This paper looks at the intersection of machismo and homosexuality presented in queer Chicanx poetry. Machismo is the concept of a hegemonic masculinity that is usually associated with hypermasculine Latinos. In a reading of queer Chicanx poetry by Francisco X. Alarcón, Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano, Joseph Delgado, Pablo Miguel Martínez, and Eduardo C. Corral, I discuss how queer poetic voices reclaim and redefine machismo to empower themselves. Thereby, the poems develop a gay macho persona that breaks conceptions of homosexuality as the opposite of machismo. In Delgado’s poetry, queer subjects use dominant sexual behavior and masculine-defined stylization of the body to pursue power over those who oppress them. Poets like Corral incorporate historical implications of an idealized ‘Mestizo masculinity’ with comparisons to charros – Mexican horsemen – and allusions to Aztec warriors, thus playing with ideals that are deeply rooted in mythology and history. The gay macho symbolizes a queer Chicanx hope for an eventual reconciliation between traditional and queer features of masculinity. This hybrid of homosexuality and machismo allows queer individuals a strategy to regain power since they still fulfill other masculine ideals despite their stigmatized deviation from heterosexuality. However, it may enforce internalized homophobia or notions towards misogynist and patriarchal ideologies. This tension between a subversive act of queering traditional, constrictive masculine roles and navigating those same social norms is a crucial struggle of queer individuals having to exist in patriarchal structures. Ultimately, this paper concludes that traditional masculinities and their harmful, toxic practices are challenged through the emergence of the gay macho as a ‘new masculinity’ that diversifies performances of masculine dominance to reclaim powerfor queer individuals.