The 2012 Bronx Pride festival took place this past Saturday despite the shutting down of host Bronx Community Pride Center after alleged embezzlement by its former executive director. Organizers and participants committed themselves to ensuring that the show would go on. El Diario/La Prensa‘s Carolina Ledezma introduced us to one of them, local celebrity Appolonia Cruz, a drag queen with Puerto Rican roots who went from Selena impersonator to LGBT activist. The translation below from Spanish was published on July 20, the day before the parade.
Although Appolonia Cruz moved from the Bronx to Miami 20 years ago, the Puerto Rican “drag queen” never lost her ties to her neighborhood. A decade later, having returned to New York and becoming a celebrity, Cruz’s connection with her neighborhood is more alive than ever when it comes to saving the Bronx’s gay pride festival.
