Laura M. Esquivel is a Chicana lesbian activist who was born and raised in Los Angeles. Laura ‘came out’ at 14 while in a gang in El Sereno and has been out ever since. Despite leaving school at age 12 and never going to high school, she earned masters' degrees in political science from California State University, Los Angeles, and in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, as well as a bachelor of arts in American Politics from California State University, Dominguez Hills, and an associate degree from East Los Angeles Community College.

During the early 1980s Esquivel joined Gay Latinos Unidos which later became Gay and Lesbian Latinos Unidos (GLLU) in 1982, soon becoming its first lesbian president. GLLU was the first non-profit organization in Los Angeles that advocated for Latino/a/x LGBTQ communities and individuals through grassroots organizing and by developing relationships with elected officials and policymakers, as well as through visibility in the media.

In 1984, Esquivel cofounded Lesbianas Unidas (LU), a GLLU task force focused on addressing and advocating for issues the impacted Latina lesbians. She continued working with LU after it separated from GLLU in 1994. In 1987, Esquivel co-founded the first National Latino/a Lesbian and Gay Organization (LLEGO) based in Washington, DC. At its height, LLEGÓ had nearly 20 employees and a $2 million budget. The organization closed in 2004. In the 1990s, Esquivel was an aide for the first openly lesbian Los Angeles City Council Member, Jackie Goldberg. While an aide to Goldberg, Esquivel worked on negotiating the adoption of a domestic partners ordinance in 1999 by the County of Los Angeles, creating, for the first time, a public record of same-sex domestic partner relationships in the County of Los Angeles. During this time she also worked on a resolution that was passed by the Los Angeles City Council on October 16, 1998, in which Goldberg called on the US Senate to support S. 1529, the Hate Crime Preventions Act, which would have modified federal law to include hate crimes against sexual orientation and enhanced the enforcement of hate crime laws by federal authorities.

The Laura M. Esquivel paper collection explores the Latina/o/x LGBTQ+ movement in Los Angeles from the late 1970s, to early 2000s. Her ongoing policy and civil rights advocacy includes work on behalf of reproductive rights and Latino/a/x, LGBTQ+, farmworkers, and immigrant communities. Laura has added environmental justice issues to her long list of policy and advocacy priorities.