Sofia Aguilar Pens a Collection Highlighting Iconic Queer Latines

Queer Chicana writer Sofia Aguilar is using her platform to uplift queer Latines throughout history. Her debut children’s book Queer Latine Heroes: 25 Changemakers from Latin America and the U.S. from History and Today is a love letter to queer Latines who’ve made their mark in the past and present. The book is a collection of 25 curated biographies featuring prominent LGBTQ+ Latines throughout history—highlighting their backgrounds, accomplishments, and impact on the world. With queer icons like Frida Kahlo and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz as well as contemporary activists like William Brandon Lacy Campos, this illustrated book represents a new kind of history book, made to help children ages five and up learn about the unsung heroes that make up Latine history.

The book, the first for children to focus on notable queer figures, aims to give flowers to well-known queer Latines as well as those who are not as famous but have made an impact. The collection includes illustrations as well as facts about each figure and a glossary of terms, all thoughtfully curated by Aguilar who has been a longtime avid reader and writer. Both her grandmother and father are also writers so her love for writing is deeply rooted as she’s embraced and honed in on this inherited gift.

She is the author behind works including the poetry chapbook Streaming Service: golden shovels made for tv, Los Angeles: the zine, and Monarca: the zine. In addition to her chapbooks and zines, Aguilar is currently working on her first novel. But with this latest publication, she’s combined her skills as a journalist (she is a HipLatina contributor) and creative writer to curate this ode to queer Latines.

Queer Latine Heroes came to be as a result of the severe lack of LGBTQ+ Latine representation and scarce information available about queer Latine history. Even in her research for the book, she found that it’s often the same people featured in LGBTQ+ history without acknowledging Black or brown leaders.

“Many of the articles featured the same people over and over which I think is really important, that they’re even acknowledging our community, but I had a problem with that. The other thing that I noticed was, there’s no book version of this. There is no compilation of these figures, these biographies for children or for adults. To me, that was definitely a red flag,” she tells HipLatina.

Her concerns speak to the reality that while queer Latines have always been a part of history and made major contributions, their roles are often overlooked, even in queer spaces. Aguilar speaks to a problem within the LGBTQ+ community where there is a disproportionately large representation and celebration of white, non-Latine changemakers and figures. While Aguilar shares that it is important to shine a light on their contributions, it’s also crucial to have an intersectional lens that highlights diverse queer leaders and changemakers.

“Queer folks who are undocumented are faced with very different problems than people who are documented. Queer folks who can only speak Spanish face very different issues, right? The fact that this book is able to bring to life those struggles is really important, but also the joys—what it means to be queer and of color.”

Aguilar’s perspective is reflected in the figures selected to for her book. For starters, it was crucial to include both historical figures and current LGBTQ+ Latines that are making strides, in order to both honor queer Latine elders and share with young readers that there are role models making waves for the community right now. Aguilar made sure to be intentional about inclusivity, giving visibility to Latines from all walks of life:

“I’m making sure that when kids flip through this book, it’s not the same skin tones they see over and over again. They’re seeing different kinds of people from different states and countries and walks of life. If I’m going to stay true to the title of the book, I wanted to include people who were born not only in the U.S. but also in Latin America, raised in Latin America, and live in Latin America. There’s such a habit from people within the community and outside of it to think of us as like a monolith, when it couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Besides filling the void of diverse queer representation within mainstream media, this book also taps into the importance of giving the spotlight to more voices beyond white Latines, which is a problem within the Latine community.

“Even within our own community we also have a lot of our own issues to deal with, in terms of our own white supremacist values,” she says. “With this book, I went out of my way to be like, ‘Okay, I’m not going to list the same people we’ve seen over and over again.’ Who are the queer Afro Latines that aren’t being talked about? Who are the queer Indigenous Latines who aren’t being talked about? I wanted to put people’s names that a lot of people haven’t heard of before.”

Beyond giving us a history lesson, the book aims to be a starting point and give validation to young queer Latines. The glossary gives readers a reference for certain terms they may find unfamiliar and can even serve as the start in their own exploration of their identity. Through the stories highlighted, Aguilar hopes young readers feel seen and less alone. She herself knows what it’s like to feel seen by someone who is queer and Latine in the media. She cites Stephanie Beatriz’s role on Brooklyn Nine-Nine and the actress herself being Latina and bisexual as something that made her feel affirmed as a bisexual Latina. 

Additionally, in her life she has found inspiration in some of the same figures featured such as trans Mexican Revolution colonel Amelio Robles Ávila and gun control advocate X Gonzalez who exemplify what living authentically means.

“They knew who they were, and they weren’t afraid to live their truth, no matter what harm may have befallen them or could have threatened them,” she says. “I think that kind of fearlessness is something I try to carry in my own life. That passion and need to not only better your own conditions, but better the conditions of the people that you find solidarity with.”

These inspiring heroes are exactly why she felt compelled to write this book but it was also a personal healing journey as she hopes readers will feel seen in a space so lacking in representation.

She wants young readers, who may be queer or questioning, to know, “you’re not weird or strange or unusual in feeling this way. In fact, a lot of people before you who are part of your community, who share a lot of your identity, are also going through that or have gone through that.”

As personal as this curated collection is, she hopes young readers will be able to connect with the heroes they read about in the same way she has. Those trailblazers that were unapologetically themselves, fought for their rights, and broke barriers for today’s generation of queer Latine youth were the force that drove her to not only write this book but helped shape how she lives her own life.

“The queer elders of this community, those who are with us and those who are not, represent that spirit of resistance and advocacy that I hope to echo in my own life.”