Glbtq Latinas and Latinos announced their presence nationally at the historic 1979 March on Washington. Coalitions from Texas, California, and the East Coast--together with representatives from Latin America--convened days before the March at Howard University to participate in the Third World Gay Conference.

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In the 1980s numerous Latina/Latino organizations formed throughout the U.S., often as a response to the AIDS crisis. While San Francisco's GALA had disappeared by 1983, Los Angeles's GLLU (Gay and Lesbian Latinos Unidos) formed in 1981, and a subcommittee, LU (Lesbianas Unidas), formed in 1983. LU became an independent group in 1984.

Also by 1984, Denver was home to Ambiente Latino (Latinos in the life) and Las Mujeres Alegres (Gay Women), while Houston hosted a Gay Hispanic Caucus. In New York, a group of Latina lesbian friends created "Las Buenas Amigas" (Good Women Friends) in November 1986. The organization emerged from the African-American lesbian organization "Soul Sisters," which had welcomed Latinas. Many of these and other organizations, including San Francisco's Mujerío (Gathering of Women), which was active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, organized transnationally with glbtq activists in Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and elsewhere in Latin America.

Beginning in 1987 in Mexico, Latin American and Caribbean lesbian feminists have come together throughout the hemisphere for their "Encuentros de Lesbianas Feministas de Latinoamérica y el Caribe" (Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Lesbian Gatherings). Emerging from earlier feminist gatherings, these encuentros have facilitated transnational dialogue and organizing to address the needs and challenges of lesbians throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

The meetings, which have also included Latinas from the U.S., have debated the significance of class and racial differences, including the relative forms of economic privilege for U.S.-based attendees, but also the assumptions that Latin American lesbians make of their counterparts in the U.S.

The Washington, D.C.-based LLEGÓ (National Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Organization) also held regular international encuentros or gatherings from the 1990s through 2004, when financial and administrative controversies led to its demise.

In recent years local and regional groups have been effective in forging political and cultural visibility for glbtq Latinas and Latinos, usually with transnational links. In Chicago, a small group of 10 Latinas gathered in July 1995 to form a support group for lesbian, bisexual, and questioning women, naming themselves "Amigas Latinas" (Latina Friends). Since then, it has grown to become a large organization. Also in Chicago, for over a decade ALMA (the Association of Latino Men for Action) has provided educational support and social services to queer Latinos.

In Texas, Austin's ALLGO (Austin Latino/Latina Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Organization), founded in 1985, works toward social change through progressive community organizing, promoting queer Latina and Latino culture, and encouraging artistic expression. Today it is the longest running queer organization of color in the U.S.

In California, various organizations, including Los Angeles' queer Latina women's collective that publishes the magazine Tongues and San Francisco's sex-positive, multigender HIV agency Proyecto ContraSIDA Por Vida (Project against AIDS, for Life), provide cultural and political outreach to the state's multi-lingual, immigrant, and native Latina and Latino populations. In 1993 in New York, a small group of Latinas and Latinos founded LLANY (Latinas and Latinos de Ambiente/New York, or Latina/os in the Life), which focuses on the social and cultural needs of glbtq Latina/o Americans in the city and the tri-state area.

In all these locations, women and men are charting new trajectories and challenging superficial and stereotypical depictions of "exotic" Latino men and "passive" Latina women. Latina and Latino glbtq communities in the U.S. pursue multiple visions, diverse politics, and a variety of struggles for identity and liberation. These efforts, conducted in English, Spanish, "Spanglish," and bilingually, and on both individual and collective levels, have helped shape the meaning of what it means to be queer and Latina and Latino in the U.S. and transnationally.

Although Argentina recently became the first Latin American country to attain marriage equality nationally, the country has a long history of defining itself in terms of masculinity and in opposition to sexual deviancy.

A notably diverse country, Brazil is also home to one of the world's most dynamic glbtq political movements.

Costa Rica has recently become known for its tolerance toward glbtq people, and its friendly, "live-and-let-live" attitude in sexual matters.

Although one cannot speak of a gay community in Cuba, one can speak of a homoerotic environment for meeting and socializing in Havana that is constantly moving and reshaping itself.

Although there have been recent attempts to organize glbtq people for political and social action in El Salvador, the country's history of homophobic repression continues.

Although glbtq organizations have emerged in Guatemala, hate crimes against homosexuals continue to be a serious problem.

In the wake of prejudice and violence, queer activists in the tropical nation of Honduras have taken courageous action in the struggle for human rights and dignity.

Latina/Latino lesbian and gay artists often confront, with a peculiarly personal urgency, the crucial issues of gender, sexuality, and acceptance that have obsessed American culture generally in the past several decades.

Latina lesbian literature is a fast-growing, vibrant, and diverse literary tradition that offers readers innovative models for creating alliances among diverse peoples.

Latino gay men have published novels, poetry, drama, and essays that deal directly with gay themes, but the cultural forces of machismo and Catholicism have slowed the development of a Latino gay identity.

Marches on Washington in support of the rights of glbtq people have been a significant part of the modern movement for equality.

Although Mexico has had a long history of homosexual activity that began before the Conquest, its Latin American machismo has problematized the acceptance of glbtq people.

The site of contentious battles for glbtq rights, Miami is home to a vibrant glbtq community; as is Key West, which has a long tradition of celebrating diversity.

Thanks to the valiant struggle of activists to counter a long tradition of intolerance and machismo, Nicaragua now has a more visible glbtq community than ever before.

Although the islands of the Caribbean are renowned for their pleasant tropical climate, the social climate for glbtq people is not always inviting and is sometimes dangerous.

American Latina lesbian editor and writer Gloria Anzaldúa connected racism and homophobia to posit a political queerness that interconnects with all struggles against oppression.

Versatile Colombian-born author Jaime Manrique has written novels, short stories, poetry, and works of nonfiction with gay themes.

In her own works, Cherríe Moraga defines her experience as a Chicana lesbian; and in her capacity as editor/publisher, she provides a forum for traditionally silenced lesbians of color.

Mystery writer Michael Nava has increasingly been recognized as an important novelist whose mature work transcends the limited expectations of a popular and highly specialized genre.

In his novels about hustling, preeminently City of Night and Numbers, John Rechy moves from the world of homosexual behavior into the world of gay identity.

A legendary veteran of the Stonewall Riots, Sylvia Rivera is notable for helping to spark the event that ushered in the modern-day Gay Rights Movement.

Essayist and memoirist Richard Rodriguez, perhaps the most widely read of Latino-American authors, positions himself as an outsider in America, not only because of his ethnicity, but also because of his sexuality.

In 2001, Anthony D. Romero became the first Latino and first openly gay man to lead the American Civil Liberties Union, the nation's leading public interest law firm.

José Sarria, a San Francisco singer, drag performer, and activist, exemplified gay pride before the phrase was invented.