If there is little to no demand for Hispanic literature, one can only imagine how slight the demand for Hispanic queer literary works is. Nonetheless, one of the biggest champions within this particular niche in publishing is Johnny Diaz, author of BeanTown (Kensington) and reporter for Boston Globe. Despite his hectic schedule, Diaz ensures that he always has time, be it an hour or an entire weekend, to write his chapters and scenes. Diaz, within his novels, strives to show to the greater public just how different the stereotypes of Hispanics are from the truth.
In order to combat the stereotypes of Latinos as drug dealers and illegal immigrants who cannot speak the English language, Diaz states that “the main character is always a gay Cuban professional who has the same everyday problems that everyone else has, finding the right guy and struggling with acceptance and reconciliation in our families.” When asked how the response has been for works that are bound to be controversial and cause a ruckus, Diaz proudly acclaims that the support and respect has been astounding, “I’ve received beautiful emails from men of color who have said they can relate to the struggles of being gay and Hispanic or black. They applaud for me getting stories out there because you’d be hard pressed to find an open gay Hispanic author currently publishing in the U.S. I also hear from women who say they relate to the problems that gay men face in the dating world.”
Despite the attention his last novel Beantown Cubans finally gained from such Spanish-language publications as People en Espanol magazine, Diaz asserts that there is still many an empty place within the Hispanic-Queer niche. His voice alone is not enough to fill this void and he wishes “there were more of us. I wish there were more gay Hispanic authors to offer a rich diversity of voices. The more published authors we have in our literary club, the more our stories can be told and shared. And the more books I can read by them.”