By Emmanuel Garcia

On May 25, the Chicago LGBT Immigrants Alliance hosted a community forum at the Rudy Lozano Library, 1805 S. Loomis, in the Pilsen area of Chicago.

More than 40 community leaders and interested individuals attended the forum. The alliance is a new group of organizations that initially started with ALMA ( Association of Latino Men for Action ) , Amigas Latinas and Latinos Progresando. However, the forum was not only organized by the alliance and several LGBT organizations, but also by people in the community who have a vested interests in immigration-related issues.

'Our hope is that this alliance will work on various fronts, mostly to educate LGBTQ immigrants on their rights, create a meaningful network of advocates so that our community members never fall through the cracks when they seek services in the community and to train each other on the various and complex issues that face immigrants who identify as LGBTQ,' said Laura Pichardo, staff attorney at Latinos Progresando.

The forum also served as an opportunity to create dialogue between immigrants- and LGBT-rights groups, 'In many ways the significance of this alliance is that we have yet to bring the needs of LGBTQ persons to the table. So often members of this community get treated as 'other' by both the immigrant community and the LGBTQ community,' said Pichardo. 'We must remind people that LGBTQ immigrants are whole persons whose needs must be met. We hope to gain some of the momentum of this historic moment in order to bring people to the table.'

Participants were able to ask questions regarding issues in the lives of LGBTQ immigrants. More specifically, the forum addressed issues of asylum, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS and issues facing transgender immigrants.