San Antonio’s LGBT LULAC chapter was named National Council of the Year at the 87th National LULAC Convention in Washington, D.C. last week.
The award was presented to Orgullo de San Antonio LGBT LULAC Council #22198 by Roger Rocha, Jr., president of LULAC National.
LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) was founded in 1929. It promotes civil rights for Hispanics living in the United States. Membership comes from every state in the union with over 1000 councils nationwide. LULAC organizes voter registration drives, citizenship awareness sessions, sponsors health fairs and tutorial programs, and raises funds for scholarships.
Orgullo de San Antonio, which was founded in 2014, is one of ten LULAC LGBT chapters in the U.S. There are LGBT chapters in Houston and Dallas as well.
Members of Orgullo de San Antonio at the Cesar E. Chavez March for Justice earlier this year. (Courtesy photo)
Since it’s founding, Orgullo has been active in the city’s LGBT and Latino communities. “Orgullo de San Antonio has worked to facilitate an open line of communication between the LGBTQ and the Latino/Hispanic community,” Congressman Lloyd Doggett, wrote in a letter of support to the group. “This council works to bridge these communities through education and increased awareness of current issues involving civil and human rights.”
The national award received by the Orgullo was preceded by an award for District 15 Council of the Year presented at the Texas State LULAC convention held in Laredo last March. The statewide designation put Orgullo in competition for this year’s national award.
Robert Salcido, Orgullo’s president, said in a statement that with this honor the chapter’s members were being “notably recognized, at every level, for their community work in advocacy, civic engagement, voter education, HIV awareness, immigration reform, as well as effective collaborations with local, regional and national organizations.”
