PUERTO RICO

As with other island countries in the Caribbean, the history of Puerto Rico is marked by the annihilation of its native inhabitants (the Taino or Arawak) after the arrival of Europeans in 1493 and the later introduction of African slaves. Indigenous sexual practices have not been widely documented, but in general are believed to have included male homosexuality and transgender behavior; the further analysis of colonial documents will hopefully shed additional light on this topic. Spanish and other European colonizers brought with them their general prejudices against sodomy, instituted through the Catholic Church and the Inquisition, but also the general ideologies and practices of Mediterranean sexualities, under which men may have sex with other men and not be stigmatized as long as they maintain a masculine image and assume the "active" role during sexual exchange. African populations, a diverse and heterogeneous group, had conflicting visions of homosexuality (more tolerated by the Yoruba and less so by the Congo), but the frequently all-male, close living quarters of slaves encouraged situational homosexual encounters. In general, pre-twentieth-century sexualities have not been widely studied, and much archival work remains to be done.

The 1898 invasion of the island by U.S. troops effectively transferred sovereignty from Spain to the United States and ushered in yet another political, cultural, and social system through the legislation and presence of a colonial government. In fact, the criminalization of male sodomy occurred for the first time in 1902, following the California law. Consensual acts between women were criminalized in 1974 along with those of men under Article 103 of the Puerto Rican penal code. Both were decriminalized on 23 June 2003 (three days before the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision on Lawrence v. Texas reverted the law for the entire country), thanks to the efforts of activists such as Reverend Margarita Sánchez de León, who demanded to be arrested for committing this crime in 1997. Another major victory was achieved in 2002 when Governor Sila María Calderón signed a hate crimes law that included specific protections for victims of bias crimes motivated by sexual orientation.

U.S. influence in Puerto Rico (and Puerto Rican influence in the United States) has been wide-ranging, having particular impact on women's and gay liberation. Extensive migration (in both directions) since the middle 1940s has facilitated island exposure to U.S. developments, while Puerto Rican migrants have played a central role in the U.S. LGBT movement. Drag queen Sylvia

Rivera's participation in the Stonewall Riots of 1969 has been documented by historian Martin Duberman and fictionalized in Nigel Finch's 1996 film Stonewall, where she is portrayed as La Miranda. Other important U.S.-based Puerto Rican leaders have included Antonia Pantoja, the founder of ASPIRA, a national non-profit organization devoted to the education and leadership development of Puerto Rican and Latino and Latina youths; New York City councilwoman Margarita López; and American Civil Liberties Union president Anthony Romero. Luis Aponte-Parés (in 1998 and 2001) has documented the history of queer Puerto Rican organizations in the United States, such as Hispanics United Gays and Lesbians and Boricua Gay and Lesbian Forum, both founded in 1987. Americans have been credited for establishing many commercial gay venues on the island, particularly in the Condado and San Juan.

Modern LGBT activism gained visibility in Puerto Rico with the establishment of the Comunidad de Orgullo Gay or COG (Gay Pride Community) in 1974 under the leadership of Rafael Cruet. COG also formed an Alianza de Mujeres (Women's Alliance). Early COG efforts included protests against Article 103, the appearance of Grozny Román on television and Ana Irma Rivera Lassén on the radio, as well as the first pride parade, which consisted of a caravan of cars that traveled to Luquillo Beach. COG additionally published a newspaper entitled Pa'fuera! (Out!). Other important island publications have included Salpa'fuera (Come Out!), Puerto Rico Breeze, and Caribbean Heat. The Círculo de Estudios Gay (Gay Study Group) was established in the early 1980s, while the Colectivo de Concientización Gay (Gay Awareness Collective) was formed by Mildred Braulio and other political activists in 1984; the work of both these organizations has continued under the more recent Proyecto de Derechos Humanos de Lesbianas, Gays, Bisexuales y Transgéneros (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Human Rights Project). The Coalición Puertorriqueña de Lesbianas y Homosexuales (Puerto Rican Lesbian and Homosexual Coalition) was founded in 1989, and Amigas y Amigos de los Derechos Humanos (Friends of Human Rights) in 1991. Olga Orraca, Liza Gallardo, and José Joaquin Mulinelli have played key roles in all these organizations, while Pedro Julio Serrano has become renowned for his efforts to become the first openly gay elected member of the Puerto Rico legislature.

Women's activism expanded in the 1970s through the efforts of Mujer Intégrate Ahora (Woman Integrate Now). A major turning point in lesbian island history was the establishment of the Coordinadora del Encuentro de Lesbianas Feministas (Lesbian Feminist Encounter Coordinating Group) in 1990, which successfully organized the Third Lesbian Feminist Encounter for Latin America and the Caribbean in 1992. This was the first major lesbian event held in Puerto Rico. Other lesbian organizations have included Nosotras Diez (Us Ten, 1988), Aquelarre Lésbico (Lesbian Coven, 1990), Taller Lésbico Creativo (Creative Lesbian Workshop, 1994), and Madres Lesbianas de Puerto Rico (Lesbian Mothers of Puerto Rico) led by Sandra García. The 1997 National Latino/a Lesbian and Gay Organization (LLEGO) Conference was also held in Puerto Rico to great acclaim, quite unlike the 1995 Gay Officers' Action League (GOAL) Conference, in which conference attendees were harassed by island police during a raid at a local gay bar.

AIDS has had a major impact on the island, and numerous organizations have appeared in its wake. Dr. José (Joe) Toro Alfonso's role has been central, especially in relation to the Fundación SIDA (AIDS Foundation, 1982). Other organizations include the Puerto Rico Community Network for Clinical Research on AIDS (P.R. CONCRA, 1990), Organización Coaí, Inc., and the Iniciativa Comunitaria de Investigación, or ICI (Community Research Initiative, led by Dr. José Vargas Vidot). The arrival on the island of the New York–based ACT UP Latino contingent in 1990 (including Moisés Agosto and Georgie Irrizary) was crucial in energizing island activism and also in establishing the present-day gay pride parade in San Juan. Trans-activist Cristina Hayworth secured the first permits for this parade, but infighting quickly led to the creation of the Coalición Orgullo Arcoiris, or COA (Rainbow Pride Coalition, 1992) under Herminio (Nino) Adorno. The recent San Juan AIDS Institute fraud case has been an enormous setback for island AIDS services; former director Yamil Kourí Pérez and several others were found guilty and sentenced to prison for diverting $2,200,000 in federal funds from 1989 to 1994.

Literature, scholarship, and the arts have been, along with activism, the major vehicles for the discussion and dissemination of LGBT consciousness on the island. Key writers such as René Marqués, Luis Rafael Sánchez, and Manuel Ramos Otero (among the men) and Luz María Umpierre, Nemir Matos Cintrón, and Lilliana Ramos Collado (among the women) have created moving poetic and narrative visions. Filmmakers Frances Negrón Muntaner (Brincando el charco: Portrait of a Puerto Rican, 1994), Aixa Ardín (Elyíbiti, 2001), and Jorge Oliver (Pride in Puerto Rico, 2000) have also helped to increase public awareness of and support for LGBT issues. The drag performer Antonio Pantojas and singers Lucecita Benítez, Sophie, and Lourdes Pérez also deserve special mention. In addition, the scholarship of individuals such as Juan Gelpí, Rubén Ríos-Avila, Agnes Lugo-Ortíz, Juanita (Ramos) Díaz-Cotto, and Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé has been crucial to the development of queer Puerto Rican studies on the island and in the United States. More recently, the Internet site Orgullo Boricua (Puerto Rican Pride, www.orgulloboricua.net) has become a very valuable resource.

Bibliography

Aponte-Parés, Luis. "Outside/In: Crossing Queer and Latino Boundaries." In Mambo Montage: The Latinization of New York. Edited by Agustín Laó-Montes and Arlene Dávila. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001.

Aponte-Parés, Luis, and Jorge B. Merced. "Páginas Omitidas: The Gay and Lesbian Presence." In The Puerto Rican Movement: Voices from the Diaspora. Edited by Andrés Torres and José E. Velázquez. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998.

Braulio, Mildred. "Challenging the Sodomy Law in Puerto Rico." NACLA Report on the Americas 31, no. 4 (January 1998): 33–34.

La Fountain-Stokes, Lawrence. "1898 and the History of a Queer Puerto Rican Century: Gay Lives, Island Debates, and Diasporic Experience." Centro Journal 11, no. 1 (Fall 1999): 91–110.

Negrón-Muntaner, Frances. "Echoing Stonewall and Other Dilemmas: The Organizational Beginnings of a Gay and Lesbian Agenda in Puerto Rico, 1972–1977." Centro Journal 4, no. 1 (1992): 77–95; 4, no. 2 (1992): 98–115.

Ramírez, Rafael. What It Means to Be a Man: Reflections on Puerto Rican Masculinity. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1999.

Rivera Lassén, Ana Irma, and Elizabeth Crespo Kebler. Documentos del feminismo en Puerto Rico: Facsímiles de la historia. Volume I (1970–1979). San Juan: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 2001.

Lawrence M. La Fountain-Stokes

see alsodÍaz-cotto, juanita; latinas and latinos; latina and latino lgbtq organizations and publications; piÑero, miguel; ramos otero, manuel; rivera, sylvia; sanchez, luis rafael; sodomy, buggery, crimes against nature, disorderly conduct, and lewd and lascivious law and policy.