OREGON'S LGBTO NEWSMAGAZINE
4
MAX, Andrade has done voice work for G PS systems in
high-end cars and for promotional videos for tourism in
Belize, among other efforts. For his day job, he’s a court
certified Spanish interpreter for the Oregon Judicial
Department.
H e’s also a regular actor at El Centro Milagro Theatre
(or Miracle Theatre) in Southeast Portland. Andrade re
cently starred in Ana en el Tropico (.Anna in the Tropics) and
Entre Villa y una Mujer Desnuda (Between Pancho Villa and
a Naked Woman).
But some of his most meaningful work, he says, is done
at the Metropolitan Community Church (M CC) of Port
land, a congregation that welcomes LG B TQ jnem bers.
“I t’s been the place where I’ve been able to reconcile my
sexuality with my spirituality, and it continues to be a very
enlightening journey,” he says.
Andrade is now a regular volunteer at the church, but he
first attended there with a heavy heart. After he turned 30,
he was discouraged by the lack o f options available to men
who were no longer in the twentysomething gay limelight.
W ith that milestone, he thought most gay men somehow
disappeared.
“I felt called to M CC because I thought it would prob
ably be a good place to learn how to die,” he says. “I’m not
saying it’s a rational thought, but it was the initial
thought.”
Now, however, the voice of the MAX believes he has
several im portant stops to make in his life.
“I found there is something to look forward to in my
thirties. And my forties. And my fifties,” Andrade says.
“There is a process of growth.”
23_JS
Vanessa La Torre, 30, can be a ball o f energy. During Port
land Pride, she promoted Latino Gay Pride so feverishly—
dancing and talking all weekend— that she literally lost her
voice. “This is my body’s way o f telling me I need to relax," she
says a week later.
W hen La Torre can talk, she does it fast. She believes com
munication is vital to the LGBTQ_Latino community, and she
has a lot to say.
La Torre works for Cascade AID S Project in the supportive
services department, where she speaks with families who have
members living with HIV. She helps people cope with any
number of situations they may face.
She also volunteers with Latino Gay Pride and is a co-chair
of the Chicas CelebrAccion, an event created to foster net
working opportunities for LGBTQ_Latinas in Portland.
In all of these roles, she emphasizes the role o f community
and its ability to encourage communication about important a lot o fL G B T Q L atin o s who weren’t able to have open discus
issues— especially ones surrounding sexual health. She has sions with their families or the community in general. The
been working in the sexual health field for more than a stigma o f being a sexual minority led some to sexual experi
decade.
mentation that would be risky, she says.
A strong community is fundamental for individuals to make
“People aren’t talking about healthy sexuality, especially in
good decisions about sexual health, La Torre says. For the La the Latino community,” La Torre says. H er work with CA P
tino population, family is key. That bond— the colloquial ex helps people learn to talk about healthy sexuality at different
pression for it is ufamilismo," La Torre says— is what can help stages in life— conversations she says can help people overcome
people when they’re in crisis. The community forms the pri barriers and form communities o f their own. ! • :
mary support network.
La Torre grew up in Southern California and says she knew
— A aron S pencer
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