La Genración “Yo No Me Dejo” Alternative Cuirness and Revolution in Puerto Rico

In 2019, the Puerto Rican LGBTQIA+ community engaged in peaceful direct actions such as marches, strikes, and drag performance to protest the Puerto Rican administration. While many subcultures participated in the movement that led to ex-governor Ricardo Roselló’s resignation, the LGBTQIA+ community’s leadership and involvement were particularly influential. This creative dissertation combines short fiction and traditional academic writing to demonstrate how the Puerto Rican queer community used performative protest strategies to mobilize the masses and dethrone a corrupt governor. By addressing the intersection of the Puerto Rican queer community and political activism, my work demonstrates how this community is following in the footsteps of revolutionary groups such as the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries by weaponizing performance for the purpose of political upheaval. The academic chapter provides the sociopolitical context for the creative chapters that follow delving into topics such as Puerto Rico/U.S. relations, subcultural style, queer and performance theory, and creative criticism. The creative portion of my dissertation engages fiction, in the style of Latin American testimonio, to represent the LGBTQIA+ community of Puerto Rico who, because of a history of marginalization, was in the perfect position to spearhead the revolutionary movement that led to the governor’s resignation. The fictional narratives featured in my work are based on interviews conducted with members of the Puerto Rican queer community. These narratives informatively represent and comment on Puerto Rico’s real-life sociopolitical issues as well as the challenges the LGBTQIA+ community faces which were exacerbated by Hurricane Maria and the exgovernor’s behavior.