NEW YORK — A hundred people from across the country are being honored for being trailblazers in the LGBTQ+ community. One of those at the top of the Out100 list is a longtime New Yorker, a nonprofit leader who has been working for decades to help Latinos across the Tri-State area and the country.
“I am living proof that life will get much, much better,” said Frankie Miranda, the president and CEO of the Hispanic Federation.
Whether it’s helping families after a hurricane hit Puerto Rico, bringing resources to communities hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic in New York, or helping families in Texas impacted by immigration, Miranda tackles all issues facing communities across the country.
“I feel a huge responsibility to make sure that we are a true voice for the community,” said Miranda. “It’s about – tell me exactly what you need and I’m going to try to help you as much as possible” he said.
He couldn’t imagine all the possibilities as a child growing up in Puerto Rico.
“My mom knew that I needed to leave, she cried like I was going to war and I said ‘Mom, I’m going to study’, but she deep inside knew that I was not coming back,” he said.
Miranda moved to New York City in 1995.
“Here I am, an American citizen, accepted to NYU but I was still treated like somebody that is not welcome here in New York,” he said. “I had a thicker accent, I had no job, I had two potential roommates.”
It was only an immigrant couple that gave him the opportunity to find a place to live, he said.
These are all issues he helps others deal with to this day.
“I am here today because that Ecuadorian couple took a chance on renting to these three young guys,” he said.
Miranda was the first in his family to graduate from college and he was one of the first gay couples in the U.S. to get married. He remains a spokesperson for marriage equality today.
“Today we are still living a beautiful, happy life but it took a lot of conversations with a lot of people to really understand that civil unions and domestic partnerships were not the same as all the rights that we can get,” he said.
His work across the country is why he can now add another honor to his name. He made Out Magazine’s Out 100 list this year – a list of the most impactful and influential people in the LGBTQ+ community.
“I felt very humble and very proud because it is a journey since 1995 of reading the magazine, still getting the magazine at home,” he said. “So personally, it’s a very humbling moment for me.”
The magazine will all of the honoree’s hits newsstands on Oct. 28.