Gloria Anzaldúa was a Chicana lesbian writer and activist. Anzaldúa wrote Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza in 1987, a book that combined her personal experiences growing up along the Mexico/U.S. border with her vision for a new world free of injustice and oppression for all people.

Camilo Arenivar is the founder of the LGBTQ website OutHipHop.com that focuses on LGBTQ hip hop artists. Arenivar was the organizer and manager of the HomoRevolution Tour in 2007 that was the first hip hop tour to feature LGBTQ artists and performers.

Erick Arguello is a Nicaraguan activist who works with the health organization Asociacion Gay Unida Impactando Latinos/Latinas A Superarse (AGUILAS - Association of United Gays Impacting Latinos/Latinas toward Self-Empowerment) fighting to improve the lives of Latina/o LGBTQ people, especially those living with HIV/AIDS.

 Arthur Aviles is an award winning Puerto Rican dancer and choreographer that has created a number of performances that look at the lives of Latina/o LGBTQ people living in the United States as they face racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and transphobia. In 1998, Aviles opened BAAD! – The Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance for presenting challenging works of established and emerging choreographers, dancers, playwrights, musicians, visual artists, poets, writers and directors.

Jarret T. Barrios is a Cuban American activist who became the first Latino and first openly LGBTQ member of the Massachusetts Senate. Barrios has also worked as the president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) where he fought homophobia and transphobia in the media.

Adolfo Ferreira Caminha was a Brazilian novelist, famous for his novel Bom-Crioulo, which was the first novels in Brazil to deal with LGBT issues and to have a Black person as it’s hero.

Christian Chávez is a Mexican singer and actor best known for his role in the telenovela Rebelde and it’s pop group RBD. In 2007, he was outed as being gay and since then has become an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ rights in Mexico and Latin America.

 Wilson Cruz is an Afro-Puerto Rican actor best known for playing Rickie Vasquez on MTV’s My So-Called Life in the mid 1990’s. In both his acting and his community work, Cruz has served as a model and mentor to LGBTQ youth, especially LGBTQ youth of color.

 Terri de la Peña is a novelist, short-story writer, and fifth-generation Californian that writes about the issues Chicana lesbians face, such as a search for identity, cultural assimilation, class consciousness, historical awareness, internal and external racism, and homophobia.

Deadlee is the stage name of Joseph Lee, a Mexican American and African American rapper and songwriter. Deadlee’s music focuses heavily on the oppression faced by queer people, people of color, working class people, and women in the United States. Deadlee is considered the most visible LGBTQ hip hop artist today.

Dr. Juanita Diaz-Cotto is Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Area Studies Program (LACAS) and Professor of Sociology, Women's Studies, and LACAS at Binghamton University. Diaz-Cotto has written about the lives of Latina lesbians in the anthology Companeras: Latina Lesbians/Lesbianas latinoamericanas.

Louis Escobar was the first openly LGBTQ person elected to the City Council in Toledo, Ohio. In his first year on the Council, the members voted unanimously to include sexual orientation in the city’s non-discrimination policy.

Laura M. Esquivel is an activist that has worked in the LGBTQ, labor and Latina/o movements for the rights of oppressed people. Esquivel has helped start a number of Latina/o LGBTQ organizations, such as Gay and Lesbian Latinos Unidos (GLLU) and the Latino Lesbian and Gay Organization (LLEGÓ).

Jade Esteban Estrada is a successful Latin pop singer, comedian, choreographer, actor, political commentator, and human rights activist.

Letitia Gomez is a Latina activist who helped to start the national Latina/o Lesbian & Gay Organization (LLEGO) and ENLACE, the Latina/o LGBTQ organization in Washington, D.C. With ENLACE, Gomez helped to launch the nation’s first Spanish language AIDS information hotline.

Charles Rice-González, born in Puerto Rico and reared in the Bronx, is a writer, community and LGBT activist and Executive Director of BAAD! The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance.

William Hernandez [21]

William Hernandez is a Puerto Rican American actor who was a child actor on the PBS show Ghostwriter. Hernandez was also a member of The Real World: Philadelphia.

Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter, best known for her surreal self-portraits. Kahlo's work is remembered for its "pain and passion", and its intense, vibrant colors. Kahlo’s art is respected for its feminist messages and revival of Indigenous traditions.

Ricardo Lara is a California State Assmeblymember who represents Southeast Los Angeles County. Lara has long worked in labor unions, community organizations and public service. Lara is also the second openly Latino LGBTQ person to serve in the California State Legislature.

Evelyn Mantilla was a Puerto Rican American State Representative for Connecticut. Mantilla was one of the first openly Bisexual elected officials in the United States.

Ricky Martin is a Puerto Rican pop singer who helped to popularize Latina/o pop music and came out in 2010 as a gay man.

Cherríe Moraga was born in Los Angeles in 1952. She is of Chicana/Anglo descent which has influenced her experiences as a lesbian poet, playwright, essayist, editor, teacher, and activist.

John A. Pérez was a union organizer and is now a politician from Los Angeles. Pérez became the first openly LGBTQ speaker of the California State Assembly and the first Latino LGBTQ member of the California State Legislature in 2010.

Nicole Murray-Ramirez is currently the international president of the International Court System, one of the oldest and largest predominantly LGBT organizations in the world. Murray-Ramirez has long been an activist in San Diego, where he has been an organizer of Pride Parades and other local LGBTQ civil rights efforts.

John Rechy is an American author, the child of Scottish father and a Mexican-American mother. In his novels, he has written extensively about LGBT culture in Los Angeles and wider America, and is among the pioneers of modern LGBTQ literature.

Yosimar Reyes is a queer Mexican poet, performer and activist who uses his art to fight for justice for immigrants, queer people, people of color, youth and others. Reyes is well known for his powerful poem “For Colored Boys Who Speak Softly,” which shares the experiences of LGBTQ youth of color in the United States and the world.

Sylvia Rivera was a Puerto Rican and Venezuelan transgender activist that was a leader of the Stonewall Riots in 1969. Rivera, along with Marsha P. Johnson, founded the transgender activist organization Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.) to fight for the rights of Transgender people.

Amelio Robles was a trans masculine officer in the Mexican Revolution. He joined the Emiliano Zapata’s army in 1912 and served as an officer. In 1970 he was awarded the medal as a veteran of the Mexican Revolution and Honorary Legionnaire of the Mexican Army. In 1973 he received the Merit award revolutionary. He has had several songs written about him and there is a museum with pictures and information about him in Guerrero, Casa Museo Amelia La Güera Robles.

Jai Rodriguez is a Puerto Rican American actor and musician that appeared on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Rodriguez has also appeared on a number of Broadway shows.

Diego Sanchez is a Panamanian American activist who was the first openly transgender person to work for a member of Congress. Sanchez has worked with Representative Barney Frank (the first openly LGBTQ member of Congress) on issues from LGBTQ rights to improving healthcare to workers’ rights.

José Julio Sarria is a Colombian American activist and drag queen who was the first openly LGBTQ person to run for political office, when he ran to be a San Francisco Supervisor in 1961. Sarria also founded the Imperial Court System in 1965, as an organization to raise money for LGBTQ organizations throughout the United States.

Ana Maria Simo is a Cuban playwright, writer and activist. Simo has helped to start a number of lesbian organizations such as the Lesbian Avengers, Dyke TV, and Medusa’s Revenge.

Carla Trujillo is a Chicana writer who edited the book Chicana Lesbians: The Girls Our Mothers Warned Us About. Trujillo also works with Lambda Literary Foundation supporting LGBTQ writers.

Lupe Valdez is a Mexican American law enforcement official and the Sheriff of Dallas County, Texas. Valdez is Texas's only elected female sheriff, as well as being the only openly lesbian holder of that office.

Chavela Vargas is a legendary Mexican singer that is famous for her powerful versions of traditional Mexican songs, often challenging stereotypical gender roles. Vargas came out in 2000 at the age of 81.

Carmen Vásquez is the Coordinator of the LGBT Health & Human Services Unit for the NYS AIDS Institute. Vásquez has worked with many LGBTQ rights organizations in New York and nationwide. Vásquez was also a founder of the Women's Building in San Francisco and of Causes in Common, a national coalition of LGBT Liberation and Reproductive Justice Activists.

Emanuel Xavier is a Puerto Rican/Ecuadorian poet, spoken word artist, and author from New York City. Xavier has written about the challenges LGBTQ youth of color face growing up in the United States. Xavier has worked to educate youth through spoken word workshops so that they can express themselves. 

Pedro Zamora was a Cuban-American AIDS educator and activist who was the first person with AIDS to be on television in the United States when he was part of The Real World: San Francisco. Zamora shared his life on screen and educated viewers on the reality of living with AIDS.