Paul A Reyes

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Amid LGBTQ backlash, Latinos in advocacy groups push back

Frankie Miranda was in kindergarten the first time he was called a fa—t. Growing up in Puerto Rico, he was bullied by other students and sexually assaulted by a teacher. Once, he confided in a middle school teacher that he had feelings for other boys. The teacher told him to go home and pray to Jesus.  Today, Miranda is the first openly gay president of the Hispanic Federation — one of the nation’s largest Latino advocacy organizations — and is drawing upon his experiences to help push back against recent laws and policies that target LGBTQ people.  Miranda is part […]

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Playwright Matthew López makes history as first Latino to win Tony for best play

Playwright Matthew López made history by becoming the first Latino to win the Tony Award for best play.  On stage at the Winter Garden Theater on Sunday night, López paid tribute to “three queer men” who inspired him to write his Broadway play, “The Inheritance.” He praised Howards End” writer E.M Forster; the late Terrence McNally, whom López described as “the spiritual godfather of this play,” and Miguel Piñero, the first Puerto Rican playwright to be produced on Broadway.  Broadway is back: 2021 Tony Awards celebrate the return to the stage SEPT. 26, 202102:52 “This is the 74th Tony Awards and yet I am only the first Latiné writer to win in this category. I say that … to highlight the fact that the Latiné community is underrepresented in American theater, in New York […]

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LGBTQ Latinx Celebrate Victories, Worry about Ongoing Violence

On her wedding day, Nicole Castillo knew that she was making a mistake. She was 20 years old, and both she and her husband knew that she was not straight. “But at the time, it didn’t feel like it was an option to not be married, and to come out,” she said. “I was concerned about harming my family, and I stayed in that marriage for some time.” It took Castillo, now 36, until her mid-20s to understand her sexual orientation. “I was from a generation with almost no LGBT visibility. I didn’t know of any gay or queer women.” As Pride […]