Ricky Martin, Lin-Manuel Miranda team up to fight anti-LGBTQ legislation
Ricky Martin and “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda are joining forces to fight anti-LGBTQ legislation, saying that “basic human rights are under attack.”
“I’m Ricky Martin. I am Latino. And I am a U.S. citizen. I am a father. I am a husband. And, by the way, I’m also gay and a human being,” the “Livin’ La Vida Loca” singer said in a video released Tuesday.
“The last one should be enough to make sure that my basic human rights are protected and respected. But they’re not,” the Puerto Rico-born entertainer said into the camera as he announced the launch of the Hispanic Federation’s Advance Change Together (ACT) initiative.
The $1 million initiative, announced during Pride Month, will “support approximately 20 Latinx LGBTQ+ nonprofits through grants of up to $50,000,” the Hispanic Federation said in a news release. The group said it aimed to coordinate with other nonprofits across the country to “create a unified policy agenda to combat the growing list of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and to protect the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.”
“Right now, there are hundreds of pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislations that are being discussed and approved. I am talking about the country — the entire country — and in Puerto Rico as well,” Martin said.
“There are people trying to take away the rights of trans people just for being who they are,” added Martin, a father of four. “These same people are attacking our rights to get married and form families. They are even attempting to stop LGBTQ people from adopting and having children. This has to stop. All people are people.”
The Grammy Award winner continued with an impassioned plea, saying, “Everyone should have the right to have a family and obviously love who they love.”
“I want my children to live in a world where their parents have the same rights as the parents of their friends,” he said. “I want all children to be able to speak openly about their own families, not to be prohibited from drawing their own family tree at school just because of the state they live in.”
Martin’s remarks come as bills banning transgender athletes from competing in school sports are being introduced across the country and following the passage of Florida’s controversial Parental Rights in Education bill. The legislation, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by its critics, restricts classroom instruction in primary schools related to sexual orientation or gender identity.
“This is insanity,” Martin, 50, said. “We must come together to fight for the rights of families like mine, to fight for the rights of families in general.”
Saying he was teaming up with Miranda and a coalition of artists and activists for the effort, Martin exclaimed, “We’re all in this together, and we are going to stop hate.”
“We’ve seen what happens when hate and division are allowed to run rampant in our country. People fall through the cracks, lives are lost and communities are left broken,” Miranda said in a statement.
ACT, Miranda said, will help respond “to this urgent moment by bringing together Latinx LGBTQ+ nonprofits to empower, advocate and create stronger support networks for the LGBTQ+ community.”
“Love will conquer all,” Martin said in the video. “And we will win this fight.”
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