As a gay Latino raised in a Catholic culture, the Virgen de Guadalupe has, for me, transformed into Lupita, a sacred exercise in embracing the feminine, and reclaiming her image for my own purposes (no subservient downward gaze, just an open heart and a motherly desire to nurture). Machismo and homophobia in our culture attribute weakness to the feminine, especially when embodied by men. Reframing that paradigm meant I could embrace the masculine AND the feminine and in doing so be both the seed and the womb of the creative act. By honoring the female aspect, Tonantzin, I invoke the greatest artist herself in midwiving my own creations.