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PHOTOS BY MARY GUITRON
T he Rev. Stephanie Torres presides over a recent Grace Space celebration
p **"
he Rev. Stephanie Torres believes
there are people whose spiritual
needs are not being served by tra
ditional churches, even by other
queer-welcoming congregations—
people who travel a more alternative path, peo
ple who perhaps never fit in with a traditional
church. People who might feel right at home at
Grace Space, the new ministry she has started
in Portland.
“W e’re not nondenom inational,” she
explains with her trademark grin, “W e’re multi-
denominational.”
In Torres’ 11 weeks as a minister and at as
many Sunday services, it’s already clear that
people who are attracted to her message come
from a wide variety of backgrounds. A very out
lesbian who manages to work into each service
some mention of her partner, Julie Williamson,
Torres has so far drawn a mostly lesbian congre
gation, though as she pointed out on a recent
Sunday, she’s not heterophobic.
“It’s a gay-friendly, gay-positive ministry—
and it’s also a straight-positive ministry,” she
told the gathering.
This was met with laughter and apprecia
tion from the scattering of straight-appearing
couples in attendance.
But in all seriousness, Torres does hope to
draw a more diverse congregation.
“Until we all learn how to be together in a
way that’s not threatening, then we’re never
truly free,” she explains.
Although she does not consider herself a
Christian, Torres does believe Christ was one of
the master teachers. She describes her philoso
phy as eclectic New Thought with an Eastern
influence.
The roots of her philosophy are evident in
her training, which she received from the Rev.
Matt Garrigan, who founded the Radiant Light
Ministry in San Francisco over 15 years ago.
Torres has taken the entire series of Garrigan’s
workshops, done extensive reading and studied
one-on-one with Garrigan in preparation for
her ordination last October.
“My purpose in life is to inspire people to
experience their own divinity," she says, adding
that she respects each individual’s spiritual
path. “The words are just semantics— god, god
dess, Buddha, tree— use whatever resonates in
your heart.”
Torres was bom in Southern California.
After her parents divorced when she was 6, she
lived with her mother in Nevada, New Jersey
and finally Oregon, where she attended high
school in Roseburg. Her grounding came from
spending all her summers with her sister at her
father’s home in Los Angeles.
Though it has taken Torres, 33, until now to
realize her dreams of a ministry, her views and
desires stem in part from her experience as the
daughter of a metaphysical minister who ran the
Triune Center of Science Being in Los Angeles
from the mid 7 0 s until 1985. In true L.A. style,
her childhood was anything but typical.
For one thing, her father identified as bisex
ual, though Torres didn’t learn that until they
came out to each other when she was 19.
“He was very irreverent and a lot of fun,”
Torres says, recalling how he often took her as a
child to gay piano bars with her sister so they
could all have a gcxxl songfest.
“It was like perpetual Christmas,” she
remembers, saying she also enjoyed being in the
spotlight.
W hen Torres came out to her father, who
had been mostly closeted, his advice to her was:
“Just don’t tell anyone.”
It was advice she ignored. “I came out with a
flourish— I wanted to tell everyone,” she recalls.
Her theatrical nature was nurtured at the
American Academy of Dramatic Art in Los
Angeles, and Torres may be familiar to Portland
theatergoers from her many appearances in local
productions, especially with the Portland
Women’s Theatre Co. from 1986 to 1993.
“W hen I first moved to Portland in 1985, I
thought about becoming a minister, but I had a
lot to work through first,” Torres says, explaining
that she spent the next decade in therapy, tak
ing classes and attending Al-Anon.
"It's a gay-friendly, gay-positive
ministry— and it's also
a straight-positive ministry ,"
— the Rev. Stephanie Torres
Her big theatrical break came in 1993, when
she was cast in the lead role of a new play that
was headed for Broadway. After spending two
months in New York, Torres realized two impor
tant things. She learned that she did, indeed,
have what it takes to make it in the big time,
and she learned that she didn’t really want that
fast lane existence.
“I discovered that quality of life was more
important,” she says, happy that she had the
guts to turn her back on the opportunity and
return to Portland, which she says “feels more
like home than anywhere else.”
During her years in Portland, Torres has paid
her bills first as a corporate trainer, then as a pro
duction coordinator on film and television pro
jects, and most recently in private practice as a
personal coach.
“I’m not a therapist— coaching is about
focusing on the present and how we move for
ward, whereas therapy is about examining the
past. My practice is for healthy people who want
to enhance their li^es,” she explains, adding
that there is definitely a spiritual underpinning
to her coaching work. In fact, another name for
it could be pastoral counseling.
Though Torres is currently holding her Sun
day services in a borrowed chapel, her ambitious
vision for Grace Space is that the congregation
will be able to purchase its own building soon.
“I imagine a spiritual center that creates all
kinds of opportunities to connect with Spirit,”
she says, explaining her intention to rent office
space to various healing practitioners.
Grace Space also expects to have room for
workshops and to offer classes in various forms of
movement, spiritual dance, Reiki, rebirthing,
yoga and so on.
When attending one of the Sunday Celebra
tions, it’s clear from the lively opening music
this is no ordinary church. That is confirmed
when, after some opening remarks, Torres leads
the group in a Hindu chant. Although the
Unity Church’s resident hymnals beckon from
the back of each pew, they are never opened.
After the chanting has subsided and a calm
settles over the room, Torres launches into her
talk. Petite and animated, with the self-confi
dent stage presence of a seasoned performer, she
presents her ideas in easy-to-digest bites.
It is through love and compassion that we
grow, asserts Torres.
“We beat ourselves up enough— the last
thing I want to do is reinforce that,” she
explains.
Torres preaches mainstream metaphysics and
talks about recognizing your own divine power
to bring about positive change in your life.
What she may lack in experience, Torres
makes up in enthusiasm. It’s difficult not to
share in her obvious delight with life in general,
and with her partner in particular. She is not shy
about telling the congregation how much she
adores her beloved mate.
“I think Stephanie Torres is a very dynamic
woman with a clear vision of what she wants
and is very capable of achieving it— and I find
that an impressive role model,” says one woman
who has attended several services.
While Grace Space will not offer traditional
sacraments such as communion or baptism, Tor
res is already planning the first wedding she will
officiate, and she looks forward to performing
commitment ceremonies, house blessings and
various other alternative celebrations.
To the queer community Torres says: “I
invite people to come and see if this resonates
with them, and if so, then come and play with
us. Because if it’s not fun, then what’s the
point r
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■ GRACE S p a c e holds a celebration every Sunday
at 5 p.m . at the Unity Church o f Portland, 4525
S .E . Stark St. For m ore inform ation, call
(503) 287-3216.
Entertainment Editor o f
Ju st O u t and a skeptical pagan who finds divinity in
crow s and lilacs and especially m her dog, Rose. She
can be reached at ohana@justout .com.
ORIANA GREEN is A c
m JE m KSUUUSU * ■ m
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