André Wade state director of Silver State Equality, author and more
Las Vegas native and Nevada state director of Silver State Equality André Wade dons many hats as he fulfills the role of Super Bowl host for the Community Affairs Committee to work with the NFL on the implementation of programs to serve Southern Nevada communities. Wade has contributed to social justice causes for nearly 25 years and is a two-time graduate of UNLV with a career spanning the realms of human rights, child welfare, youth homelessness and numerous legislative efforts.
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The interests and wellbeing of LGBTQ+ communities have been a central focus of Wade as the state director of Silver State Equality. Additionally Wade recently published his book Seven Ways to Disappear: The Book within the Book, a creatively insightful guide to reinvention of the self. Here is what Wade had to share with Vegas Magazine.
Q: How did you get into the work you do with Silver State Equality?
A: Around 2008 I started to volunteer for the human rights campaign and do [work with] specific adoptions and recoupment of adoptive parents at my county department of family services. Those things got me into doing more work in the LGBTQ+ space, which eventually led me to Silver State Equality.
Q: What drew you to this specific career niche?
A: Through late elementary and junior high school I went through being bullied and ostracized because people thought I was gay, which turned out to be true. I felt like I didn’t have anyone to talk to about it so I really kept it to myself. I made a commitment that I didn’t want others to go through what I had to go through and feel like they didn’t have anyone to talk to. I wanted to help people. I studied psychology undergraduate and realized that wasn't necessarily what I wanted to do. I got my first job out of college at a group home and the journey started there.
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Q: What is a day like in your current role?
A: Right now we are in the legislative session getting ready for bills that are going to be heard next week. We're getting our policy briefs and talking points together. We also have a student advisory council so I make sure that the program is running well.
During the election cycle, we are making sure that we're getting messages out for voting, endorsing candidates. We work on providing programs and public education around a myriad of issues. We work on policy issues and work with organizations, state departments and companies to make sure they are providing welcoming, inclusive policies and programs for LGBTQ+ people.
André Wade state director of Silver State Equality leads at 2022 Pride Parade
Q: What are some of your favorite things about Las Vegas?
A: I love that Las Vegas has become an entertainment capital of the world. There's always shows to go to, concerts and DJs to see. I love different restaurants and food and experiences that Las Vegas has to offer.
I've gone from thinking one day I'll move somewhere else to thinking now I'm gonna stay here in Vegas. For the most part, it's affordable. It's a lot of fun. Vegas has a lot to offer.
Q: How did you begin writing?
A: At UNLV undergrad I started taking some English courses and eventually just started getting really good feedback from my English professors but it was when I took African American literature. I took two courses and my mind exploded. I had no idea there was so much literature around people who I could relate to.
I fell in love with reading and wanted to write like Toni Morrison and James Baldwin. After graduating I had all this free time, moved to L.A. and found myself in a writing group. Most recently I finally released a short work of fiction, the beginning of doing more. I have these [aspirations] of one day devoting a lot more time to writing.
Q: Can you describe your book? Who is your reader?
A: It's really for people who have been thinking about their lives, how they struggle with life sometimes and what they do when things get tough. We all have these fantasies where we wish we could just start over, move somewhere else and just become someone new. But in order to do that, you really have to disappear and not let anyone know and all these are other things.
So it's for people who kind of have a sense of wanting to connect with the meaning of life and how they see themselves in the world. It's a work of fiction, part of a larger unpublished novel.
Q: How do you relate to the subject and connect to the story?
A: It’s about four friends in L.A. the weekend before September 11. They turn to the book, which is something they've passed around amongst themselves as a way to cope with the events of September 11; they all achieved a way to disappear. In the novel, it's really someone else who's written a book within the book; that's why it has that subtitle.
These characters have closer relationships with each other and other people. Because they're struggling themselves, something like that happening was a trigger for them to disappear in several different ways. I always wanted to pull the smaller book out of the larger book, it gives people the chance to experience the book as the characters do in the story.
Photography by: Courtesy of Mona Shield-Payne Photography
