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Louie Ortiz-Fonseca discussed the importance of building community through individual experiences during a lecture Wednesday evening. 

Ortiz-Fonseca, an advocate for LGBTQ rights, is best known for his project, The Gran Varones, which uses multiple social media platforms to allow members of the LGBTQ community to share their personal coming out stories and other experiences. Ortiz-Fonseca spoke over Zoom as part Syracuse University’s celebration of Latino/Hispanic Heritage Month. 

The goal of the project is to elevate the voices of Latino and Afro-Latino gay, queer, transgender and bisexual men and boys, Ortiz-Fonseca said. During the lecture, he emphasized the importance of celebrating voices that aren’t typically heard.

“We have to go find people — particularly those who don’t get invited to tell their stories — to tell their stories,” Ortiz-Fonseca said. “We have to immerse ourselves in the community and do the work to build trust so they can trust the project.”

Ortiz-Fonseca also recounted his experiences with a childhood friend, which inspired the name of the lecture: “Our Bones Glow in the Dark: The Power of Storytelling in a Digital Space.”

“One of my favorite things to do with (my friend) was for us to turn off all the lights and talk,” Ortiz-Fonseca said. “There was something intimate about the stories we would share — that we had already shared in some other form — but the way that we shared them, and how they came to light in the dark.”

When discussing “The Gran Varones,” Ortiz-Fonseca explained its connection to “El Gran Varón,” a salsa song released in 1988 that tells the story of a Puerto Rican father who rejects his son, Simón, for being queer.

Ortiz-Fonseca said he hopes his project will allow LGBTQ individuals to tell their stories in their own unique ways.

“We are a platform but the people who are in control and who make the project work are those who tell their stories,” Ortiz-Fonseca said.

Published on October 15, 2020 at 3:10 pm

Contact Hannah: hngonzal@syr.edu