Historical past of AGUILAS – San Francisco Bay Occasions
By Eduardo Morales, PhD–
AGUILAS is an acronym that stands for Asemblea Gay Unida Impactando Latinos A Superarse (Gay Assembly United Impacting Latinxs to Surpass or rise over). Founded in 1991 by members of the Latinx LGBTQ + community in San Francisco, AGUILAS has a mission which reads: “AGUILAS is committed to creating a supportive, culturally sensitive environment for gay / bisexual Latinos. We strive to promote knowledge and pride in the diversity of our language, culture, history and spirituality. AGUILAS is committed to developing health, wellbeing and community building programs that promote positive self-identity, healthy relationships and leadership. “
Its organic evolution is rooted in a history of past events that led to the creation and formalization of a by-law organization that was finally granted 501 C-3 nonprofit status by the Internal Revenue Service in August 1999.
Many have pointed to the 1969 Stonewall Rising in NYC on the night of June 28th as a turning point in the LGBT movement. These riots were started by African American and Latin American LGBT drag queens in response to the constant harassment and raids by NYC police of LGBTQ + people who frequented the Stonewall Bar in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan. Interestingly, this uprising coincided with Judy Garland’s funeral.
This insurgency resulted in a formal change and elimination of homosexuality as a mental illness through the American Psychiatric Association in 1974 and the American Psychological Association in 1975. As a result, several organizations were formed in the United States that focused on advocating and advocating for LGBTQ + rights. Various informal social groups were created for the Latinx LGBTQ + community in San Francisco – above all GALA and El Grupo Sociocultural, which offered events for social gatherings with certainty and pride. CURAS was founded in the late 1980s to provide HIV / AIDS services to Latinx gays and bisexuals in San Francisco.
During the 1987 National March for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Washington, DC, a gathering of Latinx LGBTQ people was called through an advertisement in the marching materials entitled: el Primer Encuentro de Gais y Lesbianas Latinas. A meeting was held in a building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, and attendees decided to hold a meeting at UCLA to create a national, statutory, nonprofit organization that would become LLEGO National (Latino / lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Organizers National).
This sparked the interest of Latinx LGBTQ + people in San Francisco to formally form a new organization to meet the needs of the local community. In 1991, numerous meetings were held in the basement of St. Francis Lutheran Church on Church Street, San Francisco. Then AGUILAS was formed with its own bylaws and with the intent to serve and represent the community, and AGUILAS, as mentioned, eventually became a 501C-3 non-profit organization.
In 1994, CURAS ran into trouble and AGUILAS received a small grant from the AIDS Office of the San Francisco Department of Public Health to conduct a randomized study to investigate two different HIV prevention strategies by five Latinx gay psychologists were developed and implemented. A standard psycho-educational teaching strategy was compared to a novel one based on Paulo Freire’s theory of empowerment and involving the discussion and engagement of the participants. The qualitative data collected showed that each participant preferred the more engaging empowerment strategy to the traditional psycho-educational approach.
This led to the start of the ongoing HIV prevention services for which AGUILAS is now known. In early 2002, AGUILAS received direct funding from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for five years to expand its services and include annual overnight retreats through a more intense intervention experience in a safe and secure environment. During the spring summer camp rental season, AGUILAS expanded its reach to Latinx LGBTQ + people across Northern California.
Over the years, the employees of AGUILAS have published articles about their approach in peer-reviewed journal articles and presented their strategies nationally and internationally at numerous specialist conferences. Local leaders and government agencies later advocated the consolidation of smaller organizations. However, such integration posed challenges due to competing organizational priorities. Many Latinx LGBTQ + employees in these consolidated agencies expressed frustration and found that Latinx LGBTQ + concerns are not lacking in attention and focus. As a result, the AGUILAS Board of Directors decided to maintain its independence and seek additional sources of funding, develop fundraising activities and work with other agencies to provide services to the Latinx LGBTQ + community.
For example, AGUILAS led to the creation of Purple Star, a marijuana dispenser in the Mission District of San Francisco, whose profits are shared with nonprofits such as AGUILAS, Shanti, the SF LGBT Center, and the San Francisco Breast Cancer Emergency Fund.
With recent funding from the ViiV Foundation, AGUILAS will now revive La Academia de AGUILAS for Latinx LGBTQ + leadership development, previously funded by the Levi Straus Foundation in 2011 and 2012. Plans are currently being drawn up for management training and a certificate program with an event calendar that will soon be published on the AGUILAS website. The solid foundation of AGUILAS pays homage to the board of directors and dedicated employees of AGUILAS, who offer all services offered in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Our website has more detailed information as well as a monthly activity calendar, individual and group sessions for gay-bisexual Latinx men, social events and outreach activities to provide HIV, sexually transmitted infections (SDI) and hepatitis C tests in collaboration with includes the UCSF Health Alliance: https://www.sfaguilas.org/
AGUILAS finds ways to manage COVID-19 and re-entry
By Eduardo Morales, PhD–
The global pandemic of COVID-19 and the current Delta variant pose challenges for companies that are used to performing services in person or face-to-face. Health regulations, which required local and state governments to have on-site accommodation, previously prevented companies from doing business as usual. This also included health care providers such as AGUILAS.
AGUILAS was able to narrow the digital divide common in Latinx communities by instructing participants to get involved on various internet platforms. In recent years, program participants have needed guidance, encouragement, mentoring and coaching in using the internet and social media in order to obtain information and resources. AGUILAS did not realize that these efforts were critical to the unexpected and extended period of “protection in place” due to COVID-19.
Health mandates put a lot of trust in the regular provision of services via internet platforms. Promoting COVID testing as well as vaccination against COVID have become AGUILAS ‘primary efforts for the health and wellbeing of gay and bisexual Latinx men involved in our activities. In the past financial year, AGUILAS was able to exceed the contractual expectations in terms of the number of people and the services provided. The isolation and loneliness that many people experienced during the on-site placement mandate required us to address this as part of AGUILAS ‘reintegration plans.
When the news of the lifting of health regulations for on-site accommodation came out, AGUILAS ensured that all employees were vaccinated against COVID as part of the re-entry plan and begin providing services in person. After working from home for a long time, the AGUILAS employees have established themselves at regular office hours and we have concentrated on promoting team spirit.
On June 5th and 12th, AGUILAS held two one-day retreats at the SF LGBT Center for its program participants, where they could take part in various workshops to build skills, receive health tests and interact with the participants. The recommendations on social distancing and wearing face masks were encouraged for the two one-day retreats. Given the success of these two Saturday retreats, AGUILAS hosted a social event on Thursday evening July 28th where attendees received health tests, were introduced to our new hires, reunited with their friends, and were briefed on new program activities that only financed.
In the meantime, AGUILAS continues to monitor security conditions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It plans a slow re-entry into the offering of services with a hybrid process that includes various Internet platforms and offers limited services in person or face to face.
Last year additional funding was received from the California Department of Public Health Office for AIDS to expand and improve the services of AGUILAS. With the funding of AGUILAS from the ViiV Foundation, we will revitalize a leadership development training and certificate program called La Academia de AGUILAS for members of the Latinx LGBTQ community. Check our website as the plans develop: https://www.sfaguilas.org/
In mid-September, AGUILAS, together with the SF LGBT Center and the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District, will unveil the San Francisco Pulse Memorial, located on the second floor of the SF LGBT Center and funded by SF City and County. For the first time, the four national ethnic-psychological associations, together with PROVOC and Providence as consulting agencies, started a #WellnessForAll campaign for People of Color on Facebook and Instagram from July 13th to August 13th. This national source of information for people of color on their mental health and wellbeing could become an annual event. (For more information on these two efforts, see this issue of the San Francisco Bay Times.)
With careful planning and the combination of various resources, our team at AGUILAS is looking forward to an active and committed return to work.
Eduardo Morales, PhD, is the founder of AGUILAS, where he works as Executive Director. He is also a Distinguished Professor at Alliant International University and President of the National Latinx Psychological Association in 2021.
Published on August 12, 2021
