ONE Archives Foundation is hosting a closing event for their Together On the Air exhibition with a special screening of the LGBTQ+ and Latinx documentary Unidad: Gay & Lesbian Latinos Unidos, in honor of César Chávez Day, March 31, 2023. An exclusive panel discussion with the filmmakers and stars of the film, which tells the groundbreaking story of activism of the Los Angeles-based Gay & Lesbian Latinos Unidos (GLLU), will follow the screening.
This program is held in honor of legendary civil rights activist César Chávez’s contribution to queer Latinx history. Though most Californians know of Chávez’s leadership in movements for immigrant, worker, and environmental justice, few may be aware of his early allyship supporting the LGBTQ+ community. This program will highlight the coalition work built between Chávez, United Farm Workers, and members of GLLU toward LGBTQ+ Latinx rights and liberation in 1980s and 1990s Los Angeles.
“César Chávez and Dolores Huerta, along with the UFW, were some of the first true allies of the LGBTQ+ community,” said Unidad Executive Producer and GLLU co-founder Roland Palencia. “Their moral force carried tremendous weight, especially at a time when it was very risky to openly support our cause. Their full affirmation of our dignity as a people made us feel that we had a home within the Latino community.”
This public program is the closing event for Together On the Air, an exhibition recognizing the historic contributions of Radio GLLU, the first bilingual LGBTQ+ radio program in the United States, organized by ONE Archives Foundation. The exhibit, which showcases a rare body of audio materials and first-hand stories from Radio GLLU members, launched in December 2022 and will be on view for one evening only during the event before the exhibit closes permanently to the public on March 31.
The importance of the exhibition, the first ever on Radio GLLU, is best described by original show co-host, Lydia Otero: “Together On the Air chronicles how GLLU jumped at the chance to be on the radio and make our brown and queer selves heard. The exhibition, coupled with the documentary, evidences GLLU’s successes in carving out spaces for themselves in a world stack against them, making themselves visible and assert, ‘Aquí estamos!’”
The program will take place at ONE Gallery in West Hollywood on Friday March 31, 2023. Doors open at 6:00 pm and the screening begins at 7:00 pm. The post-screening panel discussion will feature Unidad Director Gregorio Davila, Executive Producer and GLLU co-founder Roland Palencia, and Radio GLLU co-hosts Rita Gonzales, Eduardo Archuleta, and Lydia Otera, in conversation with Together On the Air Curator Ángel Labarthe del Solar. In partnership with Los Angeles nonprofit radio station dublab, we will broadcast a selection of archival audio and oral history recordings from the exhibition on dublab.com or on the dublab app on the day of the event.
RSVP for Together On the Air x Unidad here: https://
Now until March 31, visitors can view the Together On the Air web exhibit with audio documentaries here: https:// togetherontheair.onearchives.
Together On the Air is organized by ONE Archives Foundation and curated by Ángel LaBarthe del Solar. The exhibition is made possible by support from the City of West Hollywood and Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, and our media partner, dublab. Special thanks to ONE Archives at the USC Libraries for their research support.
About ONE Archives Foundation
Founded in 1952, ONE Archives Foundation is the oldest active LGBTQ+ organization in the United States and is dedicated to telling the accurate stories and history of all LGBTQ+ people and their culture. As an independent nonprofit, ONE Archives Foundation promotes ONE Archives at the USC Libraries — the largest repository of LGBTQ+ materials in the world — and provides innovative educational initiatives, public exhibitions, and community programs.
The curatorial and educational choices made by ONE Archives Foundation are guided by our commitment to social equity and justice. We engage with the complexity of LGBTQ+ history and representation through highlighting the intersectional and authentic narratives of Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC), women, gender-nonconforming and transgender people, people of various abilities, youth, and elders across all socio-economic classes. Learn more at onearchives.org, and connect with ONE on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @onearchives.
Please stop using the term Latinx. I don’t know of any Hispanic/Latino/a who approves of this insulting term. We all hate this term.
I don’t know any Hispanic who finds it offensive. Annoying maybe, but offensive? Where is the offense? As far I can tell it was created so we’d stop clumping Latinas into the mostly male pronouns. Nobody does what you did there, “Latino/a” when describing a group of Hispanics. They will say the Latino community which is offensive to Hispanic women. Latinx is non-binary so it’s not going away.