In the early ‘90s, Alicia T. Vega was seeking a place where she could be her full self—queer and Latina.
That desire led her on a journey that would later transform into a life of activism. From trying to create an on-campus LGBTQ+ group at Loyola University Chicago to being a key part of one of Chicago’s historic Latina queer organizations, Vega was always looking to find community. Her experience as a young college student inspired her future work as an activist as she found her voice alongside fellow students.
Vega was one of the founding members of Loyola’s Gay and Lesbian Alliance, also helping draft and implement anti-discrimination protections for the LGBTQ+ community at the school. She graduated with an Applied Psychology B.S. and a Master of Jurisprudence in Child Law.
Vega was only just coming to terms with her sexuality when she arrived at college, and it marked the first time she really got out of her home neighborhood of Back of the Yards. She immediately met a group who was trying to start an LGBTQ+ organization and felt connected to them.
“I just got inspired by that,” she said. “I found my sense of community with those folks, and I just followed along with what they were doing and really found my voice as an advocate through that experience.”
As the organization was struggling to get off the ground—Vega said the application to be a student organization kept getting denied—she felt LGBTQ+ students weren’t being recognized. She continued to push harder.
Eventually, the organization got its recognition. One of Vega’s favorite memories is having a coming out parade on campus. She still has the buttons they made.
However, she was also looking for a group of Latinos to be a part of as well. She said she felt when she went to meetings for Loyola’s Hispanic student organization, she felt she “couldn’t bring [her] lesbian self.” She felt the same about her Hispanic identity in the LGBTQ+ group.
So she put out an ad in Windy City Times, looking to connect with other Latina lesbians. She went to the Pride parade and handed out flyers. Then, she heard about Women of All Colores & Cultures Together and met Evette Cardona, one of the future cofounders of Amigas Latinas.
When it first began in 1995, the organization was more scrappy and connected through word of mouth. Vega opened her home for one of the first gatherings they called “Platicas”—where people would come together and discuss different topics affecting queer Latina women.
“Everything was really driven out of people’s homes,” she said. “People would sign up to the mailing list, then we would mail them a flyer. So [we] spent a lot of time stuffing envelopes and putting stamps on things to send people that had the information on it.”
Once the organization became a 501(c)(3), Vega joined the board. It marked her first real experience on the board of an organization, which taught her a lot about nonprofit leadership—she’s been working with nonprofits ever since, now in a consulting role.
What Vega is most proud of from her time with Amigas Latinas is how they created a comfortable, welcoming and laidback space for people to show up as they are. She said she felt they always knew so much about each other, but no one talked about work—it was about their love life, family, health issues and more.
Vega recalled, “We talked about who people were … People described it as like coming home, seeing people like myself.”
However, coming into the space wasn’t without challenges for the participants. Vega said they advised people to not leave flyers lying around, as they had attendees in heterosexual marriages who weren’t out to their spouses. Some were at risk for or in situations with domestic violence.
Some told Vega stories of how they just needed time to decide they wanted to go—coming to the place and standing outside, but not having the strength to come in yet.
Though once people were in it, Vega said it felt like the group was “living in [their] own little world”—not much comes to mind in terms of discrimination the group faced during that time. Sometimes outside spaces wouldn’t let Amigas Latinas use their resources, but Vega said for events like their dance fundraisers, they’d go through someone they knew and wouldn’t have to deal with backlash.
As someone who’s female-presenting, Vega also feels she has more privilege in different spaces. She also had a very accepting family, and a ministry program for youth she runs with her wife.
One of the organization’s other main achievements was its community needs assessment. Vega said they were approached by Mujeres Latinas en Acción about contributing to a publication about the Latina community and resources. Amigas Latinas ended up getting a grant and putting an advisory group together to launch the assessment.
“We were able to really contribute something to the research on us, because there wasn’t anything,” she said. “There are a lot of different support groups [that] were born out of what we understood was needed.”
One topic they uncovered was how domestic violence was affecting those in same-sex relationships, which Vega said was surprising to them at the time. She said there was also a stereotype that the more masculine woman in the situation was the offender, which often wasn’t the case.
This demonstrated a need for domestic violence training and protections, including organizational partnerships and meetings with specialists who trained people on how to discuss these issues with cultural sensitivity for Latina lesbians.
When leaders decided it was time to dissolve Amigas Latinas, Vega said, it wasn’t for lack of resources or other difficulties—it was because they achieved their organizational goals.
“Rarely do you see an organization who reaches and completes their mission and they’re no longer needed,” she said. “Those last couple of years, what was really happening is these offshoots of different subgroups who wanted to be independent just evolved … one of the major components of what we did was help people find each other.”
Those subgroups of people who met within Amigas Latinas went on to do their own things, and technology also evolved in ways that allowed people to more easily connect with other queer Latinas. Some of the groups that were born out of the organization included a poetry group, an older women’s group with a more spiritual aspect and a Spanish-language PFLAG.
In the organization’s final years, Vega noticed people weren’t showing up to events as much, which also marked a generational shift—more younger queer Latinas weren’t seeking out a separate place, but were just looking to integrate within the community. Vega feels the work Amigas Latinas accomplished in the community helped make this future integration possible.
With the state of American politics in 2025, this integration is important, Vega said. It’s important to think of how attacks don’t just affect individuals, but communities as a whole. Many direct attacks have been aimed at trans people, but it’s important that people stand together, she said.
“I think there’s a very conscious strategy being put into place to keep us from collaboration, from keeping us from coming together, [from] seeing each other from different lenses,” she said. “Because once we do and we understand collective power, that’s when those that are trying to destroy us become the weakest.”
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