We hope you are enjoying the nice warm weather lately. Congratulations to the group Transgenero 2000 (Transgender 2000) on its eighth anniversary. The Spanish-speaking transgender support group educates, mobilizes and provides support for the Latino transgender community so members can live with a sense of pride and dignity. Facilitators Sandra Ramirez and Amador Cerda do an excellent job of leading the group and keeping it on task.

Transgenero 2000 meets at the Latino Service Center every Friday at 6 p.m. For more information, visit www.thecentersd.org/latinoservices.php, or call 619-692-2077, ext. 116. Congratulations to the group for its achievement!

One of the most difficult things to do as a GLBT person is to come out to your family. Aside from coming out to ourselves, we also have to deal with our family members and the negative reaction they might have. It’s not always clear how our family will react and the fear of rejection is very painful.

For GLBT Latinos, this can be twice as difficult. It can be incredibly challenging for GLBT Latinos to feel completely comfortable in both the GLBT and Latino community.

For example, Latinos who try to continue to follow their cultural and familial traditions may be rejected by family members for being GLBT, while members of the GLBT community can discriminate against them based on the color of their skin, their accent, or their language skills. Fears in coming out can be tied to losing family and ties to religion and/or spirituality, our cultural traditions, relatives, our dignity and credibility.

As Mother’s Day approaches, we’d like you to know that there is another side to this story. There are families in the San Diego Latino community who accept their GLBT children. They are part of a group started more than a year ago at the Latino Services Center called Mi Familia (My Family).

The group, sponsored by PFLAG, for Spanish-speaking parents and families grew out of a need from local Latino parents looking for a place where they could talk about their hopes and fears, and to form a community of support. A few committed parents started the group and it has steadily grown since its inception.

One important thing to note is that both mothers and fathers attend Mi Familia. The group has a strong level of understanding of GLBT issues and welcomes new members. Group members share their experiences and are happy to educate and support new parents who need understanding as they come to grips with their children’s sexuality. Very few groups like this exist and we are proud there is one here in San Diego.

A mother in the group spoke about Isaac, her female-to-male transgender son. “One of the things that is most important to me is to respect my children and to love my son exactly the way he is,” she said. “It is important to normalize our family life and accept all of our children,” said Isaac’s father, who also attends the group. Julia, a mother of a gay man, told us “the most important thing for [her] is the happiness of [her] son … his sexual orientation is the last thing that [she] worries about.”

Mi Familia meets at the Latino Services Center the second and fourth Monday of each month from 6-8 p.m. All Spanish-speaking parents and families are welcome to attend. For more information, visit the Latino Services Web site at www.thecentersd.org/latinoservices.php or call 619-692-2077, ext. 116.

We would like to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there. Hopefully you will be able to celebrate it with those you love.

As always, please pet us know about GLBT Latino issues that you would like to see featured in upcoming columns. Please send your comments and feedback to la_voz_latina_sd@yahoo.com, and thank you for all the positive feedback you have given us so far!