Lopez discusses political crusades

Margarita Lopez, the first openly lesbian Puerto Rican ever elected to public office, discussed the difficulty of her homosexual emergence from a strict Catholic family and her political crusade for community-based efforts on Monday in the Glass Pavilion. The event was co-sponsored by the Diverse Sexuality and Gender Alliance (DSAGA) and Organizaci"n Latina Estudantil.

Although born in Puerto Rico, Lopez relocated to New York City in 1979 and has served as council member for the Second District in Manhattan since 1998, which she described as a highly diverse community "with the most rich and the most poor."

Lopez detailed her maturation from a confused 19 year-old just "out-of-the-closet" to a confident council member proud of her identity and sexuality.

Lopez did not choose to declare her sexuality as a teen but was informed of her lesbian status by her elder sister, who found her mannerisms peculiar.

"I was like my brother," said Lopez. "The difference was that at some point I felt something growing from my chest."

Nevertheless, her parents refused to accept the reality of her sexuality, said Lopez.

"At the time, I believed my father and mother were deeply psychotic because they treated me like a girl and I knew I was a boy," said Lopez. "My parents could not understand that their daughter could be a lesbian."

As it was, even sexuality in its heterosexual form was rarely discussed in her strictly Catholic family, said Lopez. She did not learn the biological differences of males and females until eighth grade.

But when she told her parents of her sexual orientation, they gave her two choices, said Lopez. Either she could obtain psychiatric treatment or leave the house.

"I chose not to go to a psychiatrist," she said. "I left, and we did not speak for 10 years."

In 1979, she said she helped found the first gay organization in Puerto Rico, which met clandestinely in a church.

At this time, Lopez said she became heavily involved in the Puerto Rican nationalist movement and was even blacklisted as a "terrorist."

"Then, I felt my life was in jeopardy, so I went to the United States," she said. "In New York City, I became involved in a movement that housing is a right and not a profit venture."

For 20 years she participated in numerous movements and was employed as a social worker, she said.

Then, she came to Washington, D.C. to continue her work as a social worker.

"I was part of the group of people who developed a protocol to work with mentally ill and to get them off the streets and into housing," she said.

Lopez said she has always hated politicians, and thus she ran for City Council when she returned to New York City in order to serve her community and not for self-aggrandizement.

"I became the candidate of the people against my will," she said, "and I was elected to office by heterosexual people of all kinds."

As City Council member for the Second District, she dealt with the rigid opposition of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

"He began to gentrify and displace the community," said Lopez. "A diverse community became displaced due to the policies of this mayor."

Moreover, she said that during Giuliani's term, police brutality skyrocketed.

"One day, the police decided to evict 10 buildings, and they placed a tank in my community," said Lopez. "I took great offense to what the mayor did, and I became part of a campaign to make sure Giulani was removed from office."

She expressed a thorough preference for Mayor Mike Bloomberg and concluded with one final recommendation: "If you care for anything in life, you should care for, number one, life, and number two, stand up for justice."

Although also sponsored by Organizaci"n Latina Estudantil, the speech was also part of a series of events for the 2002 Awareness Days sponsored by DSAGA. As the largest symposium of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered in the Baltimore-Washington area, it gathers influential representatives of the bisexual community to promote awareness and visibility of homosexual rights.