I am in my third year of college and studying social work. As a social worker, it is really important to be aware of oppression that you might have to work through with a client. I felt as a brown woman living in the United States, I understood all of it. Boy, I was wrong. This past semester, a big part of my social work studies was to be a part of a group project that outlined major issues within our society, like racism, domestic violence, child abuse, or heterosexism. My group and I chose heterosexism. The three other ladies in my group, like myself, do not identify within the LGBT community, so we felt that this would be helpful for us.

I am now so grateful for this experience.

I thought of myself as an ally for the LGBT community, and I felt that I knew a lot about the injustices that they face. However, it was super shocking to realize that I was only scratching the surface. I learned about people being thrown in jail because of Sodomy laws. I learned about thousands dying due to the AIDS epidemic and many dragging their feet in finding medication that would help because some politicians felt that it was “God’s punishment” for the “lifestyle they chose to live.” I learned about members of the LGBT community not being able to be with their partners as they were dying, simply because they were not legally married.

I felt completely overwhelmed by all of this new information. What could I do? While members in the LGBT community can now get married, that doesn't even begin to start getting them the equality they deserve. Many religious people and politicians do not make it any easier.

I also began to think about what this meant for the Latino community. I thought about the Spanish language itself, and how it is based so much on gender. It is really hard to address someone who does not fit into either él or ella. It can exclude those who are gender fluid and this is really problematic.

While I cannot stop all of the oppression of the LGBT community, the use of language is an important start.

The gender binary is so ingrained in the Spanish language that I worried what I would do in a situation where I am speaking in Spanish with someone who identifies as gender non-conforming. What if someone does not feel that they fit in either the “male” or “female” group? What does this mean for them? Thankfully, Latinx (pronounced latin-ex) pages I have seen on social media have been advocating for everyone to use this word, and it is definitely something that I want to remember to use.

Using Latinx is helpful because it opens up the community for those who do not fit in either category, él or ella. It may not seem like a big deal for us who are cisgendered, but for others, it means a lot. Using Latinx makes us all equal. We are all together in one category, as we should be. It's time for Latinx to come together and support those in our community. While we cannot fix everything that is wrong with society, we can start by simply changing one word.