‘Somos Humanos’ Reflects Growth of Gay Latino Arts Scene : Stage: Playwright Oscar Reconco focuses on the special difficulties gay and lesbian Latinos face when coming out in a macho society.

When Sara finds a gay porn magazine in her son Carlos’ L.A. apartment, this Central American mamacita repudiates his lifestyle with all the guilt and rage embodied in her devout Roman Catholicism.

But unlike many a devoted gay Latino son, Carlos doesn’t succumb. “God made me this way, mama ,” he proclaims. “I didn’t choose being gay. I love you, but like it or not, you have to accept me and those I love.”

This scene marks the turning point in “Somos Humanos” (We Are Human), a bilingual play that was not critically well-received, but that is notable for quite a different reason: Despite its shortcomings as theater, it is considered the first large-scale AIDS play about Latinos to be presented in Los Angeles.

Produced by VIVA!, a burgeoning local arts organization for gay and lesbian Latinos, this campy cri de coeur runs through March 30 at West Hollywood’s Crescent Heights United Methodist Church.

The familial confrontation in “Somos Humanos” often conjures tears from gay and lesbian Latinos in the audience whose coming out process is now taking place on a broad level, according to “Humanos” playwright Oscar Reconco, who also plays Carlos.

Reconco’s own Honduran mother and brother are flying up to L.A. to see his semi-autobiographical play, wherein an impoverished Honduran crosses the U.S.-Mexico border illegally to gain prosperity with his Anglo lover, who eventually dies from AIDS. Reconco says that when his parents see the play, it will mark a profound--and frightening--coming-out event for him.

“Like most Latinos, we’ve never discussed the issue--the play will change that,” he says.

“As Latinos, we’re behind the greater gay community in urging our families to deal with us with dignity as gays and lesbians,” adds “Somos Humanos” director Jesica Korbman, whose family also is flying up from Mexico City to see the play. “For many gay and lesbian Latinos, the sexism, machismo and religiosity of Latino culture provides a seemingly impossible climate to come out in.”

But the years of the closet may soon be over. According to Roland Palencia, who co-founded VIVA! two years ago, “we’re seeing a cultural emergence of artistic expression from the gay Latino and lesbian Latina.”

Why is this so-called gay Latino renaissance happening now?

The answer, in part, has to do with the advent of AIDS. As head of Latino AIDS Outreach at West Hollywood’s Stop AIDS L.A., an organization that educates men and women about safe sex, Reconco says that his community is being “decimated by AIDS” and that “gay Latino artists find they can’t help but take a stand.”

The statistics are staggering. According to Ronna Sambol of the L.A. County AIDS Program Office, Los Angeles mirrors a national trend in which Latinos are experiencing the most rapid increase in AIDS cases--24% last year in Los Angeles County.

“Twenty of my friends have died in the last few years,” says Reconco. “That’s why I wrote ‘Somos Humanos.’ Due to the homophobia from straight Latinos and racism from the established gay community, gay Latinos have not gotten the culturally sensitive AIDS education we need. We’re double-orphaned and have found we’ve had to create our own institutions and our own identity if we’re to survive.”

Explains VIVA! co-founder Betty Flores who plays Sara: “Latinos presume that gays are all white, and let their AIDS denial get in the way of talking openly to their sons, daughters and husbands about sexuality in a way that could save their lives.”

“It’s of profound importance to all Hispanics that Hispanic gays and lesbians are uniting behind a sense of ethnic pride and sexual orientation,” says Eunice Diaz, a member of the L.A. County AIDS Commission and President Bush’s National Commission on AIDS. “I’m hopeful that AIDS will make Hispanics challenge our prejudices and work towards what unites us rather than our differences.”

“There is a real need for this gay and lesbian Latino arts scene,” adds Flores, “because it offers not just a safe place for us to create our own cultural voice--but also educates the public about our issues.”