DJs, Producers Behind Queer Latinx-Focused Club Nights Respond to Pulse Massacre

By Sameer Rao Jun 14, 2016

For many queer folks of color, clubs and events like Orlando’s Pulse and the Latinx-themed party where Omar Mateen committed the deadliest mass shooting in American history offer a rare space for liberation and transcendence. Five DJs and producers for recurring Latinx-themed LGBT club events said as much in a new Remezcla piece. 

"You go to the club with your chosen family," said Oscar Nuñez, who DJs the New York-based Papi Juice party for queer and trans people of color. "You go there to see all your favorite people. I can’t even imagine the pain that people might be feeling having their loved ones lost in the spaces they found to be the most human."

"[I’m] thinking of the crowded Brooklyn Pride party I was at last night full of Black and Brown kids and the freedom we seek and find and create for ourselves in stuff like our nightlife, stuff that has usually excluded us," said fellow Papi Juice organizer Mohammed Fayaz.

"Those of us who are working to change society’s hate, to heal, to educate, to create spaces, and all the beautiful and creative expressions there are for making social change, our work is that much more important now," said Isabel Buchanan Arellano, who organizes CumbiaSazo! in Chicago.

Read their full remarks here.