Rodríguez-Roldán can attest that, for some of the Latinos she knows in the LGBTQ community, this is the case, as well.

“Often, the Latino LGBTQ community feels like — among the other problems and challenges they face as a community — they feel like they’re excluded inside the mainstream LGBTQ community. That they are treated as tokens, their needs ignored,” said Rodríguez-Roldán.

She insisted on how important it is to understand intersectionality among LGBTQ people, not only when it comes to race and ethnicity, but also when talking about economic class, religion, and disabilities among the members of the community.

“[Intersectionality] can’t be a slogan. All of our activism should move towards promoting diversity,” she said.

Although he lives in Washington, D.C., some 800 miles away from Orlando, Ortiz-Fonseca had a message of hope for the LGBTQ community in the wake of this tragedy.

"We are magical beings that create and transform our community with every breath and every step that we take. And to everyone else I say that every time you see a femme boy, a maricón, a queen, a sissy, or a Black and brown queer boy strutting down the street…That sight should make you proud," Ortiz-Fonseca said.