September 13, 2014
National Hispanic Heritage Month
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 3 MIN.
National Hispanic Heritage Month starts on September 15 and runs through October 15. The special month celebrates Hispanic culture and Hispanic people's contributions to United States history. The special month has its origins as "Hispanic Heritage Week," which was first recognized by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968. Twenty years later, President Ronald Reagan asked that the Week be expanded from the third week in September to September 15 through to October 15.
Hispanic Heritage Month organizers believed September 15 was important as the starting point because eight Latin American nations celebrate their independence days in the week starting on that date: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua all celebrate their independence on September 15, while Mexico celebrates theirs on September 16, Chile celebrates theirs on September 18 and Belize earned their independence on September 21 (in 1981, becoming the most recent independent nation in Latin America).
The Hispanic demographic is the fastest-growing subgroup in the United States today. Over 55 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, identifies as Hispanic or Latino, which includes people of Spanish descent from Central America, South America and the Caribbean, regardless of race. 18% of Florida's population is Hispanic: South Florida has the highest concentration of Cubans in the United States (at over 850,000) and Central Florida is home to a large number of Puerto Ricans (over a quarter-million Puerto Ricans live in the Orlando metro area).
There are many LGBT Hispanic people that have become known nationwide for their advocacy and celebrity. Here are profiles of three influential people:
To read more about Hispanic Heritage Month, visit hispanicheritagemonth.gov.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.