La Cruz offers a musical memorial to Pulse shooting victims on Pride Month

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Set us as preferred As La Cruz continues to break down barriers for the LGBTQ+ community in reggaeton, the rising Venezuelan star enjoys living out his gay fantasies in his music videos.Take the sultry video for his 2023 breakthrough single, “Quítate La Ropa,” which sees shirtless men perreando (twerking) before him in a locker room.

But at the same time, La Cruz has come to understand that his platform as a gay reggaeton artist coincides at a time when conservatism is sweeping the globe — and queer rights are receding.“It fills me with happiness to represent a community that has been denigrated, treated badly and pushed into a corner for many years,” a bedheaded La Cruz says over Zoom from his New York City hotel room.(He had just performed at a Pride event the night before.)“It’s a fact that [LGBTQ] rights are becoming progressive, but they’re rolled back even faster than they advance,” he adds.

“This is very painful and concerning.This is happening in every country in different ways.

During these difficult times, I’m going to keep putting my heart into my music more than ever.”La Cruz is the stage name of Alfonso La Cruz.The native of La Guaira, a coastal city in Venezuela, pursued a music career after relocating to Spain in 2015.

Following a brief stint on the singing competition “Operación Triunfo” three years later, La Cruz was closeted and found his momentum stifled.In 2022, he took the brave step of singing about his affection and lust for other men in his debut album, “Hawaira.”Backed by the beats of reggaeton, a genre that had historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, La Cruz found both his groove and his tribe with hits like “Te Conocí Bailando” and “Quítate La Ropa.” Early supporters included Colombian superstar Karol G, as well as Mexican American R&B singer Om...