In the days following Fiona’s blow, Waves Ahead organized contact with its participants. “We made sure everyone had their medication and we gave out hot meals two weeks after the impact. Grocery boxes were also distributed,” said Wilfred W. Labiosa, Executive Director of Waves Ahead.
Still, Serrano says there are challenges in continuing to provide these services as physical spaces recover. Corresponding the New York Times, after Maria, at least three popular queer establishments had to close, leaving even fewer places for regulars to socialize and feel connected to a larger community. Now, with Fiona’s destruction, the queer community is once again left without some of those safe spaces, Labiosa says.
“We have community-based organizations that are very good at providing medicines in Puerto Rico, but there are some people who have transportation issues, don’t have adequate housing, or don’t have the funds to get their medicines,” says Serrano. “Even though the services are there, so many people cannot access them because of the infrastructure problem.”
But the effects aren’t just physical. Labiosa says that both before and after Fiona, the organization prioritized providing mental health services to participants alongside their other medical interventions. This is particularly important for 74-year-old Diane Michelle, an Afro-Boricua transgender woman who lives on the island.
“[The storm] has affected me emotionally, especially my mental health; I can’t believe Fiona’s heavy rains have affected so much of the island. We’re not ready for another one,” she said.
Michelle says the storm has made crystal clear the queer community’s role in supporting one another. “Even though we’ve had so much experience as a community, we’re still marginalized and marginalized,” says Michelle. “After the hurricane, many have not supported, contacted, or preserved their heart for a better way of life… the only mobilization I see is coming from community-based organizations.”
This is where storytelling comes in. According to Harley & Co CEO Sarah Hall, using the Love In Gravity podcast to spread stories about people living with HIV is a form of mutual aid. The established production should recognize that the faces of Puerto Rico should be “always visible,” according to Hall. “With the hurricane we felt that systems are stressed after a disaster, it’s often the places where we see mutual aid. And people don’t look at artists as part of that – rightly so, they think of the most immediate things, they think of food, water, electricity, but I think there’s always a place for art in recovery, resilience and resilience.”
Alyssa Hunter, a Puerto Rican native and RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 14 contender, seems to agree. “We need more people who care more about Puerto Rican and LGBT health [communities] because the government doesn’t take the gay community seriously, especially with HIV,” she says.
Hunter moderated and performed at the USCHA conference. Working with the Love In Gravity podcast to benefit their community was “an honor to be a part of because, for one, it brought people from all over the world to this tiny island.”