Antonio Siliceo Ortiz – Region Officer

Antonio Ortiz Siliceo was Board representative from the Latin American and Caribbean region. He was born in 1978 in Mexico City into a traditional Catholic family. He graduated from the Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM) with a BA in Graphic Communication Design.  He is co-founder of the Mexico Network of Rainbow Catholics (Red Católica Arcoíris México, or REDCAM), and has been co-chair since 2018.  He was also coordinator of the Efetá Community in Mexico City (2015-2018), and continues to serve as an advisor to that community.  He was a representative of Efetá and REDCAM in the second and third GNRC Assemblies, respectively.

He was a panelist during the Forum on Religions in Favor of Equal Marriage developed at the Museum of Memory and Tolerance in Mexico City (2016), a promoter of the Mass for Inclusion in the Parish of the Sagrada Familia in Mexico City (2015), and a speaker at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM) in a Homosexuality and Religion Conference (2015).  In addition, he was part of the coordinating and working team of the Youth Ministry Commission of the Jesuits (2005-2007), earned the Diploma in Spirituality and Youth with the Ignatian Commission on Youth Ministry (2004-2005), and was Coordinator of Youth Ministry of the First Deanery of the First Vicarage of the Archdiocese of Mexico (2002-2004).

He writes: “Being able to share life experiences within the LGBTI+ community and discover in them the presence of God is what motivates me to serve on the board of GNRC and to participate in LGBTI+ Catholic organizations in my home country of Mexico.  I have been blessed to be able to witness how members of the LGBTI + community have recovered their spirituality after having felt rejected, discriminated against or not deserving of God’s love.