By Michelle Ma, Class of 2025
Each year, from September 15 to October 15, we celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month in order to remember the histories and contributions of those with Spanish, Latin American or Caribbean ancestry. In 1968, the Johnson administration started a Hispanic Heritage Week, which was expanded into a 30-day period by President Ronald Reagan. On August 17, 1988, this observance was enacted into law. Notably, this month stands out because the dates occur between two months. This is due to many independence movements that started around September 15th and carried on through the rest of the 30-day period. Hispanic and Latinx communities have always been crucial to the activism that has strengthened our democracy.
We also celebrate LGBT History Month during October to remember the achievements of influential LGBT icons. This observance was started in 1994 by Rodney Wilson and other teachers who believed a month should be dedicated to teaching gay and lesbian history. They chose October because previous existing traditions such as Coming Out Day (October 11) occur that month and public schools are in session. The history of many LGBT leaders and pioneers is not often taught and too often overlooked. So, LGBT History Month aims to recognize the role models that have contributed to this community and additionally to our country.
To highlight the overlap of these two celebratory occasions, the VOSMU team wants to call your attention to an interview that addresses intersectionality. Coined by Professor Kimberle Crenshaw in 1989, intersectionality is a sociological analytical framework used to understand how the social and political identities of different groups and individuals result in unique combinations and experiences. These factors could be gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, religion, etc. Oftentimes, these social identities intersect with one another and overlap, creating different dynamics. The conversation with intersectionality is long and complicated, so for the sake of this post, I will only be focusing on the basis of this theory. As conversations grow and change, we want to focus on the point that many of the students attending SMU do not only belong to one group; they belong to many that don’t always have shared factors. Voices’ goal has always been to spotlight the individual stories of members in marginalized communities. We hope with each story, we promote a deeper understanding of what people in underrepresented groups experience at SMU.
Please take a look at this interview with Harvey Luna, who was interviewed back in 2022. Harvey Luna grew up in Dallas, Texas, with parents who immigrated from Mexico. He attended SMU from 2010 to 2014 and majored in Political Science and Economics. During his time here, he was very involved in student organizations advocating for LGBTQ+ rights such as Spectrum and Student Senate. You can watch the full interview at this link.