Alan Lessik (left) and Rene Valdes (right), 2000s. Lessik met Valdes in San Diego in 2000, the same year in which Valdes left Minneapolis to begin his life on the West Coast. Valdes eventually got a job with Microsoft. Used with the permission from Alan Lessik.

Rene Valdes at Control Data (his employer) in Bloomington in 1981, at the dawn of the personal computing revolution. Valdes landed his job after fleeing Cuba in 1980 as part of the Mariel Boatlift. He devoted much of his life to the computer industry, later taking a job with Microsoft. Used with the permission of Alan Lessik.

Bruce Brockway and Rene Valdes at Bde Maka Ska in the summer of 1980. Valdez met Brockway when the latter came to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, where Valdes and other Cuban refugees of the Mariel Boatlift were being detained. Valdes and Brockway became partners and remained together until shortly before Brockway’s death from an AIDS-related lymphoma in 1984. Used with the permission of Alan Lessik.

Announcement of a meeting of sponsors of Cuban refugees at Hennepin County Government Center, July 23, 1980. Thom Higgins and Bruce Brockway, founders of the Positively Gay Cuban Refugee Task Force, organized the evening information session for people interested in becoming sponsors of Cuban refugees. From the Thom Higgins papers, Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.

Thom Higgins and Jeanne Sanders at the Twin Cities Gay Pride Festival, June 1980. Sanders and her son Anthony Trelles accompanied Higgins to Fort McCoy that same month to meet with the Cuban refugees detained there. Used with the permission of Kristen and Anthony Trelles.

Roster of Cuban refugees detained at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, interested in finding sponsors. Created by the Positively Gay Cuban Refugee Task Force, June 12, 1980. From the Thom Higgins papers, Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul. For a closer view, open the link below.

Bruce Brockway, ca. 1980. Brockway co-founded the Positively Gay Cuban Refugee Task Force with Thom Higgins in 1980. The name of the task force was adopted from the Minneapolis newspaper Positively Gay, which Brockway published between 1979 and 1980. From the Thom Higgins papers, Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.

Gustavo Gomez, who immigrated to the United States from Cuba in 1961, talks about helping the newly arrived Marielitos (Cuban refugees) in Minneapolis in 1980, and his friend John Yoakam’s experience as a sponsor. The Positively Gay Cuban Refugee Task Force helped to find homes for gay Marielitos in Minneapolis. Interview conducted by Britt Aamodt, May 18, 2019. Used with the permission of Britt Aamodt and Gustavo Gomez.

Anthony Trelles recalls his trip to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin with Thom Higgins. He also recalls the visit made by Jeanne Sanders, his mother, to meet and talk to the Cuban refugees being held there. Interview conducted by Britt Aamodt, May 18, 2019. Used with the permission of Britt Aamodt, Kristen Trelles, and Anthony Trelles.

Alan Lessik talks about Rene Valdes’s experience at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, and his disastrous interview with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Interview conducted by Britt Aamodt, October 8, 2018. Used with the permission of Britt Aamodt and Alan Lessik.