TF’s Pedro Julio Serrano honored with Puerto Rican Heritage Award

The Task Force is working in coalition with other groups in the U.S. and Puerto Rico to address and combat hate violence against the LGBT community. After a brutal hate crime in New York City’s this past summer in the Bronx, N.Y., when a gang attacked three gay men, the Task Force’s Pedro Julio Serrano joined with other local leaders to organize a march and rally to denounce the bias attacks.

The Task Force has also been very active in combating anti-LGBT violence in Puerto Rico, which in the past year, saw more than 12 LGBT people killed and several others become targets of attempted homicides. Serrano has traveled several times to the island to join with local leaders in denouncing the hate violence and has led campaigns to end hate speech from local TV shows.

Because of his work against LGBT violence and for social justice, Serrano was honored last month with the Puerto Rican Heritage Award by Comité Noviembre, a coalition of the most prestigious Puerto Rican organizations in New York City.

He was proud to be joined by his family, who traveled to accompany him while accepting the award (see picture). The award was presented via video by Ricky Martin and subtitled by Blabbeando. The video can be seen here:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z12JzdYP36o]