the principal cause of death in Latinos and Latinas, between the ages of 24-44 years in New York City."
According to a report from the Pew Research Center , "about half [of surveyed Latinos] say a family member or close friend has been hospitalized or died from the coronavirus, and a similar share say they or someone in their household has lost a job or taken a pay cut during the pandemic." Many communities face unique struggles under the umbrella of a larger struggle; for instance, De Mayo notes that among gay Latinos, intravenous drug use was the primary transmitter of AIDS, which varies from white gay men. However, "that was not being talked about in Latino communities," and the absence of Latino leadership brought people (like those in the Latino caucus) together. At the bottom of the poster, one of the calls to action translates to "every hour, a Latino dies of AIDS."
The fact the poster is entirely in Spanish shows the urgency to educate members of a specific community in a way that appeals to values of unity motivates people to get involved because it could happen to anyone. There is a phone number with the phrase "for more information" along with a question asking the reader, "what are you going to do to help end the AIDS crisis?" This poster is perhaps the most literal example of overcoming language barriers while being an activist against HIV/AIDS.
INS wants you out: Immigration and AIDS laws
Part of the César Carrasco (an ACT UP Latino Caucus member) collection at the New York Public Library, a poster advertising a demonstration on Federal Plaza in New York City. Mandatory HIV testing became a part of the immigration process, and ACT UP encouraged people to fight against it, as they claimed anyone should "not be denied [residency to the U.S.] on the grounds of HIV or AIDS status."
A 1 987 piece from the New York Times archives notes how on June 3, "the Senate voted overwhelmingly today to require immigrants to be tested for the AIDS virus and to exclude them if they showed evidence of infection." The proposal was approved in Congress by a vote of 96 to 0 and was "the first move in Congress to require testing for AIDS virus infection." Then-president Ronald Regan decided to "instruct the Immigration and Naturalization Service to add the AIDS infection to the list of dangerous diseases immigrants are tested for currently."
Immigration and Naturalization Service, also known as INS, is written in red on the helmet of the authority member on the poster. An ironic spin on the American "I want you" poster, asking people to enlist in the U.S. Army , aims to eliminate testing status as a factor when immigrating to the states. The sign also includes how the INS and the federal government should not discriminate during the naturalization process based on "sexual orientation, race, national or ethnic origin, previous chemical addiction, or political affiliation." It wasn't until October of 2009 when President Obama "announced the end of a 22-year ban on travel to the United States by people who had tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS, fulfilling a promise he made to gay advocates and acting to eliminate a restriction he said was "rooted in fear rather than fact."
As is, AIDS was already impacting marginalized groups at more significant numbers with access to fewer resources and lifelines; immigration placing a ban on those with HIV/AIDS further accentuated the stigma behind the disease, leaving struggling people to suffer in third-world countries. The poster takes a similar stance that President Obama did when he repealed this law in 2009; “Now, we talk about reducing the stigma of this disease, yet we’ve treated a visitor living with it as a threat.”
Stop the Church: condoms and abortion rights
Before there was a Latina/o Caucus of ACT UP, Latina/o ACT UP members organized and participated in demonstrations against the Catholic Church (in NYC) in 1989 and 1990. The Spanish Language Committee (basically the original Latino ACT UP caucus) would translate materials.
Taking place at St. Patrick's Cathedral, "five thousand people protested the Roman Catholic Archdiocese's public stand against AIDS education and condom distribution and its opposition to a woman's right to abortion." This demonstration was called "Stop the Church" (for a peek at the protest, check out this recap here: https://vimeo.com/43214482 ) ACT UP New York wrote a blog post ten years later in 1999, describing how they are coming back to the same spot because "so little has changed in ten years. The issues are still the same." The poster not only references AIDS but also mentions a womens' right to an abortion; events like these gained traction by finding similarities with other minority groups like women. The final line at the bottom of the poster translates to "Cardinal O'Connor kills women, opposes safe sex and legal abortion."
HIV/AIDS activists had to translate and find ways to appeal to a religious audience to advocate effectively. According to the Human Rights Campaign, many Latinos identify as Roman Catholic, about 68% of them. The Catholic Church's stance distinguishes between being gay and acting on it as two different things; one is sinful, and one isn't (at least based on most Bible interpretations). However, "that distinction becomes blurred, and the message that many Catholics hear is that merely being gay is sinful." As a result. LGBTQ Latinx members in communities of faith are often condemned and shamed for who they are.
The line "a detener a la iglesia, el Cardenal debe ser juzgado" at the bottom translates "to stop the church; the cardinal must be held accountable." If ACT UP wrote this poster in English, it wouldn't have the same impact nor attract the Latino population.
Activist Spotlight: Robert Juan Garcia
La proxima reunion en la casa: the next meeting at the house
Shown here is a poster for one of the first meetings of the Latino/a ACT UP Caucus, held at Robert Garcia's home on the 5th floor of 60 Warren Street. Growing up in Southern California and spending most of his life in New York City, he died from AIDS-related complications at 31 in 1993.
Nevertheless, there is much more to Garcia and his legacy than how he passed. Jim Hubbard, a filmmaker, recorded Robert Garcia's interview for ACT UP in Oral History records (and can be viewed here: https://actuporalhistory.org/lc-archive/interview-of-robert-garcia ). One of the most notable things he stated was how he lost his cultural roots because he didn't Speak Spanish growing up and he wasn't familiar with his native American side, but there is one identity he never lost; "The only thing I haven't lost is my gay identity because I realized who I was...My parents wanted to assimilate, and that's a part of that is gone that I can never reclaim. I'd be dammed if I lose my gay heritage."
His parents' goal (assimilation) is all too common for Latinx people in America to aim for. Cristina Beltrán wrote a piece for "A Journal of Chicano Studies" titled "Racial Shame and the Pleasure of
Transformation: Richard Rodriguez's Queer Aesthetics of Assimilation." She noted that "despite increased allusions to Latino political diversity, there has been little or no theorizing about the rise of Latino conservatives and the intellectual and theoretical terrain of conservative latinidad."
According to his bio in the Cornell Rare Manuscript Archives, he was "an essential member of ACT UP in New York City, founding and directing committees and caucuses." He played a key, one of them his "participation in several video projects with the video collective House of Color." He was also active in the organization "Men Of All Colors Together." He knew that his parents had other goals for him, but he chose to embrace what he knew best about himself while representing a community of which he didn't even know the language.
Media & Entertainment
HoMoVISIONES: communicating through the TV screen
Seeing yourself in media and finding community is undoubtedly one of the most critical aspects of finding your identity; through media outlets like "HoMoVisiones," people were able to see themselves on a screen while educating the general public about LGBT life in New York. This poster, found initially in the Jullian de Mayo collection in the New York Public Library, advertises the channel as (translation), "the TV show of lesbians and gay Latinos, covering the AIDS community since 1994."
"HoMoVisiones," along with providing coverage about the AIDS epidemic and Latinx LGBT life, provided opportunities for people that they may not have been able to find elsewhere. For instance, people like Heriberto González came out in the 90s and "became an entertainment reporter on a public access television show called "HoMoVisiones."' An article from After Stonewall details that his career, along with the nightlife in New York, allowed him to create his own chosen family and express himself. "It was a place where you can meet friends that were the same as you," González, 57, said. "And at the same time, create this whole new family, because probably your family didn't accept you, especially when you're a Latino coming from a Latin American country where homophobia is so huge."
The video below is from a YouTube VHS archive channel. As the first Latinx LGBTQ show on open access television, it started in 1994 and ran for ten years. After the intro reel featuring people from all walks of life, rallies, signs, gay men in underwear, the clip discussed a Gay Rally in 1998 on "calle cuarenta y dos," which translates to "street 42." González, the same reporter mentioned in the After Stonewall article, then turns to a clip from the event where two people in drag are singing on stage. People like Javier Morales and Gonzalo Aburto co-founded POV en Espanol, a magazine on HIV/AIDS activism, later HoMoVisiones. According to Latinx Plus, neither pictured HoMoVisiones would be broadcast in "markets across the U.S. and the Caribbean."
Informative posters and demonstrations were a reliable way to spread HIV/AIDS awareness to the Latinx community. However, not everyone paid attention to news headlines about AIDS cases. Not everyone lived in an area where seeing an informative flyer was a common occurrence—using media, especially when television was a feat on its own, enabled language barriers to disappear.
Passion, bananas, and tropicana: raising money and breaking stereotypes
This poster promotes a party on October 13, 1990, called "Pineapples Passion," with performer Carmelita Tropicana (Alina Troyano) impersonating Carmen Miranda. Groups like ACT UP need funding to function, so events like this one were ways to not only fundraise but allow people to connect while enabling a chance for performers to be their most authentic selves.
Alina Troyano created the personal of Carmelita Tropicana, which the exhibition "Not Your Banana Republic" notes is a "craft artwork itself." Tronyano's artist statement, found on her website, notes how she uses "irreverent humor and fantasy as subversive tools to challenge cultural stereotypes and rewrite history from multiple perspectives." The poster shows that the person has a pink triangle behind them and embodies a typically masculine figure with feminine elements like hoop earrings and fruit in their hair. Being able to represent "hyperbolic feminine and masculine personas" is where she performs at her best; such an act that challenges "historical and narrative authority" enables people to see themselves represented plus examine political issues and their intersectionality between "ethnicity, sexuality, gender, race, and class."
Troyano created the Tropicana persona to mock and rebel against the stereotypical image of a Latina woman of her time. The Chicago Tribune wrote in a 1999 article that you may "undoubtedly recall Carmen Miranda, best known as the one with the fruit on her head who inspired the old Chiquita Banana commercials." The video below shows a tutti frutti hat from the musical "The Gang's All Here (1943)," which inspired the Chiquita logo. Miranda was a Portuguese white woman, portrayed by the Chiquita as a Latina with bananas & fruit on her head in a traditional Latin American outfit, contributing to the submissive Latina and devoted housewife stereotype.
With that said, using a commercialized mockery and taking power back from society to raise money for ACT UP is genius. Carmelita Tropicana has made immense impacts with her performances and plays, being produced in theaters, museums, alternative performance spaces, and galleries, including Brooklyn Museum, Studio Museum in Harlem, NY, Institute of Contemporary Art, London, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo, Sevilla, Hebbel am Ufer Theater, Berlin, Kirk Douglas Theater-Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, Performance Space NY (formerly PS 122) and INTAR Theater, NY. Naming the event Pineapples Passion is almost ironic, considering the unique backstory; not only does this event translate across cultural barriers, but it allows ACT UP to stay afloat financially.