By Victoria Acuña
Over the weekend and into Monday, Latinos from across the state gathered in Denver for the 17th annual Latino/a Advocacy Day.
Organized by COLOR (Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights) and Voces Unidas de las Montañas, with supporting partner Protégete. Latino/a Advocacy Day (LAD) is a way for Colorado Latinos to align themselves with issues important to the community as highlighted by the Colorado Latino Policy Agenda, and lobby directly with state and local leaders.
This year, the focus was on air pollution and water, inclusive language in emergencies, housing and rent control, and health and reproductive justice.
Rural representation was strong, with over 150 people from outside the Denver metro area in attendance. A few Latino elected officials were also in attendance, including State Representatives Serena Gonzales-Gutiérrez, Lorena García, Javier Mabrey.
Beatriz Soto, director of Protégete, emceed the event along with Dusti Gurule, President and CEO of COLOR, and Alex Sánchez, President and CEO of Voces Unidas de las Montañas. Soto opened the event with a land acknowledgement, and Gurule shared the history of the annual LAD event and the importance of Latinx representation in the state of Colorado.
“We make up 22% of the state as Latinos,” said Rep. Gonzales-Gutiérrez, then proceeded to list off all members of the Colorado Latino Caucus. “Why I’m wanting to list all these out is because I want you to hear their names. Also, I want you to know that we have representation in leadership, which is incredibly important in the House and Senate because that can make or break whether or not certain policies get through the [legislative] process.”
Rep. Gonzales-Gutiérrez further explained: “We need you all on the outside pushing us on the inside. We also have to have people on the inside, pushing our leadership and governor to do the right thing. I told a bunch of students this morning, ‘Look, you can kind of talk to all of us. But 99% of the time, we’re going to be with you on these issues. The people you need to talk to are going to be the governor, they’re going to be our colleagues, and not just Republicans either. There are Democrats–our white colleagues– that don’t always align with us.’”
Following her remarks, Rep. Gonzales-Gutiérrez introduced recently elected Reps. Mabrey and García for the first panel of the day. Rep. Mabrey, who is an eviction defense attorney, is a sponsor for one of the bills the event focused on: HB23-1115, which seeks to repeal the rent control ban. “These are essential anti-displacement policies, as we are thinking about how we are going to deal with the housing crisis in Colorado,” he said.
Rep. García is a sponsor for SB23-189. Supported by Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, the bill seeks to expand insurance coverage for reproductive healthcare and close access gaps related to STIs and abortion care. “I didn’t run for this seat. I didn’t campaign for this seat. The reason why I’m sitting here is because the representative who was in this seat before [Rep. Adrienne Benavidez] recognized her work was done…She knew when a new generation needed to come into this seat. So, she asked me if I wanted to step into those shoes, and I said yes.”
Another panel was introduced that included Rep. Mabrey, Gurule, Sánchez, and Junior Ortega, who is a member of the Asociación de Jóvenes Unidos en Acción (AJUA).
Gurule spoke on the need for organizations such as COLOR, “If we didn’t have inequities and racism in our infrastructure, we wouldn’t need direct service organizations. We wouldn’t need people providing food or housing stipends…We need to be changing the faces of those making decisions.”
Ortega discussed his involved in AJUA and lobbying, and his experience with an unsupportive legislator. “It’s important to use your voice to keep our representatives accountable. If they don’t hear from us and our communities, I feel like we are left in the shadows. And so I’m grateful that Voces, Protégete, and COLOR create these spaces for us to be able to be here, and to encourage us to have that voice at the capitol.”
Soto asked Sánchez how Voces identifies legislative priorities. “We spend time in our community hearing from Latinas and Latinos up and down the central mountain region, and have them identify something they’re interested in,” explained Sánchez. “And that’s something that should be the driving force of our political agenda…We can’t win on our issue if we don’t understand the whole picture and how it’s all interconnected, and so in partnership with COLOR, we launched some of the largest polling that has ever been done in the state of Colorado that informs some of our reports. And we do it in time for the legislative session, in September…to give the community time to have these conversations before the lawmakers do.”
On Monday, attendees gathered to begin their lobbying efforts at the State Capitol and members of the Latino Caucus stepped out from the House and Senate chambers to join the rally. After remarks from Gurule and others, and a chant of “¡Si se puede!” attendees gathered in groups and proceeded to find the legislators they wanted to lobby.
You can read more about the Colorado Latino Policy Agenda and the 2022 report here.
Victoria Acuña is an Independent Reporter for The Weekly Issue/El Semanario.
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