What do you think?
Rate this book
¡Cuéntamelo!: Oral Histories by LGBT Latino Immigrants
¡Cuéntamelo! Oral Histories by LGBT Latino Immigrants. ¡Cuéntamelo! began as a cover story for SF Weekly, and, eventually in 2014 with local grant support, Juliana Delgado Lopera was able to publish a limited first edition of 300. Aunt Lute is pleased to bring this title back into circulation. In addition to beautiful black and white drawings of the contributors by artist Laura Cerón Melo, this edition features a number of candid earlier photographs of several of the contributors, as well as a new introduction from Juliana.
¡Cuéntamelo! is “[a] stunning collection of bilingual oral histories and illustrations by LGBT Latinx immigrants who arrived in the U.S. during the 80s and 90s. Stories of repression in underground Havana in the 60s; coming out trans in Catholic Puerto Rico in the 80s; Scarface, female impersonators, Miami and the 'boat people'; San Francisco’s underground Latinx scene during the 90s and more.”
¡Cuéntamelo! is bilingual. All stories in this book have both an English and Spanish version.
¡Cuéntamelo! is “[a] stunning collection of bilingual oral histories and illustrations by LGBT Latinx immigrants who arrived in the U.S. during the 80s and 90s. Stories of repression in underground Havana in the 60s; coming out trans in Catholic Puerto Rico in the 80s; Scarface, female impersonators, Miami and the 'boat people'; San Francisco’s underground Latinx scene during the 90s and more.”
¡Cuéntamelo! is bilingual. All stories in this book have both an English and Spanish version.
132 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 8, 2015
17 people are currently reading
400 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
Read
September 3, 2025It’s a compilation of people talking about their lives, so I’m not assigning stars to this one.
Wonderful to hear about old San Francisco from those who live to tell the tale, all the marvelous highs and terrible lows. I heard there’s some issue with the English translation, so grain of salt, but I felt it was a worthy and interesting read.
Wonderful to hear about old San Francisco from those who live to tell the tale, all the marvelous highs and terrible lows. I heard there’s some issue with the English translation, so grain of salt, but I felt it was a worthy and interesting read.
November 5, 2022
There are no words to describe this book. It is heartbreaking and gorgeous. As the title suggests, the writer shares the oral histories of LGBTQIA2S Latino immigrants and each one breaks my heart. But I am buoyed by their courage and authenticity. A must read.
What is ingenious about this book is that the stories are told in Spanish and English.
What is ingenious about this book is that the stories are told in Spanish and English.
Read
January 18, 2023Things I appreciated:
-Amplifying Latinx voices within the LGBTQIA Community.
-I like how Lopera focused on the older generation, who were pioneers within Latinx LGBTQIA San Francisco in welcoming and building community for newcomers.
-I am grateful for the 7 individuals interviewed who shared pieces of themselves with us (readers) about their lives. The resiliency they have for just trying to live their full authentic selves despite pushback from their families, society, and country both evokes anger and hope. Anger that we had, and continue to have so many assholes in the world that just can't be happy to show love and kindness to all humans, but also hope, because despite all the assholes, the interviewees are still here, and still raising their voices.
-The book is bilingual. The first half has the interviews in Spanish, the second half of the book has the interviews in English. I only read the Spanish part of the book, so my review is based on that.
Things I would have liked to see:
-I wish an audiobook of the oral histories with the interviewees was available. I felt a little emotionally detached by the book format.
-I would have liked to see more Latinx representation. The 7 interviews included the people from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Peru, and Nicaragua.
-The interviews were short, I would have like to read a little bit more about each person.
Overall I enjoyed the book. I'm choosing not to rate this as I find that it would be difficult to rate something so personal.
-Amplifying Latinx voices within the LGBTQIA Community.
-I like how Lopera focused on the older generation, who were pioneers within Latinx LGBTQIA San Francisco in welcoming and building community for newcomers.
-I am grateful for the 7 individuals interviewed who shared pieces of themselves with us (readers) about their lives. The resiliency they have for just trying to live their full authentic selves despite pushback from their families, society, and country both evokes anger and hope. Anger that we had, and continue to have so many assholes in the world that just can't be happy to show love and kindness to all humans, but also hope, because despite all the assholes, the interviewees are still here, and still raising their voices.
-The book is bilingual. The first half has the interviews in Spanish, the second half of the book has the interviews in English. I only read the Spanish part of the book, so my review is based on that.
Things I would have liked to see:
-I wish an audiobook of the oral histories with the interviewees was available. I felt a little emotionally detached by the book format.
-I would have liked to see more Latinx representation. The 7 interviews included the people from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Peru, and Nicaragua.
-The interviews were short, I would have like to read a little bit more about each person.
Overall I enjoyed the book. I'm choosing not to rate this as I find that it would be difficult to rate something so personal.
December 17, 2022
I need more stories like this, it's so genuine and raw and tells us where we're coming from so we can think about where we're going
December 9, 2025
cuir latine love forever
December 18, 2018
3 stars ✨
¡Cuentamelo! narrates the lives of 7 different Latinos who are in the LGBT community. They all come from different countries and have lived somewhat different lives. This book aligns them together into one central theme: their immigration to the United States.
Their stories are very important ones to know about. Most of the people in this book are transgender. And while I do identify as a gay person, that does not mean that I know everything there is to know about the gay community. It is a community that is among one of the minor ones globally, and being Latino and transgender only makes these group of people even smaller.
Reading this book and knowing about their lives taught me a lot about them and all the hardships they’ve had to encounter before they got to the US. Some of their stories include some themes that you generally hear about a gay person’s life. There’s rejection from one’s own family, physical and sexual abuse, drug abuse, suicidal thoughts, coming out stories, prostitution, and just surviving on your own at very young ages. My favorite one to read about is probably Carlos Sayan Wong’s life.
The 7 people who told about their lives here are important. The gay community would not be how it is now if it weren’t for them for they somehow served as pioneers of the drag community in the San Francisco area as well. It tells about their lives during the 70s, 80s and 90s. Most of them have talked about the AIDS crisis as well.
My only gripe with this collection is the way it’s written. I am aware that it is written in an interview format but I feel like that took away the greater impact it could have had on me. This statement doesn’t say that their lives aren’t meaningful (because they are). I feel that it just would have been more effective if it were written differently.
¡Cuentamelo! narrates the lives of 7 different Latinos who are in the LGBT community. They all come from different countries and have lived somewhat different lives. This book aligns them together into one central theme: their immigration to the United States.
Their stories are very important ones to know about. Most of the people in this book are transgender. And while I do identify as a gay person, that does not mean that I know everything there is to know about the gay community. It is a community that is among one of the minor ones globally, and being Latino and transgender only makes these group of people even smaller.
Reading this book and knowing about their lives taught me a lot about them and all the hardships they’ve had to encounter before they got to the US. Some of their stories include some themes that you generally hear about a gay person’s life. There’s rejection from one’s own family, physical and sexual abuse, drug abuse, suicidal thoughts, coming out stories, prostitution, and just surviving on your own at very young ages. My favorite one to read about is probably Carlos Sayan Wong’s life.
The 7 people who told about their lives here are important. The gay community would not be how it is now if it weren’t for them for they somehow served as pioneers of the drag community in the San Francisco area as well. It tells about their lives during the 70s, 80s and 90s. Most of them have talked about the AIDS crisis as well.
My only gripe with this collection is the way it’s written. I am aware that it is written in an interview format but I feel like that took away the greater impact it could have had on me. This statement doesn’t say that their lives aren’t meaningful (because they are). I feel that it just would have been more effective if it were written differently.
October 13, 2024
¡Cuéntamelo! de Juliana Delgado Lopera es una beautiful recount de muchos latinx/e stories. It proves how los maricones y los transexuales siempre han estado aquí y no son nada nuevo. As a transmasculine boricua I am not used to seeing other queer latinx/e be able to tell their stories freely, let alone older and more experienced latinx/e people. From Adela Vásquez to Catherine dejé el libro sintiéndome inspirada por estas personas que han luchado tan duro para poder ser ellas mismas. Adela Vásquez’s story especially resonated with me when she brought up how even those who are not presenting as the gender they identify as deserve to be gendered correctly. “I advocated … people in the Latino community that don't dress as women but are women … These loquitas that have their woman's name, don't take hormones but … have to be respected as women.” Su historia también me recordó of that initial trans joy of seeing you’re not alone— there’s an entire comunidad de personas que son como tú. La alegría de ver other people pushing the limits del género y sexualidad junto a ti. The mention of Consuela del Río was cool too porque woah what an icon. También Mahogany Sánchez speaking on living as a woman despite being bullied. I loved the lesbian - trans solidarity described with sus amigas lesbianas defending her. I’m so happy for her that her entire family is so accepting and I wish every transgender person could be able to experience that kind of unconditional love.
Overall, ¡Cuéntamelo! fue una colección de historias realmente touching que me inspiraron mucho as a queer latine. Me encanta escuchar a personas older trans hablar sobre sus vidas.
Overall, ¡Cuéntamelo! fue una colección de historias realmente touching que me inspiraron mucho as a queer latine. Me encanta escuchar a personas older trans hablar sobre sus vidas.
September 15, 2022
It was an interesting edition in that it has both the interview in spanish and the english translation in the same book, but the translation seemed to be an afterthought and done very directly, to the detriment of some nuances in the speech. It succeeds in capturing personal stories within the very specific LGBT latino immigrant in San Francisco niche
February 20, 2023
Attended the showcase at NYU as a queer latina and made my entire class read it for our Latine Literature course. Each story was so so important on an individual and communal level, especially given the nature of oral histories and who is telling these stories. Real, raw, & moving.
February 25, 2023
By far my favorite book I've read this year. These are the stories I want to know about.
December 26, 2025
Me gustó aunque me faltó más diversidad de voces
August 5, 2020
The stories are bittersweet; they have suffered so much in their pursuit of freedom to be themselves, to love and to survive. Poverty, discrimination, violence and substance abuse are common themes. But I say it’s bittersweet because they made a difference and found themselves, so it wasn’t all bad. I felt like a grew as a person by reading those stories but I just wished the author had interviewed a lesbian or transgender who identifies as a man or queer. I felt like those voices needed to be there. Those are the stories that seem to be hushed the most, ignored, forgotten. But like the author says in the book, it was never meant to portray the whole community but it was mostly a collection of histories of people they (Juliana) knew, their queer family. I loved the Spanglish and the reflection of different Latinx dialects.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews