Pride History Week and Hispanic Heritage Month teamed up Tuesday night to facilitate a conversation about embracing multiple identities.
Felipe Sousa-Rodriguez, an undocuqueer activist and co-director of social justice organization GetEQUAL, discussed what it’s like to be a gay, undocumented U.S. resident.
Sousa-Rodriguez said he’s a member of both groups.
“Opening up the space to talk about multiple identities (opens) up doors once closed,” he said. “The well-being of the community is the well-being of oneself.”
Sousa-Rodriguez, who was born in the slums of Brazil and immigrated to the United States when he was 14, said part of his mission is to leave his family with the world in a better state than how he got it.
“We live in a world where people try to tell us there is only black and white, good and bad, gay and straight,” he said. “We actually live in a spectrum.”
Another part of the discussion was the lack of federal funding undocumented residents receive from universities, including UF. Currently, undocumented residents living in Florida pay four times as much as Florida residents to attend UF, said Yaissy Solis, a 21-year-old journalism senior and president of CHISPAS.
“We wanted to bring the immigration movement to the gay community because LGBTQ rights are immigrant rights,” she said.
Hiram Martinez-Cabrera, Pride Student Union’s internal vice president, agreed. He said both the Hispanic and queer communities face similar challenges in fighting for rights.
“Undocumented immigration issues are still LGBTQ issues,” said Martinez-Cabrera, a 19-year-old UF public relations sophomore.
The event was sponsored by Pride Student Union and CHISPAS, Martinez-Cabrera said.
A version of this story ran on page 4 on 10/9/2013 under the headline "Speaker talks LGBTQ, immigration"
