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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 6, 2003)
june 6.2003 » J u t David Martinez commitment to the area’s queer youth, a com mitment Judith Youngman considers a priority. PHOTO BY MARIE FU I come as a lesbian pastor," she says, “ I came as a pastor. I don’t want to celebrate only one aspect of myself.” She does acknowledge the importance of self-definition for others, “especially teen agers, who are under the pressure to con form.” After the state’s recent fiscal crisis caused funding for the teen group Expres sions to he cut, Youngman stepped forward to serve as its mentor. “Someone needed to take it over,” she says. “We make community when we honor each other and accept each other in our authenticity." In coalition with a group of supportive adults who make sure the weekly gathering place is open, Expressions is being kept alive. “Never cancel a Friday” is a rallying cry of o u tjp ^ —Patricia L. MacAodha David M a rtin e z hether among sexual minorities, Latinos or his Southwest Portland neighbors, David Martinez is all about building partnerships and creating access to opportunity. “The best part is making connections with different groups,” says the 35-year-old, who works as community relations liaison for Mult nomah County Commissioner Maria Rojo de Steffey. “What excites me is to be able to build those bridges, bring peo ple together and let them see how collabora- tively we can work.” Sexual minority youth and access to higher education for communities of color are two specific areas with which he has per sonal experience and passion, including 10 years working in univer sity settings, often with in multicultural affairs. “I know from my own experience that you cannot take it for grant ed,” says Martinez, who grew up a middle child among eight in a tradi tional Latino family in rural Ontario. “There are individuals for whom it’s not about aca demic ability. It’s about resources, support and expectations.” Back then, Martinez struggled more with his role as Latino than his identity as gay. “My most painful and biggest strug gle was just how is it that I’m doing this and still able to feel connect ed to my family and not wanting to lose my cul ture,” he recalls of his yearning for higher edu cation and, later, explor ing his sexuality. Tixlay, Martinez embraces both his Latino SlWf ios PAINT YOUR OWN POTS HANDMADE GIFT GALLERY c o z y “p a in t y o u r o w n p o t s ” c e r a m ic s t u d io . C ) r o p - in o r s c h e d u le y o u r o w n p r iv a t e p rid e p a rty ! ... w e h a v e a ll th e c o l o r s o f th e r a in b o w ! 1718 NE ALBERTA STREET 503.288.0770 Austin Jay Rowley and gay heritage. He serves as a board member of Cascade AIDS Project and Portland Guadala jara Sister City Association and as second vice chairman for Hispanics in Unity for Oregon. Martinez also has been co-chairman of the Cesar E. Chavez Leadership Conference for five years. In his free time he manages the Bella Boys softball team, now in its second year of playing with the Rose City Softball Association. — Timothy K rause A u s t in Jay R o w le y ustin Jay Rowley, 31, is a female-to- male trans person who has been transitioning on hormones for 16 months. A resident of the Brooklyn neighbor- htxxl of Southeast Portland, he also volunteers at the Dougy Center for Children and wants to be an art therapist when he grows up. Rowley and his partner, Brianna, who have been together for a year, are engaged to he married. “She has been incredibly sup portive of my transition and has provided strength and caring in difficult and awkward situations,” he says. His biological family and close friends all are aware of his transition. “ I’m just waiting for a little more facial hair to come in, and then I think it will be easier for a lot of people,” he says. “It was a real challenge to take everyone I knew aside A and talk to them about what I was going to do. I guess it was a lot like coming out all over again. Only it’s more com plex because someone who is transgendered automatically outs themselves to everyone as soon as they go on hormones. Your body just does that for you...I can’t tell you how many times, very early in transition when my voice was changing, that someone would ask if I had a cold. I had to explain each time what was going on with me in an attem pt to educate people, for myself and others like me.” Rowley describes his own experience introspectively and openly. He is pre-op, awaiting the funds for chest surgery that he hopes will come from the next G ender Ben der Variety Show at the Egyptian Club, where he works as a bartender. "I feel that a vast number o f trans people begin their identification process in the larg er sexual minorities community,” Rowley says. “Many o f us have fought for rights in the community for years. I would hope that the larger community can embrace us and call us allies as we transition. I think that ‘symbiotic’ is the perfect term for the trans community and the gay, lesbian and bi com munity. W hat we all want is acceptance, respect for our lives and our choices, and the right to live as we see fit.” —Marie Fleischmann Continued on Page P35
