At the seventh annual Q’s OUTstanding Awards sponsored by Albuquerque Pride, UNM’s LGBTQ Resource Director Alma Rosa Silva-Bañuelos was given top honor by being named the recipient of the Stonewall Achievement Award. The award ceremony also marked the 40th anniversary of the formation of Albuquerque Pride.  

The Stonewall Achievement Award is presented to an individual actively striving to make changes to benefit the LGBTIQ community through advocacy, education and political change and also in appreciation for outstanding contributions and service to Albuquerque’s LGBTIQ community.

“I am honored to be recognized with the Stonewall Achievement Award by Albuquerque Pride on their 40th anniversary with this symbol of strength, resiliency and deep roots of the LGBTQ community in Albuquerque,” said Silva-Bañuelos. “This award reflects the resiliency and resistance of the LGBTQ community to systematic oppression and demonstrates that we will survive and thrive—I am proud to receive this award in recognition of my life’s work and the work I continue to do with and for the LGBTQ community in New Mexico, nationally and globally.”

"We are so proud of her many accomplishments including the recognition of UNM as one of the Top 30 Best Colleges for LGBTQ students in the nation." - Jozi De Leon, UNM vice president for Equity and Inclusion

Jozi De Leon, vice president for Equity and Inclusion at UNM said that Silva-Bañuelos, as the first director of UNM’s LGBTQ Resource Center, has demonstrated her dedication to the LGBTQ community through program development, activities that engage students and services specific to the needs of not only UNM, but the entire community.

She added, “We are so proud of her many accomplishments including the recognition of UNM as one of the Top 30 Best Colleges for LGBTQ students in the nation and now as a recipient of the Stonewall Achievement Award.”

Silva-Bañuelos hopes that LGBTQ, Queer and Trans elders and youth see themselves reflected in the community they have built together—learning from each other and growing a stronger community where they feel like they belong or have home.

 “I hope to continue the Stonewall social justice legacy in New Mexico and beyond,” said Silva-Bañuelos. “So that LGBTQ people are accepted in society, there is an end to violence against LGBTQ people and we are integrated as whole, authentic community members as we create another world that is possible and necessary.”

For more information, visit the LGBTQ Resource Center, contact Alma Rosa Silva-Bañuelos at 505-277-1947 or email, almarosa@unm.edu.