Esther grew up in Bonao, a conservative city in the Dominican Republic where discrimination against queer people is extremely common. While in university in Santo Domingo, the country’s capital city, she saw that resources for queer people were more abundant than at home. It was there that she realized that gathering spaces for queer activists and changemakers, especially those fighting for LGBTQI+ rights, were virtually nonexistent in Bonao, and she wanted to give queer people a safe place to be in community together. Esther’s path as an activist was set.
In 2019, she co-founded AJWS grantee Aquelarre RD, a collective of queer people of color, along with some of her fellow activists from university. The group continued to expand, dreaming of eventually having their own space where activists and artists could meet, collaborate and learn. Esther and her peers also recognized that the needs of the queer community in a more remote area like Bonao were different than those of queer people in Santo Domingo.
“Being someone queer in a place like Bonao is hard because we are facing a system which denies our beings, which impoverishes us, which creates or which hinders the conditions we need to live in dignity,” Esther explains. “We started building a community of people of color to separate ourselves from the queer movements from Santo Domingo, which had other priorities and needs. We see, for instance, that in Santo Domingo, the most important cause of the queer movements is equal marriage. But queer people of color in the rest of the country are demanding basic conditions of living. We’re talking about survival, dignified housing, a decent healthcare system, dignified jobs, food security and much more.”
In May 2023 Aquelarre RD opened La Cimarrona Cultural House, a haven where queer people can be themselves. Their name reflects their country’s history and the ancestors whose conviction they hope to embody; “Cimarrona” is derived from the word “marronaje,” meaning “runaway,” and refers to the enslaved Black and Indigenous people who fled colonial violence and created their own communities of freedom.
Aquelarre RD did grassroots fundraising to get the project off the ground and collect items that would make La Cimarrona a warm, welcoming space. Their community came through: La Cimarrona received a full library of books, including works by Caribbean writers and thinkers.
“[People’s support] filled us with the joy and energy to continue working. Even though we started with just a little bit, we have been growing, and we have received support from people who believe in our work,” Esther says. “[In the queer community] there is a lot of creativity. And even though there is a system that denies us, that dehumanizes us, there is always a chance to think of an alternative.”
Recently, a dance group called the Kiki House of Black Diamond transformed the house into a ballroom, where community members can see live performances such as voguing — a queer dance and art form. In addition, La Cimarrona runs open mics for people to share writing and music, and art workshops to help their community claim art as theirs and know that art is not only for white elites. They sell their art in their shop, a space in the house called the Little Market, along with other crafts such as homemade soap and creams.
“We believe that art should combat injustice. This is why we try to boost local queer talents for them to continue producing art,” Esther explains. “Economic justice is important to us because it is about creating the conditions to live in dignity in an area in which most young people who are queer and of color end up in jail, the hospital, or leaving town. The destiny of many, many black trans women is to end up dead. This is why it is important for us to create, to promote livelihoods that are sustainable and based locally.”
Food is integral to their mission as well; La Cimarrona feeds about 25 people every day from their community kitchen. What’s more, Aquelarre RD recently acquired land as part of their initiative ‘Back to the Land’, which challenges the western idea that humans are separate from nature. This initiative creates a space where community members can come together and grow food locally — and teaches people how the relationship between humans and our land is symbiotic. Once their agricultural production begins later this year, they will use what they produce in La Cimarrona’s kitchen and sell the rest in the Little Market to help sustain their movement.
“People want change to happen quickly, but the work is slow and takes time to build,” Esther says. “We are creating a space full of joy. Being joyful in our dissident, marginalized bodies is a type of resistance, and that’s the beauty of La Cimarrona.”
