Today we honor and celebrate Latino LGBT activist Andrés Duque. Born in Colombia, Duque moved to the U.S. with his family when he was a child. In 1996 he co-founded the Colombian Lesbian and Gay Association, or COLEGA, with Daniel Castellanos. For many years he worked at the Latino Commission on AIDS and directed Mano a Mano, a coalition of Latino and Latina lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activists; Mano a Mano is best known as an informative electronic mailing list that forwards articles that appear around the world about LGBT issues.
Recognizing that there was no real forum for the growing LGBT Latino population, Duque created Blabbeando, a blog about LGBT issues from an Hispanic perspective. He is also a founding member of the Audre Lorde Project and of the Out People of Color Political Action Club. As a New Yorker, he has also been a regular thorn in the side of rabidly anti-gay state Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., calling out his efforts to block marriage equality and other homophobic agenda.
LGBT people who are also part of communities of color struggle with intersections of oppression. It’s important to have advocates like Duque who understand this and create safe places for them to celebrate their multiple identities.