ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

We can start off with that. I want to hear about what was it like, how were the early years in coming to the US? How did you end up coming to the US? How did your family make that decision?

EDDIE OROZCO:

My father immigrated to the United States in 1975, and he had a vision to actually create a better opportunity for his whole family. I immigrated here in 1980 and after that, then the rest of the family started coming to the United States. At the beginning was a little difficult for me because English was not my language. I went to school here

EDDIE OROZCO:

and because I was pretty young, I was able to pick it up pretty fast. Not to say that I'm perfect in my English, but I think I'm doing pretty good. I've been here already 40-something years. It was a little difficult, definitely, at the beginning, adjusting to a different culture. Locally, I have most of my family members here, so it wasn't as difficult for all the people that actually come to the United States. Because I already had family members here, it was a smooth transition for me, in regards to that.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

What was it like being in Miami? You were in Miami. Yes.

EDDIE OROZCO:

Right.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Did you feel that Miami was similar to home before? Did you feel like that made things a little easier? Were there a lot of Latinos around you?

EDDIE OROZCO:

At the beginning was a little difficult. It was not like home, but I made the best of it

EDDIE OROZCO:

because I knew I already had my immediate family members here. It wasn't as difficult as somebody else that comes here and doesn't have any family members to have that warm family atmosphere. It wasn't so bad for me.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

I'm really curious about what your family was like. Because I think a lot of times, for non Latino audiences, painting the picture of when you say family,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

it's not just mom, dad, it's tios and tias, and primos and

[inaudible], and people that make up your family. I'm curious about what this family looks like. Not just your blood family, but the people who made up your community when you came here.

EDDIE OROZCO:

It was definitely my immediate family members. I come from a big family, it's about 10 of us.

EDDIE OROZCO:

It was family and then some close friends or the family, and then after that, it will be just the community or the friendship that I developed as I began to establish my life in the United States.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

What was your school community like? When you were learning English, did you feel that when you were in the U.S. you felt a little quieter

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

and maybe spend some more time with yourself? The reason I'm asking that is, I think, especially for queer youth, there's this kind of resounding feeling that you're different. You kind of always have a feeling. So I'm curious about what life was like in school, and when you started to realize that you were different.

EDDIE OROZCO:

For me, I've always been very quiet, very to myself.

EDDIE OROZCO:

But when I went to school, I was not really comfortable being open to people because I knew there was something different inside me. It was when I was learning to realize or to discover my sexuality and who I was attracted to. And that's the reason why most of the times when I was in high school, even though I had a community of friends who are Latinos, I can relate to them,

EDDIE OROZCO:

but then when it comes to my sexual orientation, it was totally different. Therefore, I was more a loner.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Did you feel, at point, that there was a pressure to be macho and very tough? At any point, did you feel like that machismo and what maybe other boys were performing didn't feel like what you wanted to be?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Absolutely. I realized that and experienced that a lot in high school. The older classmates, they wanted me to be macho and they wanted me to behave and act in the way that they did. But I wasn't like that. Even though I was saying I was not flamboyant, I was always kept very private and very alone, into myself, knowing that deep inside me I was different, I was a LGBT queer man.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

When did you admit to yourself that you were queer? Was it after a certain moment or was it after a conversation? When was it that you admitted it to yourself? How young were you?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I must say that early on in my years, maybe around 10, 11 years old, I realized that there was something different

EDDIE OROZCO:

in regards to my sexuality. I didn't actually have the courage to actually start doing something about it. But when I arrived to the United States, I was 14-and-a-half, therefore, I felt a little bit more like I had freedom to express who I was in my sexuality. I actually came out around 18 years old.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Were there other people that you felt like you could be in conversation with about being gay? Or did you find community in books or in art or in music? I ask this because I think, especially when in the beginning stages of coming to terms with who you are, there is a loneliness, and I'm really curious if there were other people who you were in community with

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

or if this is just something that you realized. Especially because the media representation of the queer community is much more expansive, even in the past 10 years. When you don't have that mainstream narrative, and I'm assuming, in terms of you being an immigrant child, that even if there were media representations of queerness,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

they're not necessarily accessible. Language is one thing, but also just being able to buy magazines and being able to have that disposable income to be able to find a representation. How did you find community in those early days?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I didn't find community per se, but I actually got a job in a restaurant and I found some people that were gay.

EDDIE OROZCO:

I tried to actually get a friendship with them because I knew that they already been out and gay, so I wanted to be able to have them as a way of being more secure in learning more about my community.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Tell me more about those early relationships. Was it something that was refreshing to you or kind of scary? Were they people that were like you,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

were they other Latinos or immigrants or people who you felt a connection with?

EDDIE OROZCO:

There were not as many Latinos per se, but there were people who are LGBT and I feel safe when I was in their surroundings. I started to learn from them where to go to be in community and meet people who experienced the same attraction that I had.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

What did it look like to be in community? Did you feel safe being out in Miami? And if so, what were the early places of community that you were in? Was it clubs? Was it bars? People's houses? Were people afraid to be outed or were there people in your community that were living out and proud?

EDDIE OROZCO:

There were. Not as many as nowadays, but there were definitely some people that were proud to be gay. I met people, maybe, in local bars, and also in festivals that they used to have. Not as many, but that's where I actually found my community.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

I want to hear about what was the first time that you engaged your family? Was there somebody in your family that you considered talking to about who you were or did you live a dual life of sorts?

EDDIE OROZCO:

No, I was always pretty happy with who I was. Even though my family, with a machismo, when I grew up, they wanted me to actually get married and have children.

EDDIE OROZCO:

I didn't see myself doing that, therefore, the conversation never happened. When I actually started dating and I started bringing somebody to the house and family gatherings, then they realized that I was actually not going to get married and not have children or bring grandchildren to the family.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Was there any point in which your family was upset

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

or didn't know how to react? Did they just kind of come to terms with it and you were able to be your full self with your family?

EDDIE OROZCO:

They were never upset. They just learned to realize that I was not going to get married and they were happy and they started to love and accept the person that I was bringing to the family as my lover, my significant other.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

That's great. And that's not very common.

EDDIE OROZCO:

No, it's not. I think that I was one of the ones who actually paved the way for LGBT members of the family that I have now. I have a nephew and a niece who are LGBT, lesbian and gay. I actually paved the way, make it easier for them to actually be comfortable with who they are.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

I think it's really interesting because, I mean, I have a lot of thoughts on Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, but the reason I'm bringing her up, because I think as a visible member of the Cuban Republican establishment, it was really interesting when Ileana Ros-Lehtinen publicly accepted her transgender son. I remember people asking me, "How is this possible?" And I said, "Honestly, I think that a lot of the homophobia that happens in our communities is taught."

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

It's taught by the church, which, of course, is not the church of

[inaudible], but of white Europe. It's really interesting because a lot of the people in my family who are religious are culturally religious, they're culturally Catholic. But when you explain to them about who you are, they understand.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

I was so scared to come out to my family, and it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be because for me, my grandparents, my parents, they saw me as their daughter before anything else, which I think is a very Latino feature, Familia before anything else. It's a beautiful thing that even years before,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

it was still something that you experienced. I can imagine that among your friends, I'm assuming a lot of them did live double lives, were not out to their family or in their places of work or in their communities and had to navigate those times in the closet. I'm really curious about this, when you paint as the early days, it seems like an Oasis, it seems like

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

this beautiful queer community in which you were able to realize who you were. I want to know how your community reacted when the AIDS crisis hit and how that shook up your community even before your personal encounter with the virus. What happened when you started hearing about it?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I definitely saw a lot of stigmatization. I've been stigmatized because of being Latino, and something that we don't talk about, but it's there. Therefore, we have to have those conversations so we can actually educate the people, so generations that come after us, they don't have to deal with that. More education and less stigmatizing in our community, especially in the Latino community.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

When the virus did hit home, how did you know something was wrong?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I started having a lot of night sweats, losing a lot of weight. But it was prior to that, I actually went to donate blood, and then two weeks after that, I received a letter from the local health department,

EDDIE OROZCO:

they wanted me to come to an appointment with them. That's when actually shared with me that I have come back HIV positive on my blood work.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

What did you do after you got that news?

EDDIE OROZCO:

It was a little difficult for me. I was definitely in denial, of course, like many people who go through this.

EDDIE OROZCO:

I say to myself and denied it for about two years after that, but then I actually met someone that made a huge impact in my life. He and I were actually dealing with this news for about 10 years, the two of us. After that, I actually went into the hospital because I developed a reaction to one of the medications that I was taking.

EDDIE OROZCO:

It was at that time that him and I decided to share the news to some of the family members.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

So at first it was really responding to that survival, to that mentality of, "Now, what?" Did you immediately feel a call to activism and to advocacy?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Not immediately, but I actually was trying to get support for myself to know that I was not alone, but then I started attending support groups that we had back then. That's where I actually also was able to get a second community; now, because of being gay, but also for being HIV positive.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Did you feel, in the beginning, that being HIV positive was all you could think about? Did it alter your life?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I will have to say yes, it did. Maybe the first 10 years, but then when I started taking my medication, and I know that I was getting, not a hundred percent better, but I was not dying. Then I realized that I was doing the right thing

EDDIE OROZCO:

by taking care of myself, making sure that I never smoked, making sure that I was eating right and making sure that I was getting enough sleep. Just making sure that I will go to my doctor's appointment and things like that.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

How did your family react, and when did you find out that your prognosis was good? I can imagine in the early days,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

even now with COVID, I think in the early days, the mortality rate was very volatile. It's hard to know if you get the virus, if it's over. I can imagine that in the beginning, I think, especially with the stigma of HIV and AIDS, it was this fear that you could be one of those people. Did you feel in the beginning

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

that your life might get cut short? I mean, you were young, so I can't even imagine what that was like in the beginning and how your family reacted.

EDDIE OROZCO:

It was actually nerve wracking, for sure. To be quite honest, when I was diagnosed in 1987, I never knew that I was going to make it to the year 2000. When I reached that point, I realized I was here for a reason and a purpose,

EDDIE OROZCO:

and that's where I actually started doing my work in my community, especially doing activist work and helping people who have newly been diagnosed with HIV. That's pretty much where I actually got involved. Ever since then, I've been doing this work for over 20 years.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Being diagnosed positive got you the jumpstart into doing advocacy work. What were you doing before that?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I was a travel consultant and I worked in sales reservations for one of the huge cruise line industry. I did that work for about 10 years before I actually end up doing what I'm doing at this particular time.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

So, you went down this path of advocacy. How did you get started?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I started doing volunteer work at a local HIV/AIDS service organization. I started doing volunteer work. Three months into doing that, there was a position that became available and they wanted to offer it to me because I was already doing the work. They saw how passionate I was about doing this work,

EDDIE OROZCO:

and they offered the position to me. That's already been 20-something years.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

What did the early days look like in terms of advocacy? I ask this because I don't know a lot about queer advocacy in Miami, if I'm being honest with you. I think a lot of it is because my perspective of being queer in Miami wasn't great, even in the 90s and 2000s,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

so you talking about advocacy as an out queer person, I didn't know any out queer people when I was in Miami, definitely not Latinos. My brother-in-law did some research around HIV and AIDS in Liberty city and Little Haiti, and then from what I know is that when it comes to getting resources, homophobia and the pressure to not identify as gay,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

as queer is still present. I'm very curious about how those early days looked like and how you were able to give people resources, especially people who didn't have the family support, or didn't have that awareness of who they were like you do. Because it's something that, I mean, even now is still ... I know plenty of people who are definitely queer, who do not identify that way, and because of that might not get resources.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

So I'm curious how you were able to build that community and be able to disseminate resources in a culture that perhaps was hesitant to identify as queer.

EDDIE OROZCO:

I made an effort to actually get as much information as I could, so that actually can help the people who are coming after me.

EDDIE OROZCO:

That's the reason why I became an activist. Back in the days when I first got diagnosed, I used to go to a support group, which doesn't happen anymore, it's not there anymore, but that's where I found community. That's where I found people who were really doing the work, and were helping our community who are dealing with HIV back in the days. But then you will also find people who are not HIV, who were there with family members to give them support.

EDDIE OROZCO:

That's the reason why I was able to move into the work that I'm doing right now, because I know that because of my diagnosis was also a call for me to actually do the work that I'm doing, which I think is really rewarding for me. It has been rewarding for me because I'm doing something good for people who don't have a support system, or don't have a family member that they can talk to.

EDDIE OROZCO:

I want to be there, to do that for people who don't have the support system.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

When did you start being more public? Did you become somewhat of a public advocate, like sharing your story places beyond just your family? What came of that? When did you first start sharing your story publicly and writing and being visible beyond your immediate community?

EDDIE OROZCO:

On my 25th anniversary, I decided to share my story and the way I did it was I wrote something pretty long, and I decided to put it out on social media. That's where I actually was able to get and see so much support from people. People were just really thanking me for being so brave and sharing my testimony and my story of living with HIV.

EDDIE OROZCO:

I also wanted to use this so that I can actually create conversations, especially in the Latino community and where we need to actually do the education, and not get rid of the stigma, but at least bring it down a little bit, so people can have those conversations and use those tools so we can actually educate people and know the basis about how to prevent getting HIV.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Okay. When you were doing your early advocacy work, were there people that you worked with, was it past partners, current partners that helped you put this together? I say this because now people go to college to do the work that you taught yourself. I mean, there are graduate programs in public health that study HIV and AIDS so people know what to do when they enter the field,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

but you didn't have anybody telling you how to do this. How did you figure it out?

EDDIE OROZCO:

There are people in life that actually are born with this passion of being activists, and there are people who just happen to be going into activism because of their own experiences. I use my own experiences to be able to advocate, to give support

EDDIE OROZCO:

and to educate the community about what HIV is, what it does and how we as a community can actually have those conversations so to bring the stigma down.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

I would actually argue that the people who are born into activists are the ones that were able to continue to be public activists, because they weren't worried about other things. I do think that the activists you're talking about look very different than the Ella Bakers

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

and the Fred Hamptons of the world, and the Cesar Chavez who were activists because of survival, but we often don't hear their stories in that context. Cesar Chavez did not want to be an activist, he wanted to be able to survive and care for his community, that is why he did what he did. I think it's really interesting when we hear about this narrative of who is a certain type of activist,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

it's that the best activists are the ones that taught themselves. That don't do the work like an institution, but rather the community and the preservation of the community. I think it's really just, as you said, that because I ended up in activism also out of survival and by accident. Sometimes I think I don't know what I'm doing because I'm teaching myself things. Where are people learning things?

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

But I'm really curious about what your thoughts are on where the conversation around HIV and AIDS has grown, and where you think it needs some more pushing. I say this because I do think that HIV and AIDS has become a mainstream conversation. There's red devices everywhere, there's all these corporate initiatives but how much of that investment actually goes back to communities in Miami?

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

To people on the ground who've been doing this work. I'm curious about what your thoughts are on how the movement is different. What about it, perhaps, should be more like the early days where it was led by people on the ground?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Yeah. We definitely have a lot of work to do, especially in the Latino community, in regards to HIV. There is some work that's been done at this particular time,

EDDIE OROZCO:

but I don't see as much messages or commercials or things like that in Spanish. There's a commercial in English in for HIV medication, but I don't see that in the Latino community. The work has to be done so we can have those candid conversations. We don't have to be sitting on the back of a place,

EDDIE OROZCO:

like hiding from people so people don't hear this conversation, we can just have this conversation anywhere, at a local bank or at a library or a coffee shop. Anywhere, we can have this conversation, so it becomes something more normal and people can just talk about it and not think of, oh, what are we having this conversation? Or what if they think that I'm HIV? If we can have those candid conversations in, like I said, any unusual places, then we're moving in the right track.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Do you feel as if the language of the white led HIV/AIDS movement is just not accessible to Latino community?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Yes and no, but because we're considered bilingual, we can use that to our advantage so we can actually translate

EDDIE OROZCO:

whatever is that we need to do. Those messages can still go to the Latino community as well.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

It's interesting. By language, Spanish is one thing, but what I'm referring to is I think the way that the Latino community, I mean, even communities of color, practice queerness looks very different. The mainstream movement,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

and I'm sure you've been in these spaces, but the DuPont Circles in Washington, DC, The Mission in San Francisco, that type of queer community looks very different. A lot of the corporate galas, the information is for a wealthy, connected audience. I don't know about you, but I can say that I sometimes struggle

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

to find community in mainstream white LGBTQ spaces, because it doesn't feel like what I consider to be familia community. It's very different. Their families aren't involved. The idea of family just looks very different. When I think of accessibility, I think it's also understanding what communities of color look like and what they're doing.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

I think, especially when we bring in the angle of sex work, or we bring in the angle of violence, that so many people end up positive because of violence or because they are sex workers. That's not what we hear about engaging around HIV and AIDS. It's still a narrative that, I think is for a lot of people,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

is stuck in the 80s. I think a lot of people don't realize that HIV and AIDS is still an epidemic. I think it's one of those things where it's incredible to me that we're still at that point. I think it's because, in many ways, it's been sanitized. As you know, there are people who are still becoming positive every day and are probably not consuming

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

that content around prevention and response. I'm really curious about, like, is your work its own, it stands on its own. Because it seems like it does. I'm assuming that the spaces that you're in everyday look very different, than those corporate spaces, those galas,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

those fundraisers. I'm assuming the work that you do every day is very interpersonal. I'm really curious about what a day in the life looks like for you now. Even though HIV and AIDS has been recognized as a global pandemic, I'm assuming things have changed in the work that you do,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

but have some stuff not changed? Have the techniques that you have used still been what you've leaned on?

EDDIE OROZCO:

We definitely could use more information, especially for the Latino community, so we can actually reach them by having common conversations, maybe creating social media in Spanish so they can actually get the message

EDDIE OROZCO:

and have conversations in new neutral places, so they can actually be more engaged and actually learn and get tested and know their HIV status. That work has to be (still) done. People still think that when you get a HIV diagnosis, that will be a death sentence, but it's not. I mean, those conversations with people would still need to know

EDDIE OROZCO:

that because they received a diagnosis that doesn't mean they're gonna die. They're really investments in medications and people just can live a healthy, productive life, even like a normal person that can live 75 years old or more.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

What do you feel is what your organization, your community needs most in terms of investment?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I think that we can actually get our local officials to give us the opportunity so we can actually get into those communities where we can create more education about HIV and stigma and how it impacts people who are actually living with HIV.

EDDIE OROZCO:

How can we actually use those conversations so we can educate them and let them know that by them stigmatizing somebody who is HIV, they're just making them feel really bad, like they're not worth it.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

What would those resources look like? Would it look like partnering with public health professionals? Would it look like having more grant money?

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

And I say this because I think even just having prep and other types of pharmaceutical investment that would actually be accessible. What would that investment look like?

EDDIE OROZCO:

It will be bits and pieces from a lot of components. It will be the social media, the local TV channels, radio stations,

EDDIE OROZCO:

anything you can think of where we can actually address and reach those communities, then we're definitely doing a good job about it. Creating conversations about knowing your HIV status, where to get tested and things like that. Even though we're doing the work right now, but it will be much better if we can create communities and create a network of those components, local/state politicians,

EDDIE OROZCO:

TVs, radio stations, social media platforms, anything like that, that we can actually disseminate the message and create awareness.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Do you feel like the younger generation is easier to reach?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Absolutely. I think that they have a lot of ideas and techniques on how to actually communicate so people can actually reach them.

EDDIE OROZCO:

Definitely, they're the future of our country and therefore they're easily accessible in any way possible.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

What inspires you about the next generation of young queer people? I say this because it's incredible to me how young people are coming out now.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

The ability to see people like us has allowed people to be their full selves earlier. I'll never forget, when I took a job at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, one of my coworkers was another Cubana also from

[inaudible], and she was in her forties, and I'm like, "Wow, I never thought I would meet someone like me." I think what was also beautiful for me

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

was seeing that her abuelita knew and her family was embracing. When I say embracing, I don't just mean like, they acknowledged they had a gay daughter, but she was a big part of the family. It wasn't a, "we don't talk about this". Her family and her were still very close. To me, it's what I hope to be. Like you said,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

with the other people in your family, it's beautiful to be able to be that person that maybe you wish you had, I surely wish I'd had. Through all this work that you have done, how has your family changed? How have any of them been involved in the work that you do? Were there other challenges that you faced in which you had to maybe put your work aside or adapted to care for your family?

EDDIE OROZCO:

During my early days of my diagnosis, I was also a care caregiver. I was caring for my mom who had early stages of Alzheimer's. It was really difficult for me. I was working full time and I actually had to take a leave of absence from my work because I wanted to make sure that I would take care of my mom, while I was also dealing with my own diagnosis in my own health.

EDDIE OROZCO:

It was really difficult for me. My family has been very supportive and I'm really grateful for that. Not many people can say that, especially dealing with my HIV diagnosis and having them to make sure that they accept me the way I am and support me to my journey.

EDDIE OROZCO:

I have had the opportunity of my sister to be part of a campaign that I did with

[inaudible]. She was part of that campaign. She said that she wanted to be part of it, and I was really refreshing and really supportive and appreciative that she was part of that.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Have you had to deal with any tension or loss of people in your life

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

while you were this and not just like physical illness, but drifting apart. Did you feel at any point in which your work took full center? I say this because I think when you do any advocacy work, sometimes there are periods of your life where it's all you think about.

EDDIE OROZCO:

Yeah. At the beginning of my work that I have been doing,

EDDIE OROZCO:

because I was interacting with so many people that came to the community center where I worked, I really developed a friendship and a relationship with them. When they actually were really fading away, it was really hard for me, but I used that to be stronger for the people that I still have to continue giving support to.

EDDIE OROZCO:

It was really difficult for me. I stopped counting around 30-something people in my early days of working in the work that I've been doing. Yeah. Just about 30-something people. It was really sad for me to see them go, but I needed to be strong for the people that I will still continue to work to help.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Do you feel as if this journey into advocacy was the right decision when you look back? Do you ever think back and you said, what would life have been like had I not jumped head first into this? Or is this something that your life has been enriched because of the work that you have done?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I absolutely am really grateful for the work that I do, it's really rewarding. When I see all the accomplishments that I have received since I've been doing this work,

EDDIE OROZCO:

it's rewarding and refreshing. I say to myself, I don't think that I'll be able to do anything else because, sometimes, in some people, coming to life for ambition and a purpose, and I think that I'm doing that and therefore I'm really grateful and happy.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Yeah. I feel the same way. There's sometimes that I think like, Oh, maybe I could have been more present, or maybe there's some things that I could've done differently,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

but I think what it comes down to is that community that you build in your advocacy work, and it comes down to oftentimes lives that you touch. Was there ever a moment in which you were actually able to save somebody's life? I say this because I think that saving somebody's life can look many ways. At least for me, I had been told by people that I saved their life,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

either that they had contemplated taking their life or connected them to resources in which they were able to get out of a very tough period. I'm assuming you have stories like that, people whose lives you saved or who you were able to connect to community that help them keep going.

EDDIE OROZCO:

I have had quite a few of them. But I can tell you or something that happened only, what? A year ago?

EDDIE OROZCO:

There was somebody in Miami who was traveling and got stuck in Miami because of COVID and that person ran out of HIV medication. The person reached out to me, and through my connections in Miami, I was able to actually get the person one month supply of HIV medications. The way he responded to me was like, "Oh, you gave me my life back because of what you did."

EDDIE OROZCO:

That was really rewarding to see and to hear. Yeah, definitely! That's one of the most recent ones that happened.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

And that's quite literally saving somebody's life. Like, literally, with medicine. That's incredible. That's something, to be able to do that for somebody. You've told your story before,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

and you've been so open before. What part of your story have you perhaps kept before, or maybe not wanting to talk more about, that you think makes your story different. Or perhaps not different, but perhaps that when we hear about stories of people who live HIV positive, or even people who lost somebody to AIDS, sometimes, it's a very specific story.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Is there a part of your story or part of your journey that you haven't shared before, or maybe haven't been given the space to share?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I would like to be able to expand a little bit more in my childhood and how difficult it was for me dealing with some issues that I'm not yet ready to talk about, but then I'll be able to, maybe soon. One day, I want to be able to do a documentary about my life and my journey.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Your childhood, like moving here or just like your family dynamic?

EDDIE OROZCO:

A little bit of both. Yeah. Right. That family dynamic and moving into the United States and adjusting to a different culture.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

It's really interesting because you know, I've done work in LGBT spaces, I've been working in immigration and oftentimes

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

I'm the person that comes in and says, we really should talk about immigrants, or we really should talk about queer people who are immigrants. I'm curious if you have felt as if you had to pick one or the other sometimes, either be talking about the person who's living with HIV or talking about being queer or talking about being an immigrant. Because I think that tends to be pretty common.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

That you're not able, like, maybe you're not given the space. Which is why I asked you that question if you haven't been given the space in the past to talk about what life was like before your diagnosis, what life was like before you came out? I say this because I think it's really interesting when we think of storytelling, oftentimes, we're told to focus on the violence or on the struggle and not on what laid the foundation

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

of who you were before. And how leaning on those teachings, leaning on those ideas of community, for example, made you a better advocate. Which is why I asked that question. I was just curious if there were parts of your story that you felt that you hadn't had the space to share before. But I want to hear a little bit about

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

if you were to look back at who you were in the beginning and who you were as a young person, if you could tell that person, let's say your 17 year old self or

[inaudible] before you were coming out and tell that person anything, what would you tell them?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Be your own self and don't be afraid of who you are and who you love. That's who you are and what makes you unique and different

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

And what made you different?

EDDIE OROZCO:

My queerness, being bilingual, being an HIV activist, being an immigrant.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Do you think that when you think about your queerness and your being Columbian or your being an immigrant, do you feel like those parts of yourself inform each other?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Absolutely. Yes. All those things are components of who I am, where I am right now and what I did have to do.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

What do you think life would have been like had you stayed in Columbia? Do you feel like you still would have come out?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I'm sure that I would have, but it would have been really difficult because there's a lot of machismo there and there's a lot of discrimination, so definitely will be having difficult, but I'm sure

EDDIE OROZCO:

that I will manage some way how to do it because I'm strong and I'm resilient.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Yeah. When you say strong and resilient, what do you think has kept you going, even when things were hard?

EDDIE OROZCO:

It has to be the attitude that I always have. Ever since my diagnosis, I always had a great attitude towards life.

EDDIE OROZCO:

I think that that's the reason why I'm still here because I always kept a good attitude towards life. I don't like to be surrounded by people who give a negative attitude, negative energy.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Were there ever moments in which you wanted to ... I don't want to say "give up" because that's not what I'm looking for, but more just pause or just focus on yourself.

EDDIE OROZCO:

Not really. Personally, I think the reason why I'm still wanting to go is because I want to be able to do a lot of things. I always like to be involved in something to keep me going, keep me focused and to always giving something back.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Do you feel that all queer people have a type of superpower that helps us keep going?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Absolutely. I think we're all creative, resilient, strong and they just don't want to give up.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Is there anything else that you would like to talk about that I haven't asked you?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I want my testimony to be used as a way of people know that just because you were given a diagnosis, that doesn't mean ... Life starts there, that means that you can continue to do what you want to do and be successful at it.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

And then it's not all who you are, right? Yeah. You have answered all of my questions. I think it's really interesting what you said about the need for support in terms of reaching people, because I'm assuming that after so many years of doing this, you're probably wondering who you've missed.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

What would your message be to somebody who has perhaps just found out they're positive, doesn't really have a community. What would your message be to a person who feels alone right now?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I always like to use my personal journey with HIV as proof that a life goes on,

EDDIE OROZCO:

and that only if they take good care of themselves and take their medication, they can live a productive life and still have goals and do whatever they want to do in life.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

In all these years of being part of the queer community, were there any moments that you felt that things were getting better?

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

I say this because for some people, they say the fall of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, they say the fall of DOMA, they say the first time they went to a pride parade. Was there a moment in which you either met somebody or were in a space in which you felt like, Oh, things are really heading in the right direction?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Definitely, yes. There's a lot of movements and a lot of advancements in the LGBT community, especially with trans rights and also the trans community not being discriminated in the workplace, we're moving in the right direction. I think that we still have a lot of work to do, but I think that we're definitely heading the right way.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Do you feel that the movement could be doing more for Latinx, black, indigenous people in our community?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Definitely. There's a lot of work to be done in regards to LGBT and indigenous communities, therefore, yeah, absolutely. There's a lot of work to be done.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

What would it look like in terms of doing more work? Would it look like acknowledging the erasure in our communities? Would it look like a commitment to more investing?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Just having awareness and be able to recognize and acknowledge those people,

EDDIE OROZCO:

especially for what they stand and what they believe in and what they celebrate.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Let's see, in terms of something else. You really did work through all of my questions. Let's maybe take a break for five minutes, I just need to get some water and I'm going to come back with more questions.

EDDIE OROZCO:

Okay. No problem.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Okay, I'm back, So I want to hear about what you think is the next step for -- or actually what Miami looks like right now for queer people?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I believe that Miami is in a good space right now, especially for queer community. I work in an LGBT community center in Miami,

EDDIE OROZCO:

and we created spaces for them to be comfortable with who they are and who they love.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Miami has a reputation for having a very conservative base. There was a lot of support for Donald Trump, not just around elections, but also during his presidency. Do you feel that that type of

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

public support for somebody who is pretty assertively anti-queer has changed things at all for you, or do you feel like your work has preserved?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I believe that we're doing the right thing by creating the community that we have in Miami right now, despite that person that was in the white house creating a lot of hate and using words

EDDIE OROZCO:

that were not appropriate for the LGBT community. Definitely, we were strong and we were there, we didn't let that do the work that we were supposed to be doing.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

So you persevered in spite of, right? Were there any moments under Donald Trump that were particularly challenging?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Definitely when he was actually making really derogatory comments about the LGBT community, they were definitely really bad. He made us feel like we were worth it, so definitely. Yeah.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Were there any instances of violence that the community faced?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Yes, for the trans community in Miami, there were quite a few them that were never killed.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Latina or black trans people that were killed?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Both. Latinas and people of color.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

How did your community respond?

EDDIE OROZCO:

By creating visuals and creating conversations and creating safe space where they can actually mourn.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

A lot of the movement has been around marriage equality and that type of

[inaudible] liberation looking like that. So you never chose to get married.

EDDIE OROZCO:

I want to get married, but the person that I'm dating didn't want to get married.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Oh,

[inaudible]. You do want to get married. You said earlier that you didn't want to get married?

EDDIE OROZCO:

No. I mean when I ...

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

To a woman. Yes. Okay. So you're not married yet. Have you been with your partner for a while?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Going to almost 11 years.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Yeah. Is he just part of your family?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Yes.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Goes to all the pachangas and all the Fiestas?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Yes. He won the family by the way that he cooks. He's an excellent cook, so he won the family there.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

That is a good way to get the family. My partner is Espanola, which, of course, the family was very obsessed with the

[inaudible] as it happened. It does help to win somebody over. You said there were other people in your family that were queer. Did they come out to you before they came out to anybody else?

EDDIE OROZCO:

No, they actually find the strength to to create those conversations, but when they used to come and visit my home of my former partner, they noticed some stuff that were like, gay. And they will, "Oh, so this is gay." Now it's one dimension into me that, "Oh, I know you were gay, but I wasn't sure." Now, they're gay. They say, oh, I remember I used to visit your house and I found these magazines and things like that.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

So they came out to you because they saw gay things in your house.

EDDIE OROZCO:

Yeah.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

You said there's several people in your family that are queer.

EDDIE OROZCO:

Correct.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

It's just a big queer family.

EDDIE OROZCO:

Yeah.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

I know that you said you're still working through some of the things with your family, but it must be really hopeful and beautiful to see that not only you're not alone,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

but that your family looks different, and that you have been able to not just be your full self, but both create a space in which other people in your family, maybe not directly, you weren't the first person they came out, but it was easier for them because of you.

EDDIE OROZCO:

Yes.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Perhaps it's not work; it's not work like, it's not work that you do with your job, but it's a type of change that you did.

EDDIE OROZCO:

I did. Yeah. Correct. I'm actually working on a different project, which is similar, but it's something that is going to create those conversations in the Hispanic community. It's called bosses, to create awareness about issues that are not likely to be taught on the Hispanic community. I'm using that project to actually create those conversations. They're going to be topics about anything and everything that you can think of that doesn't happen in the Hispanic community.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Wow. That's really cool. Who are you partnering with to do that?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I have a few people who I talked to them about the project and they love the idea. We have been working on presentations, especially now with COVID, everything's pretty much via zoom. We have had two presentations. One of them was on resilience,

EDDIE OROZCO:

and the other one was about accepting people for who they are. We were going to talk about avoiding verbal violence, and we're going to have a psychologist, having that conversation in Spanish.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

That's amazing. I definitely want to hear more about this, because I think that's one of those things where

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

I think the lack of language is a big problem, and it's not even just Spanish, but I think it's just understanding what it looks like. That's really important. When you say this stuff that Miami is in a good place, I always wonder how I never heard about this. Like, literally, ever. Granted, maybe it's because my family was very insular and I was very focused on school,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

but I had no connection to any queer spaces in Miami, at all. Actually, when I worked at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, we had a fundraiser in in Wynwood, which of course, that's itself kind of shocking, how much Wynwood has changed. But when I was at that fundraiser, it was majority white. And I always say this, as soon as I left Miami, I said, listen, there were no white people in my high schools,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

and I do mean no white people. So to me, it's been really interesting because the times that I have been in queer spaces in Miami, they were very white. Not only did I never see queer spaces, but I definitely didn't see white people when I was in Miami. I mean, they were mainly tourists, south beach and Miami beach. They weren't people that were in my community. I mean, it's really amazing that you're doing this work. Sometimes, I just wonder how I didn't hear about it

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

when I was living in Miami, because I left because I didn't think I could be my full self, but also that was just how I felt in the 2000s, I felt like I couldn't be there. But also because I didn't know anybody else who was gay. When you're saying this I'm like, wow, I just, I clearly had no idea that there was this whole other community. But I'm really excited, that's why when you talk about these resources, I think it's incredibly powerful

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

because I'm hoping it can reach people like me, who didn't have a connection. Have you had any partnerships with local colleges or universities? With FIU or Miami-Dade?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Yes, we do. Actually. We have Barry university, Miami Dade College, UM.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

What do those partnerships look like?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Miami Dade college has an LGBT week coming up in April

EDDIE OROZCO:

and they invited the organization that I work for to come and do presentations and do workshops, and also create awareness about HIV and AIDS. Barry university, we go there monthly to provide HIV testing as well. And UM we have collaborations with them as well. So we have quite a few collaborations. Of course, it is a lot of collaboration always happening in the usual places like Bank of America and things like that.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

That's great. If you weren't living in Miami, where else would you be doing this work? Where else have you gone?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I traveled cross-country right after

EDDIE OROZCO:

I graduated high school for three months, and I was able to see a lot of these places in the United States. But I also go internationally to other places. I've been thinking about, I've done this work here so many years, and I want to be able to go to a different state and maybe do that work as well, because I have a lot of connections nationwide.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Where would you want to go?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Maybe Georgia, Atlanta. Maybe the Carolinas, I have connections there. Maybe Texas.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

I'm in North Carolina. I'd be really curious about what you'd want to do. Do you basically want to be able to bring the experience you have into maybe spaces that don't have as many resources?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Absolutely. Yeah. I want to be able to have a lot of connections in the Carolinas.

EDDIE OROZCO:

I'm part of the Southern Encuentros, which is organisation that does a lot of work in the South with about five States, and the Carolinas being one of them, I want to, maybe with my connections, be able to get more resources.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

What is Southern Encuentros like? Is it like a group of organizations or coalition?

EDDIE OROZCO:

It's an organization and there's a lot of people who are in the LGBT community, they bring all the resources there and they share the information. Whatever's happening in a particular community, they always share information there; whether it is immigration presentations, whether it's LGBT, whether it's HIV, anything like that, everything happens there. It's like a resource center for a lot of LGBT community and professionals.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

How do you feel that your work will impact a different place? I think especially when it comes to the Latino community, which I always have a hard time describing, but I didn't feel like a minority growing up. Granted, there's a lot of Cubans in Miami, I know that, but beyond that, everyone around me was Latino. That was just all I knew. When I went to college, I realized that that is not the experience of most Latinos in the U.S.,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

so I'd be really curious how your work in a community that's largely diasporic would impact these other communities that don't have as many resources. I mean, they're growing Latino communities, but they're definitely not anything as large as Miami.

EDDIE OROZCO:

I think that the knowledge and the experience that I have and the resources

EDDIE OROZCO:

that I have will be really grateful. It will help a lot of the community, especially many places there's not a lot of LGBT or Latinos. I think I can create the opportunity to mentor those people so they can actually do the work.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

So you'll be able to provide that experience that people might not have, and, I'm assuming, also help build a community,

EDDIE OROZCO:

Correct. Definitely. Mainly because of that, we want to be able to create a community, and with that community be able to have people we can actually mentor and give them the resources so they can actually help their own community as well.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

If you would have not done this work, what else do you think you would have done?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Maybe a pilot.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

My uncle used to say that he wanted to join the Navy. I don't know why he wanted to join the Navy, it was very random. He's like, "Oh, you know, I would've joined the Navy." He just likes planes.

EDDIE OROZCO:

Yeah. Either that or learn a lot of languages so that I can use those to go anywhere and be able to teach or learn about other cultures. It's been something that I liked.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Did you get a chance to go to university? If so, what did you like, not like, what did you study?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I studied business administration and I liked it, but everything got routed differently because of my diagnosis. Then I said, this is what I'm really passionate about,

EDDIE OROZCO:

and what my mission is to actually do in the world, in the community and where I am now.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Do you feel as if universities and the way that teachers engage in teaching about LGBTQ people is making things better in terms of educating non-queer people?

EDDIE OROZCO:

They're doing the best that they can, but I'm sure that

EDDIE OROZCO:

if they take more courses and workshops and things like that, create those conversations, it will be definitely better for the future generation.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

There's been a lot of media representation of queer people. Especially in the past 10 years, have there been any examples that you think have done a good job of talking about the queer community?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I think the few that I've seen are really good representation of the queer community in what they have to give and to contribute to society.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Are there any movies or books that you think did a really good job?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Transamerica.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Transamerica?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Transamerica was really good.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Did you ever watch Moonlight and did you like Moonlight?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Oh yeah, I absolutely love that movie. I like the fact that they concentrated in the African-American community, so it was really good. It was really educational and it was really powerful, especially it was here locally in Miami.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

And I think also too, Moonlight is one of the first queer movies I have seen

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

that actually talk about the community more broadly and then talk about all the struggles the community faces. A lot of the stories about queer people, which of course, a lot of them are white, kind of focus on just the coming out narrative. Moonlight tells the Miami story, that's what it does, the person just happens to be queer. Which I thought was really powerful. Moonlight is one of those films

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

that I oftentimes reference. I do a lot of work around media representation and I will always reference Moonlight as an example of a film that does a good job. Another movie is Saving Face. Although it's a little older, but it's about a Chinese immigrant family. The daughter comes out as gay and the mom doesn't accept her at first, but then immediately does, after that, because that is how communities of color oftentimes are.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

I asked this because I feel like have you ever connected to a book or a movie, a documentary that felt like it came a little close to your story, or the stories of people in your community?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I personally haven't looked or seen anything that I can relate to. I've seen some, but not really to the extent where I actually can identify completely or fully.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Have you ever considered writing your story, a book or you said a documentary? Is that something you've actually really seriously considered doing?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Yes, definitely. I would definitely have to put it in paper and maybe send a manuscript, but then I would definitely like to do a documentary.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Do you have any experience with making films?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Not really. No, I don't

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

So it's like a side project. You're like, Oh, when I retire, I'll do this.

EDDIE OROZCO:

I'm already working on bosses, so it will have to be the next one, the next project up.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

What excites you most about this new project that you're doing?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I like the fact that I'm actually reaching out to a lot of women, especially the topic that we are presenting, and a lot of are actually like in Mexico or the California, and some of them are in South America, Venezuela, Colombia. It's really exciting to use this vehicle to reach out to those communities, especially in the topics that we're going to be presenting. It's pretty exciting.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Do you feel as if this project is going to address something that your work hasn't done before?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Absolutely. The reason why I wanted to embark on this particular project was because there are topics there that we could easily be addressed in my own family setting. And therefore I want to be used to

EDDIE OROZCO:

the experience and the topics and the conversation, so we can actually create those conversations. It could be something that can happen in any family setting. Create awareness and bring stigma down a little bit.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

That work of storytelling, it does something different than outreach work, right? It gets people to understand the issue more deeply,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

and sometimes it's more passive. Like, sometimes it's not someone that you talk to directly, sometimes it's just, you might never hear what the impact of that work is. But it's another area of the conversation. It's not the litigation or it isn't the protest. It's kind of that everyday activism. What made you want to do this?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Because I can definitely identify with the topics that we're going to be presenting,

EDDIE OROZCO:

but then I also wanted to use the idea and the project to create conversations in the community, in the society. Because coming from a background in the Hispanic community, Latino community, there's so much stigma about those particular topics. I want to be able to use the experience, the opportunity, to have those conversations. It could be normal. It doesn't have to be something that they're afraid to talk about,

EDDIE OROZCO:

because they feel that they can be stigmatized by having those conversations.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

What do you think allows those stigmas to keep happening in the community?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I think it's something that goes back to society. Something that it keeps repeating itself, and if we don't talk about it, then it's going to continue to happen

EDDIE OROZCO:

until we actually create conversations, and make it normal to have those conversations and not be judged by it.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

I guess, for a lot of people, it means, especially in Latino communities, we're kind of notorious about just not talking about things. Because like, the family is important, but we oftentimes just don't talk about things that are difficult because family is family.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

What do you think about this project is going to help fix that, that issue that we have, or like actually take on those stigmas head on, is it that they're going to be based on stories or they're going to be more personal or more direct to the community?

EDDIE OROZCO:

It would be a mixture of everything, it will be something that people have experienced and also a way of having the conversations, but then

EDDIE OROZCO:

make it an effort to actually educate people, and not having to be facing that in the future. By creating these particular conversations, we can actually educate the people and avoid them from having those conversations in the future, or maybe going into a pattern of having problems in the future. By having this conversation, we can actually address those things.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

What conversations are you hoping that this project will spark

EDDIE OROZCO:

Awareness. Awareness, and, also, I want to be able to see what is happening and what experiences people have had, and by using their testimonies, we can actually use it to educate and address the issues in our community.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Are you hoping that this project will be something that other people join in on and that you're excited about the possibility of being able to partner with other people?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Yes. The idea is to actually make it local, but then also make it international as well. That's the hope. With the core members that we have, we have a goal of actually reaching X amount of people by the first quarter, and then in a year be able to do more, and in two years maybe be able to make it more international.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Do you hope to do work in other countries

EDDIE OROZCO:

By using this vehicle? I think is definitely a possibility. The fact that we, in the few lectures that we had or conversations, know that there are a lot of people from outside of the United States who actually join in the conversations and they really appreciate the fact that we're having this conversations.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Are there people in other countries, in the U.S., that you really look up to, that have been able to do really amazing work in Latino communities?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Yes, I do have people that I look up to, and because of the work that they done, they actually inspire me to do what I'm doing right now.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Who are some people, or maybe some leaders that really inspire you?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I can not think of one right now, but there's quite a few of them that I look up to.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Have you been a mentor to other young leaders?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Yes, I have. In the work that I've been doing,

EDDIE OROZCO:

I've been able to, because of my being open to share my story, people have been brave to actually take that path of being activists, and use their own experiences to be able to educate people.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Have you made any mistakes in your work that you think made you a better advocate?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Mistakes. I always make mistakes, I'm not perfect. I think that where I am is because of the mistakes that I made, but then I also learn from them and was able to continue the work that I'm doing.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

It just made you a better advocate.

EDDIE OROZCO:

Correct.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Were there times where your family informed the work that you were doing? Maybe challenged you or were the reason why you decided to go on a certain path?

EDDIE OROZCO:

My family has always been supportive of me, in spite of what I'm working or what I'm doing. Maybe they don't tell me, but I think that it really brought up the word that I'm doing, the work that I've done,

EDDIE OROZCO:

and the experiences and the interviews that I've done, and the projects and the campaigns that I've done. I don't think that they are really ... That they're being supportive, if anything.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Do you feel as if people don't really understand what it's like to live with HIV? That some people still think it's something that you're stuck in a bed

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

or you can't have partners? And if so, what would you tell people about, what's a day in the life of someone living with HIV?

EDDIE OROZCO:

I believe that people are not aware that you had to be taking medication for the rest of your life, and because of that, there are other consequences or side effects and all the things that happen because you will have to deal with taking medication.

EDDIE OROZCO:

They're not aware, and they don't understand what it's like to be living with HIV, like how to take medication for the rest of your life.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

So, for a lot of people, it's about medication and nothing else.

EDDIE OROZCO:

Correct.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

But you can live a fulfilling life. A lot of the work that you do is also just getting people to understand that this is not all that it is, that it doesn't just become your whole life.

EDDIE OROZCO:

Absolutely. Yes.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Because for a lot of people, that's all they think about, is that your life is over. Do you sometimes feel that your diagnosis was kind of, I don't want to say a reality check, but it helped recenter you and help you get to know yourself better because you had to pause?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Yes, absolutely. Before I got diagnosed, like any young person, they feel that they are invincible. When I received the diagnosis, it was like a slap in the face, and you had to really do something about it. Of course, you go through circles, and my cycle was that I was holding off for two years until I was actually able to do something when I met my partner.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Have you had partners that have made you more sure about how this part of who you are, doesn't define you? Or is this just something that the rest of your community instilled in you? I say this, because I think that for a lot of queer people, whether it's surviving violence

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

or something else that's a hardship. Sometimes, having a partner affirm you as being worthy, makes a difference. Was there anybody in your life, anybody that you've been with that has made you even more confident and able to talk about your diagnosis as not being all that you are?

EDDIE OROZCO:

The person I actually met two years after I got diagnosed was the person who actually made me the person that I am today. It's because of him that I was able to take control of my life and start taking medication and go to my doctor's appointment and start working in the field and looking for support groups so I can deal with it, him and I. Definitely, that person,

EDDIE OROZCO:

to this day, even though we no longer together, he's a big part of my life. Because of him, I am where I am today.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Are you still in each other's lives?

EDDIE OROZCO:

Absolutely. Yes, he's my cheerleader as much as I am his cheerleader as well.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Okay. I have one last question for you, and that question is, before you retire,

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

or before you wind down, what is your biggest dream for like, not the final chapter, but like the last hurrah of the work that you were doing. What is the one thing you want to accomplish before you, maybe, take a step back and just focus on resting for the remainder of your life, or if you could even rest for that matter.

EDDIE OROZCO:

I want to be able to do, probably, a play. Maybe do a play.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

I actually want to know about this play. What type of play?

EDDIE OROZCO:

It's a one act play, and he's going to talk about different stages of my life and yeah, I want to be able to do a play.

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

Well. That's great. Well, it's been really wonderful talking to you. Thank you so much for spending this time with me

ANDREA PINO-SILVA:

and sharing about your journey. I do also want to say, too, that you mentioned something about needing help with social media in Spanish. I actually do that. If at any point you want to connect more about support with social media let me know, because I would love to support the work that you were doing to be able to reach as many people as possible.

EDDIE OROZCO:

Thank you so much. Appreciate it.