MONTEREY PARK, Calif. — Raising the flag in front of the Boys and Girls Club of West San Gabriel Valley is a duty Angel Silva doesn’t take lightly.
“It feels amazing,” he said as he clipped the latches through the rings. “It feels like the first time.”
He would know. He was the very first person to hoist the rainbow flag at the Monterey Park facility where it now waves not just in June but all year round. Yes, he admits, there was initial opposition from the surrounding community. At one point, it was even stolen.
“We’ve had people that, of course, want us to take it down, don’t feel like it’s right to have,” he explained, “but we tell them we’re here to show that we accept everyone and that it’s a place for everyone.”
Silva, who arrived at the Boys and Girls Club of West San Gabriel Valley as a young boy more than a decade ago, was nervous that the bullying he endured at school might follow him here as well.
“Why are you so feminine? Why do you talk like that? Why do your hands move a lot?” he recalled his classmates taunting. “I was scared already at school. So coming here was even more of a scarier thing. Because there [were] more kids that I didn’t know.”
Although initially he would hide under the pool tables, he quickly found the clubhouse to be a safe space, a place where he could grow up, grow confident and grow into a leader. Silva suggested the flag. He also helped create an LGBTQ+ program called DNA, which stands for Definitions not Applicable.
His vision isn’t limited to the building on Romona Avenue, where he has spent more than half his life. A few years ago, he helped organize the first Pride parade and festival in the San Gabriel Valley — an event that has grown year over year. The third annual gathering will be held Saturday and Silva expects about 1,000 people to attend.
Aida Diaz is the director of Planning, Training and Projects. Like Silva, she grew up in the clubhouse and has worked there for two decades.
“I came from a single parent home,” she explained of her own journey, “so this place was really important to me. And because of this place, I am who I am today.”
She saw Silva come in as a shy 6 year old and she’s watched him transform over the years into now a valued colleague.
“I think the Boys and Girls Club really set the foundation for him and it was a second home for him, where he was able to blossom and feel comfortable,” Diaz explained. “We became more than just, you know, a staff. We’re like a family.”
“Finding this place really saved my life and made me who I am,” Silva said, surprised by his own emotions. “Without them, I don’t think I would be here at all. I think I would be still hidden.”
But at the clubhouse, he feels seen and celebrated. Standing in the teen and tween lounge, which he helped design, he points to a photomontage on the wall, his face prominently featured. It was an expected surprise revealed when they cut the ribbon on the revamped space and one he considers a great honor.
Looking at the face of the boy who struggled with ADHD, bullying and fear, the now 20-year-old, clad in a rainbow shirt paired with rainbow Converse sneakers and a sparkly rainbow manicure, said he would tell him not to be scared.
“I would just tell him ‘you did it,’” Silva said. “‘You graduated high school, many people didn’t think you were gonna graduate high school. And now you have an amazing job. You’re helping kids that are just like you.’”