Tuckahoe NY Pride

Charles Rice-González is a Puerto Rican LGBTQ author, activist, and arts leader whose writing centers queer Latinx lives with humor, intimacy, and political clarity. As founder and artistic director of BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance), he helped build a vital community platform where queer performance and storytelling thrive, particularly for people of color. His fiction and essays explore chosen family, HIV/AIDS history, migration, faith, and the everyday resilience of gay and trans communities. His first novel, Chulito, is set against a vibrant South Bronx neighborhood and the queer youth culture of Manhattan’s piers. Rice-Gonzalez’s advocacy is rooted in cultural work: amplifying marginalized voices, mentoring artists, and using literature and performance to push for equity and visibility widely recognized.

From Chulito
“All men have macho in them. Even gay ones, but there are varying degrees, and while most forms of macho are lethal to the progression of the world and society, there are some acceptable levels, very low levels, that can sometimes be useful.”

Photo credit Diana Nguyen / Marfa Public Radio