By Herb Sosa and Lane Harwell
12 Oct 2023, 16:41 PM EDT
A record 520 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in U.S. state legislatures this past year, and more than 220 of those bills specifically target transgender and gender non-conforming people, including a ban on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth, restricting drag shows, and censoring certain books in schools. For many Latino adults in the U.S. who identify as LGBTQ (11%, according to a 2022 Gallup poll), these laws are another hurdle in an already uphill battle.
Many Latinos who identify as trans face the cultural stigma that often exists in their own ethnic communities, so they find comfort and security within another type of community: the arts. The arts embrace individuality, connect people through shared experiences, and challenge social norms through creative expression.
This belief that the arts are a community is what drives the work of the Unity Coalition | United Coalition. The organization has worked to promote equality and justice for LGBTQ Latinos in South Florida through the arts for more than 20 years. The organization champions the talent, vision and possibilities within the transgender and non-conforming community through programs such as TRANSART, an annual artist exhibition and conference in Miami and Bogotá, Colombia, and ARTLab, a year-round virtual gallery featuring a variety of artistic talents, individuals and genres.
These efforts have produced impactful change through the power of dialogue, education, and empathy. And a critical component of that shift is the emphasis on increasing cultural representation within the arts. The stories told through the art we create can help us understand our world and make connections with others. And yet, much of the art we consume in the US disproportionately favors and represents a select few. In fact, Latino artists remain the vast majority missing from museum collections, exhibitions, scholarships, and programming in the country.
Arts communities have always advocated for more funding, pointing out the social benefits of investing in arts programs at all stages. Earlier this year, Unity Coalition | Coalicio Unida received funding from the Ford Foundation as part of a broader collective commitment to promote Latino arts in American museums. These types of investments are critical to reducing inequality in the arts, especially for trans-Latino artists who already have fewer resources and support.
Art inherently fosters a space of inclusion by allowing people to express themselves freely and creatively. Through our work, we have seen firsthand how the arts can transform lives simply by providing a platform and creating audiences for artists, designers, performers, musicians and writers who want to be recognized for the art they create, and not for the person they love or the gender they embrace.
Today more than ever, the arts, and the communities they build, matter.
Herb Sosa is director of Unity Coalition | Coalicio Unida, the first and only organization for the Latino LGBTQ community in South Florida.Lane Harwell is part of the Ford Foundation’s creativity and freedom of expression team and serves on the boards of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals and Funders for LGBT Issues.