Local LGBT LULAC pitching in to help with migrant children and in forming new gay LULAC chapters
NYC BOUND | Rainbow LULAC president, Juan Contreras, second from right, travels to New York this weekend for the national convention. (Courtesy Juan Contreras)
County Judge Clay Jenkins put Dallas front and center in the immigration debate when he offered to shelter 2,000 migrant children from Central America who have crossed the border illegally.
“This is Texas, and in Texas, we don’t turn our back on children,” he told Mother Jones magazine.
Among the first groups Jenkins turned to for assistance was LULAC.
LULAC District III Regional director Rene Martinez said LULAC members would mentor, tutor and provide recreational activities for the children. He said everyone who volunteers, other than teachers, will have to go through a background check.
Martinez knew without doubt that Rainbow LULAC, one of the area’s most active and fastest growing chapters, would pitch in to help.
Rainbow LULAC President Juan Contreras said that Jenkins’ chief of staff had “approached us and asked if we’d like to volunteer.” Contreras added that he already has about 200 volunteers lined up, but is still looking for more bilingual volunteers.
Right now things are still in the planning stage in Dallas County. But once the children arrive, LULAC is ready to jump into action.
“The council is waiting for direction,” Contreras said. “Catholic Charities will provide training.”
The training will be for directly working with the children, but Contreras said they’re already planning toiletry and toy drives, too.
When the migrant children and teens up to age 17 begin to arrive in Dallas, Contreras said Rainbow LULAC be looking for any LGBT youth among them and providing extra assistance in the form of mentoring and advice on asylum claims.
He said those youth could face heightened risk if they are returned to the violence in their home countries.
Headed to NYC
Contreras has more on his plate, as well. This weekend, he will represent his council at the national LULAC convention in New York, where he’ll bring a resolution to the floor to add a national LGBT liaison.
That resolution passed at the district convention that Rainbow LULAC chaired in April.
Contreras will also be at the New York convention as a resource for delegates from around the country interested in starting their own rainbow councils.
The Dallas group began in 2006 and was the only LGBT council in the country for several years. But despite its singular presence, Dallas Rainbow LULAC has had a national impact since its inception.
At the 2007 national convention, the council held a diversity session to discuss LGBT acceptance. In 2008, LULAC passed a resolution supporting the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
In 2010, the Dallas Rainbow Council was recognized as council of the year. And within a week of President Barack Obama evolving on the issue of marriage equality, LULAC put out a statement also supporting the right to marriage.
LULAC has supported including LGBTs in hate crimes laws and workplace anti-discrimination laws, and giving bi-national same-sex couples the same rights as opposite-sex couples.
Contreras said Dallas is no longer the lone LGBT LULAC chapter. Houston, San Antonio and Orange County now have LGBT groups. He said El Paso is talking about forming a chapter as well.
Dallas has always been an incubator for LGBT groups. From Human Rights Campaign’s Black Tie Dinners, which now take place across the country after starting in Dallas, to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which was founded by a former Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance president, Dallas has been successful in creating groups that go national.
The regional LULAC district can take credit for the group’s success as well and Martinez talks about the group’s success with pride.
“We were the first district,” Martinez said. “Not only did we encourage it, but we expanded it from adults to young adults.”
Indeed, Dallas now has two rainbow councils, the newer one for teens and young adults.
For information on Rainbow LULAC in Dallas, visit www.lulac4871.org.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition July 11, 2014.