Latinos thought they had made huge progress earlier this year when Angela Giron and Lucia Guzman were appointed to vacant Senate seats, marking the first time there was more than one Latina serving in the Colorado Senate.

But with the recent appointment of Irene Aguilar to fill another Senate seat, there will be three Latina lawmakers in the chamber when the session opens Jan. 12.

It's bittersweet for Giron, a Pueblo Democrat.

"Here we are in a state that is 20 percent Latino and it's a 'historic moment' to have three Latinas at one time and only five in our whole Senate history. That's sad," she said.

"But we're going to do great things because we have a lot of time to make up for."

Other firsts in the 2011 legislature, according to the respective caucuses:

• Democrat Rhonda Fields is the first black elected to the legislature from Arapahoe County. She will represent House District 42 in Aurora.

• Republican Janak Joshi is the first India-born lawmaker and first Hindu to serve in the House. He will represent District 14 in Colorado Springs.

In all, there will be eight Latinos in the legislature this year, double the number elected in 2008.

The Senate Latinas share ethnicity — Guzman's and Aguilar's parents were born in Mexico, while Giron's parents were first-generation Mexican-Americans.

But Guzman, a Denver Democrat, said they have different perspectives because of their life experiences.

Guzman, who is gay and an ordained minister, advocates for human rights. Aguilar, a medical doctor with a severely disabled daughter, is active in health care and disability issues. Giron once oversaw the Girls & Boys Club, and her focus includes children, water and agriculture.

"I've always been reared in a predominantly Anglo community," Guzman said. "And while it's a great honor to be elected, I don't want people to think I'm just there for Hispanics."

Aguilar, a Denver Democrat, agreed.

She said that as a child growing up in Chicago, her parents deliberately moved to a mostly white neighborhood near Mayor Rich ard Daley's home. Only one other family at her elementary school was Latino.

"My son wrote a poem about me called 'My mom is a potato,' brown on the outside and white on the inside,' " Aguilar said.

Giron grew up in Pueblo with a more cultural influence but said it wasn't until she was older that Latinos began flexing their political muscle.

The first Latina elected to the state Senate, Polly Baca in 1978, also had the distinction of being the first woman of color elected to the state Senate.

"Three Latinas in the Senate," Baca said. "This is just so historic that it's amazing."