Emilio Delgado, Sesame Street's Luis and LGBTQ+ Ally, Has Died
Sesame Street for 44 years and was a strong LGBTQ+ ally, has died at age 81.Delgado died Thursday at his Manhattan home, The New York Times reports.
The cause was multiple myeloma, his wife, Carole Delgado, told the paper.He was a beloved regular on the PBS children’s program, having joined the cast in 1971; Luis became the longest-running role for a Mexican-American on any TV show.
His character owned the Fix-It Shop, where he repaired a wide variety of objects. The show portrayed a romance between Luis and his colleague at the shop, Maria (Sonia Manzano), and they married on-screen in 1988, in an episode that was a huge hit with viewers.Delgado was devoted to offering positive, nonstereotypical portrayals of Latinos, and he worked for social and racial justice in other ways.
He was on the board of directors for the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice, a New Jersey-based organization that works for LGBTQ+ equality and other progressive causes.
