THE PEOPLING OF NEW YORK: MHC @ Lehman

Jackson Heights is the home to many diverse nationalities and cultures. With 167 nationalities living in Queens and over 116 languages spoken, Jackson Heights is no exception to the rule. Something else that should be known is that the neighborhood is now the second largest gay community in New York, aside from Greenwich Village (Dunne, “Jackson Heights Gay Pride Festival Is Magnet for Lawmakers.”). Not only that, but the difference between the Village and Jackson Heights however, is that the Village lacks the amount of diversity that Jackson Heights has. The reason it may be so surprising that Jackson Heights is the home to a fairly large gay community is because most immigrants, especially the Latino population that dominates this neighborhood, would have trouble assimilating and accepting this truth.

If you thought being gay was hard enough, imagine how hard it must have been for gay Latinos to live in this neighborhood. The murder of 29 year old Julio Riviera in 1990, when he left his job as a waiter at a gay bar in Jackson Heights by members of the Doc Martens Gang started an abrupt explosion.(Marquez, 145). This killing triggered waves of activism throughout the community which as a result created the  Queens Gay Day and the Queens  Gay Parade which is held annually in the neighborhood sometime in the month of June(Marquez, 145).

The Parade is held by the Queens  Lesbian and Gay Pride Committee. It starts their march off down 37^th avenue, which is followed by the multicultural street festival on 75^th street at the end of the parade. It is reported that over 50,000 guests come and participate. (www.queenspride.com/index.php). This whole day celebrates sexual and gender pride and identity, as well as brings the community closer together.

Another very interesting thing to note about the gay community in Jackson Heights is that throughout the years, the neighborhood’s gay bars have served as central spaces for “networking, catharsis, entertainment, desire, and community building for the Colombian and Latino gay community” (Marquez, 145). These gay bars which are mostly owned and attended by Colombians have been a central part of Jackson Heights landscape. These bars are institutions that allow the gay community in the neighborhood to grow and integrate with the rest of the neighborhood that may still be having problems with acceptance. Bars such as Bum Bum Bar on 63^rd street holds drag shows every Friday night, and Chueca, which is Jackson heights only exclusive lesbian bar (Graham, “The Queens of Queens”).

Eric- Steven Gutierrez couldn’t have put it better when he says that “ Gay and Lesbian communities of color are becoming increasingly identifiable within larger Latino communities”(Guttierez, 326). It is important to commend Jackson heights on a great transformation. It may have been quite difficult for a neighborhood of immigrants and conservative views on certain issues including sexuality to accept the sexual demographic, but Jackson Heights has come a long way into becoming the city’s second largest gay community.