Last updated: June 26, 2024
Place
Edificio Comunidad de Orgullo Gay de Puerto Rico
Photograph by Santiago Gala, Courtesy of Puerto Rico Historic Preservation Office
Quick Facts
Location:
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Significance:
Social History, LGBTQ History
Designation:
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places - Reference Number 16000237
OPEN TO PUBLIC:
No
MANAGED BY:
Private
Edificio Comunidad de Orgullo Gay de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Community Building of Gay Pride), commonly known as Comunidad de Orgullo Gay (Gay Pride Community), is a two-story, Spanish/Mediterranean Revival apartment building in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1974 as the first gay/lesbian attempt to organize in order to confront the social, political and legal discrimination against the local LGBTQ community.
Inspired by the 1969 Stonewall Revolt, in New York City, and its aftermath, Comunidad de Orgullo Gay pioneered the organized resistance against the heterosexual social dominance through political action, outreach educational programs, public exposition and confrontation and social support and assistance to the local LGBTQ community. The Stonewall Revolt announced the development of a more militant and combative gay movement. Inspired by the 1960s’ civil rights struggle, the new homosexual organizations formed after Stonewall, like the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activist Alliance, derived their confrontational methods and political agendas. In the words of historian Martin Duberman, the events in Stonewall became “a symbol of global proportions.” In many ways, the establishment of Comunidad de Orgullo Gay de Puerto Rico reflected this national struggle.
The LGBTQ+ movement in Puerto Rico mirrors much of the struggle in other areas of the United States. Coming out of the closet in the 1960s and 1970s (or any other previous time) in Puerto Rico was not an easy task. In 1898 the United States annexed Puerto Rico. Same-sex relationships were among the first social conducts that the United States attempted to control. In 1902 the Penal Code codified same sex relationships as a crime.
During the first few decades of the twentieth century, most homosexuals in the island lived a very “heterosexual” lifestyle, keeping their sexual orientation in a very discrete, quiet, and invisible mode. It would take the economic and social conditions created by the Second World War to allow for a more visible presence of a gay community, especially within the urban context. A young labor force (male and female alike) came in contact with the new social/sexual opportunities provided by the anonymous life within the big cities.
Between the 1950s through the 1970s, these socio-economic factors prompted the formation of a gay subculture visually represented in the form of the social spaces used by the gay community: clubs, bars and public spaces used for cruising (movie theaters, hotel nightclubs, and parks, among others). With more visibility surrounding the gay subculture came opposition. In 1956, an editorial of a major newspaper warned the population about the “sexual degenerates,” “mentally sick,” “effeminate men,” which “constitute a danger to the
Young.” In 1961, Governor Luis Muñoz Marin requested a report from the Police Commissioner about the extension of the “homosexual problem” in Puerto Rico.
Even with all the conservative powers in motion against the gay population, by the late 1960s, a reformist feeling took hold among some local lawmakers that questioned the legality of the sodomy laws, indicating that they violated the rights of privacy and that the state shouldn’t have any jurisdiction in the sexual relations of consenting adults. Since 1902, Article 278 of the Penal Code penalized “acts against nature, committed with another human being or with beast,” which directly codified as a crime same sex relationship, especially among gay males. In 1974, the code was re-phrased, separating the bestiality act from the human intercourse, creating different statutes for each action. This re-rephasing was the catalyst for the creation of Comunidad de Orgullo Gay (COG) in 1974.
In order to give institutional legality to the organization, COG was properly incorporated as a non-profit organization at the Puerto Rico Department of State by Rafael Cruet, Ernie Potvin, and Paul Dirks. It became legally recorded on January 21, 1975. The Unitarian Fellowship locale became the initial meeting hall for the organization, but it didn’t last. By August 1975, COG was able to formalize the acquisition of a permanent place, renting the upper level of a 1930s commercial/residential building, in the ward of Río Piedras (San Juan). As COG’s home-base, the locale became known as Casa Orgullo.
By late 1976, after two years of a struggling but militant existence, COG disbanded. Personal and economic hardship placed an enormous pressure among the fulltime leadership and the almost fulltime volunteers that administered the various programs. Although short lived, COG was successful in many significant aspects. It created a safe haven in Casa Orgullo, where hundreds of members of the gay community were able to receive legal advice, medical assistance and moral/social support. The medical clinic at Casa Orgullo was a pioneering facility, not from the medical standpoint, but from its social approach in providing a comfortable/safe space to the gay population. Extremely significant was the organization’s efforts in creating a sense of pride, dignity and identity among the gay community through its lectures, symposiums, public appearances in radio and TV debates, and its fight against damaging public stereotypes.
While the Casa Orgullo no longer exists, its home of Casa Orgullo is privately owned. The property was the home of the organization that spearheaded, in many ways, the gay liberation movement in Puerto Rico.
Inspired by the 1969 Stonewall Revolt, in New York City, and its aftermath, Comunidad de Orgullo Gay pioneered the organized resistance against the heterosexual social dominance through political action, outreach educational programs, public exposition and confrontation and social support and assistance to the local LGBTQ community. The Stonewall Revolt announced the development of a more militant and combative gay movement. Inspired by the 1960s’ civil rights struggle, the new homosexual organizations formed after Stonewall, like the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activist Alliance, derived their confrontational methods and political agendas. In the words of historian Martin Duberman, the events in Stonewall became “a symbol of global proportions.” In many ways, the establishment of Comunidad de Orgullo Gay de Puerto Rico reflected this national struggle.
The LGBTQ+ movement in Puerto Rico mirrors much of the struggle in other areas of the United States. Coming out of the closet in the 1960s and 1970s (or any other previous time) in Puerto Rico was not an easy task. In 1898 the United States annexed Puerto Rico. Same-sex relationships were among the first social conducts that the United States attempted to control. In 1902 the Penal Code codified same sex relationships as a crime.
During the first few decades of the twentieth century, most homosexuals in the island lived a very “heterosexual” lifestyle, keeping their sexual orientation in a very discrete, quiet, and invisible mode. It would take the economic and social conditions created by the Second World War to allow for a more visible presence of a gay community, especially within the urban context. A young labor force (male and female alike) came in contact with the new social/sexual opportunities provided by the anonymous life within the big cities.
Between the 1950s through the 1970s, these socio-economic factors prompted the formation of a gay subculture visually represented in the form of the social spaces used by the gay community: clubs, bars and public spaces used for cruising (movie theaters, hotel nightclubs, and parks, among others). With more visibility surrounding the gay subculture came opposition. In 1956, an editorial of a major newspaper warned the population about the “sexual degenerates,” “mentally sick,” “effeminate men,” which “constitute a danger to the
Young.” In 1961, Governor Luis Muñoz Marin requested a report from the Police Commissioner about the extension of the “homosexual problem” in Puerto Rico.
Even with all the conservative powers in motion against the gay population, by the late 1960s, a reformist feeling took hold among some local lawmakers that questioned the legality of the sodomy laws, indicating that they violated the rights of privacy and that the state shouldn’t have any jurisdiction in the sexual relations of consenting adults. Since 1902, Article 278 of the Penal Code penalized “acts against nature, committed with another human being or with beast,” which directly codified as a crime same sex relationship, especially among gay males. In 1974, the code was re-phrased, separating the bestiality act from the human intercourse, creating different statutes for each action. This re-rephasing was the catalyst for the creation of Comunidad de Orgullo Gay (COG) in 1974.
In order to give institutional legality to the organization, COG was properly incorporated as a non-profit organization at the Puerto Rico Department of State by Rafael Cruet, Ernie Potvin, and Paul Dirks. It became legally recorded on January 21, 1975. The Unitarian Fellowship locale became the initial meeting hall for the organization, but it didn’t last. By August 1975, COG was able to formalize the acquisition of a permanent place, renting the upper level of a 1930s commercial/residential building, in the ward of Río Piedras (San Juan). As COG’s home-base, the locale became known as Casa Orgullo.
By late 1976, after two years of a struggling but militant existence, COG disbanded. Personal and economic hardship placed an enormous pressure among the fulltime leadership and the almost fulltime volunteers that administered the various programs. Although short lived, COG was successful in many significant aspects. It created a safe haven in Casa Orgullo, where hundreds of members of the gay community were able to receive legal advice, medical assistance and moral/social support. The medical clinic at Casa Orgullo was a pioneering facility, not from the medical standpoint, but from its social approach in providing a comfortable/safe space to the gay population. Extremely significant was the organization’s efforts in creating a sense of pride, dignity and identity among the gay community through its lectures, symposiums, public appearances in radio and TV debates, and its fight against damaging public stereotypes.
While the Casa Orgullo no longer exists, its home of Casa Orgullo is privately owned. The property was the home of the organization that spearheaded, in many ways, the gay liberation movement in Puerto Rico.