Familia TQLM is a national organization founded at the beginning of last year by queer and trans Latinos, and is “committed to the liberation of every LGBTQ Latin@ and to a radically and collective revolution to empower and free our culture, art, history and families from oppression.”
In May, Familia members risked arrest and in some cases, deportation, as they protested outside the LGBT facility at an ICE detention center in Santa Ana, California. Protesters blocked traffic, waved flags, and chained themselves to a metal cage — some wearing 7-inch heels — to protest the poor conditions for LGBT people facing deportation.
Familia TQLM organizers protest outside of a immigration detention center in Santa Ana, CA. (Photo via Familia TQLM)
Just a few months later, members of Familia and SONG, or Southerners On New Ground, took over the offices of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus for over seven hours, demanding that LGBT members of Congress work to make sure issues of immigration, including ending deportation and combating torture and solitary detention centers, were prioritized as LGBT issues.
And Familia’s not slowing down: they ended 2014 with the launch of their new Utah chapter, and are gearing up for a family acceptance training in California.
Their strategy, tactics, and powerful protests create a single message: queer Latinx will not be silenced, and they will not be ignored.
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