Latino LGBTQ + Power Couples who Show Us that Love Really is Love

Love is being celebrated around the world this Valentine’s Day; therefore, it should be represented in all its forms. Celebrities have helped reinforce equality throughout the years, which is why their influence is so important. When it comes to LGBTQ+ rights, as well as Latinx inclusivity, here are some of the most relevant couples in the past years.

Ricky Martin and Jwan Yosef

Five years after Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin came out as gay, in 2016, he met Jwan Yosef, a talented painter born in Syria. Although their first conversations were very casual, they fell in love over time. Ricky first DMed Jwan through Instagram, showing his admiration for one of Jwan’s works of art. “We were talking for like six months, where I didn’t even hear his voice. We talked about art, nothing out of tune… It was all about art and life in general.” Martin told Hola! Magazine.

When they finally had their first face-to-face meeting it was love at first sight. Josef lived in London and they couldn’t see each other for months, but Ricky decided to travel to visit who would later become the love of his life.

“When I got out of the car and saw him, I said: Whoa, wait a minute, I think this is the man of my life and I think I’m going to marry him,” he said.

Just a couple of months later, in November, the couple announced their engagement, and in 2017 they celebrated their wedding in a private ceremony, accompanied by their closest loved ones, including their parents and the singer’s twins Valentino and Matteo, whom the singer had when he was single through a surrogate mother.

Ricky was the one who proposed, and he acknowledged that it was one of the most nerve-racking moments of his life. “I proposed to him. I was very nervous, but I knelt down and took out the little metal box, which was inside a little velvet bag. Instead of saying ‘will you marry me’ I said ‘I have something for you!’”

However, Jwan didn’t get the message right away. “I told him: ‘I want to spend the rest of my life with you’ and he replied: ‘what is the question?’ ‘Will you marry me?’ I said again, and that was it. It was a beautiful thing. After half an hour, I asked him again if he said yes. And yes, he had.”

Two years after getting married, they expanded their family and welcomed their children Renn and Lucía, another set of twins who were also conceived through a surrogate. Now a loving family of six, they share their happiest and most heartfelt moments through social media.

Joy Huerta and Diana Atri

Joy Huerta, the Mexican singer and part of the sibling duo Jesse & Joy, met Diana Atri, an art producer, eleven years ago through mutual friends. At that time, she had never had a partner of the same sex, so at first, she did not realize what she was feeling.

“I have had boyfriends, but nothing serious until I met Diana. I didn’t fall in love, but I felt a very intense connection,” Joy said in a YouTube interview.

The singer revealed that after having been friends for several months, a mutual friend made a homophobic comment to them, which helped her realize that she was in love. “His joke was not funny, but what I was feeling was that I was in love with this woman.”

“We saw each other after that and I was very nervous because I already saw her differently, I already knew what I felt for her. A week went by and I couldn’t hold it any longer. I knew it was a lot because when there is a vibe with someone, both people feel it,” she added.

After having spent a lot of time calling themselves “my love” in a group chat, Joy finally decided to admit her feelings for Diana, which were reciprocated. Although they had some ups and downs, they pulled through and even started a family. After getting married, they had two children: Noah, born in May 2019, and Nour, who came into this world in March 2021.

Mariana Varela and Fabiola Valentín

Social media users went crazy after the news of two Miss Grand International 2020 (MGI) contestants getting married went viral; Miss Argentina, Mariana Varela, and Miss Puerto Rico, Fabiola Valentín, announced that they were engaged after having a secret romance for almost two years.

The couple met at the Miss Grand International pageant, held in Thailand. Mariana won the Miss Universe Argentina pageant in 2019 and was a top 10 finalist at Miss Grand International 2020, while Fabiola made it to the top 3 at Miss Universe Puerto Rico 2019 and also finished among the top 10 in the Miss Grand pageant.

After the contest was over, Mariana and Fabiola started posting pictures together on their social media, but it was believed that they were just good friends since, at the time, they had never talked about their relationship. Apparently, their feelings for each other were immediate, and they became practically inseparable.

During the pandemic, they were only able to keep in touch through social media and video calls. Finally, in December 2021, Mariana traveled to Puerto Rico to spend the holidays with her beloved girlfriend, and they haven’t been apart since.

The wedding was held in November 2022 at the Judicial Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico,  during Argentina’s Pride Week.

Kany García and Jocelyn Trochez

Puerto Rican singer Kany García met her personal trainer, Jocelyn Trochez, in 2016 and they started dating not long after. The singer had just divorced her husband after a 13-year relationship.

Tróchez is her first female partner. However, Kany has revealed that she knew she liked girls from a very young age. After five years of dating, the women decided to take the big step and got married, both dressed in white and in a ceremony with just their closest friends and family.