Conversaciones: Relatos Por Padres y Madres de Hijas Lesbianas y Hijos Gay

by Mariana Romo-Carmona (Editor)

Overview

2002 Lambda Literary Award Winner

Twenty-three Latino parents speak about their relationships with their lesbian and gay children, with frankness, humor, and love.

A Puerto Rican mother praises and supports her son, a respected police officer. An Argentinian mother attends Gay Pride with two lesbian daughters. An Honduran mother joins her twin daughters at gay youth events; one is a lesbian and the other is bisexual. The mother of a Mexican activist remembers her family's love for her son, who passed away after living with AIDS for ten years... Conversaciones is an extremely important book for all Latin American and Spanish-speaking communities. With stories by twelve sons and daughters and an afterword by Jaime Manrique.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781573441261
Publisher:	Cleis Press
Publication date:	08/28/2001
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

MARIANA ROMO-CARMONA is author of Living at Night and Speaking Like an Immigrant, and she is the co-editor of the groundbreaking collection Cuentos: Stories by Latinas. Her writing has also appeared in The World in Us: Lesbian & Gay Poetry of the New Wave, A Woman Like That, and Companeras: Latina Lesbians. Romo-Carmona is on faculty of the MFA Program writing program at Goddard College. She lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

	Prologo	xi
	El secreto de Juliana	1
	Sobre mi vida y mi hija	8
	Mis dos hijas mellizas	14
	El regalo	21
	Acerca de mi hijo, Edgar	25
	Lo que yo esperaba de mi hija	29
	Hablando de su hijo, Tomas	36
	Mi hijo, Jorge	45
	Mi hija y la familia	49
	Ya era tiempo	54
	Cronicas de familia: Juana entrevista a Corina, su madre	58
	Llegamos a reconstruir vidas	72
	Nuestro hijo, Juan	77
	De Cuba nos vinimos	85
	Ese momento en el tren	92
	Finalmente	98
	Dos momentos de mi relacion con mi hijo, Andres	103
	Palabras de su madre	106
	Sobre Richard	109
	La reina de todo	115
	Mi hija, Patty	123
	Soy mama de Deyanira	129
	Sobre mi hijo	134
	Dona Emelina, mama de Emy	140
	Tenemos mucho que andar	145
	Recursos Esenciales	151
	Una ultima palabra	153
	Quienes somos: Notas sobre los contribuyentes	157
	Sobre la editoria	166

Editorial Reviews

A Chilean feminist, activist, and lesbian mother, Romo-Carmona has produced a groundbreaking collection of interviews to dispel the silence about homosexuality in Latino communities. With eloquence and honesty, 25 Latino parents living predominantly in the United States tell about their experiences raising gay and lesbian children in a culture where homophobia exists alongside migration, racism, and poverty. In many of the interviews, parents reveal, at times with a shocking directness, their pain about having a gay or lesbian child. Yet the book also presents more liberal and accepting opinions about homosexuality. A Honduran mother is more concerned with her daughter's depression than her sexuality, and a Puerto Rican lesbian mourns her gay son, who died of AIDS, leaving her with his informally chosen family. In several cases, daughters and sons respond to their parents, creating an insightful dialog for readers. With contributors from a number of countries, including Mexico, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic, and an afterword by the acclaimed gay Colombian American writer Jaime Manrique, this book is pivotal in addressing the isolation felt by Spanish-speaking parents who must deal with homosexuality while living in a discriminatory community. It is equally critical for gay and lesbian Latinos both young and adult who can learn from their parents' experiences. Recommended for gay/ lesbian library collections and general bookstores. Daisy Hern ndez, Women in Literature and Letters (WILL), New York City w Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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