HoMoVISIONES Records

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MSS 177

Staff Only

HoMoVISIONES Records - Digital Collections

HoMoVISIONES Full Episodes (Internet Archives)

Scope and Contents

Founded in January 1994 HoMoVISIONES aired its eponymous public access television program in all New York City boroughs (with the exception of Staten Island). The HoMoVISIONES records detail the ambitions of local activists to promote, entertain, and inform the Latine LGBTQ+ community in New York City; distribute information about HIV prevention and healthcare resources; and create an inclusive community.

Researchers can investigate the innerworkings of how HoMoVISIONES operated, was funded, and produced its television programs. Of particular interest is the information contained in files about the 1998 Board of Directors planning retreat, which served as a process for envisioning the future of HoMoVISIONES, honing its mission, and setting goals.

Just as rich are the files about adjacent organizations within the local, national, and international LGBTQ+ community. These files contain flyers, brochures, and some correspondence with HoMoVISIONES regarding collaborative projects and arrangements for interviews for the television program. Examples of organizations are the Latino/a Lesbian and Gay Organization (LLEGO), Mano a Mano, the Latino AIDS Commission, and the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-violence Project (AVP).

Another facet of the collection is general information and statistics about HIV, AIDS, and issues of concern to the Latine LGBTQ+ community, especially items in Spanish and items conveyed in the form of comic books. For example, there is a rare comic book titled “Tales of the Closet” which was published by the Hetrick-Martin Institute as 9 issues beginning in 1987. This is located in the Centro Library.

Finally, the collection provides general information and procedures about producing public access television in New York City. Over 150 episodes of the show have been digitized as part of a CLIR grant. They are available for public viewing at https://archive.org/details/homovisiones

Dates

1980-2002

Creator

HoMoVisiones (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open to researchers without restrictions, some audiovisual material is restricted due to the fragile nature of the tapes. Over 150 episodes have been digitized as part of a CLIR grant. They are available for public viewing at https://archive.org/details/homovisiones

Conditions Governing Use

Copyrights held by Gonzalo Aburto and Cándido Negrón.

Biographical / Historical

HoMoVISIONES was an organization founded in January 1994, whose mission was “as a Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender nonprofit organization that promotes the arts and culture to further awareness, understanding and respect for our diversity in order to effect social change.” Co-founded by Gonzalo Aburto and Cándido Negrón along with a coalition of Latinos formerly involved in ACT UP, they produced a Spanish-language cable access television program that aired in New York City from 1994 to 2004 dedicated to the issues of the Latine LGBTQ+ community. The show was a video lifeline to Latina/o/x gay men, lesbians, transgender and bisexual individuals throughout the city because it depicted queer Latinos in a positive light. For its fans in four of the boroughs (the program did not air on Staten Island), HoMoVISIONES brought a spirited mix of news about the gay rights movement, Latin and mainstream pop music, VIP interviews, information about the city’s LGBTQ arts and entertainment scenes, and bare-chested men.

Sources: ACT UP Oral History Project, Gonzalo Aburto interview with Sarah Schulman, August 26, 2008. http://www.actuporalhistory.org/interviews/images/aburto.pdf

By-Laws of HoMoVISIONES, Inc., HoMoVisiones Records, Archives of the Puerto Rican Diaspora, Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College, CUNY. https://centroca.hunter.cuny.edu/Detail/objects/5709.

Extent

21.0 Cubic Feet

Language of Materials

English

Spanish; Castilian

Metadata Rights Declarations

License: This record is made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Creative Commons license.

Additional Description

Abstract

HoMoVISIONES was a public access television program dedicated to Latine LGBTQ+ issues. The collection is made up of correspondence, topical and administrative files, clippings, flyers, posters, proposals, scripts, reports and multi-format video recordings. Dating from 1980-2002, the collected materials offer rich documentation on queer and Latine social and political movements, as well as their cultural counterparts. It mainly deals with activities in the New York metropolitan area in the 1980s and 1990s. The HoMoVISIONES records detail the ambitions of local activists to document, entertain, and inform the Latine LGBTQ+ community in New York City; distribute information about HIV prevention and healthcare resources; and create an inclusive community.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged alphabetically by file name.

Processing Information

Selected audiovisual materials and formats were evaluated by Brianna Jones, graduate student in the New York University Moving Images Archiving and Preservation program.

Terminology Used

Archivists attempted to utilize the broadest inclusive terminiology to capture the multitude of identities represented in the collection when writing descriptive text. We recognize not all these terms were available during the records creation, but they do seem to nevertheless best represent the individuals and groups shown on the show and the viewing audience. Terminology was selected utilizing the international LGBTQ+ linked data vocabulary Homosaurus. All folder and item titles within the container list retain their original terminology.

Subjects

Community Resource Exchange, Inc.
Correspondence Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Fliers (printed matter) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
Gay men on television Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Gay pride celebrations Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Grant proposals Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
Hispanic American sexual minorities Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Hispanic Americans -- New York City Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Hispanic Americans in television broadcasting Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Homosexuality on television Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
LGBTQ+ people Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Latino Commission on AIDS
Minutes (administrative records) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
National Latino/a Lesbian and Gay Organization
New York (N.Y.) -- Social conditions -- 20th century Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Public-access television Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Scripts (documents) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
Television programs Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
Video tapes Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings