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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 2019)
Page 12 M Artin l uther K ing J r . 2019 special edition January 16, 2019 Advocacy Work Transforms Young Leader Now 27, Whitten’s efforts addressing inequities grows D anny p eterson t he p ortlanD o bserver Cameron Whitten’s advocacy work for marginalized communities in Portland has taken many forms over the years, from being an organizer of the Occupy Portland movement, to co-founding Portland’s Resistance in response to the election of President Donald Trump, to starting a non-profit to leverage community grounded ini- tiatives to make justice and econom- ic prosperity a lived experience for black, brown, and indigenous people in Oregon. Now, as the executive director of the Q Center, the largest LGBTQ+ center in the Pacific Northwest, he’s continuing that fight using a lens of intersectionality—a term that denotes the multiple identities that people hold, and the sometimes compound- ing affects of oppression that go along with that, coined by black civil rights advocate and scholar Kimberle Cren- shaw. “Intersectionality affects me every by photos by D anny p eterson /t he p ortlanD o bserver Cameron Whitten, the recently named permanent executive director of the Q Center, located at 4115 N Mississippi Ave., is taking his activism background to a new level, helping the non-profit’s mission of providing safe spaces, community building, and empowerment for those in the LGBTQ+ communities. day. Every day I know that somebody somewhere will look at me and either I will be not black enough, too black; not queer enough, too gay. I’ll be too loud, too quiet; too direct, not radical enough. And because of this I’ve been denied so many opportunities,” Whit- ten told the Portland Observer. Named the permanent executive di- rector of the Q Center, located at 4115 N Mississippi Ave., back in December by its board of directors, Whitten has already brought many successes to the organization since joining as interim executive director in July. He has been credited with helping expand staff and volunteer opportuni- ties at the center, partnered with the group’s development manager to raise more than $134,000 at their annual fundraiser, SHINE, and worked with the board to develop strategic plan- ning documents and host regular town hall meetings, among many other ac- complishments. The Q Center, which has been around since 2003, provides safe spaces, resources, and advocacy for people “at the intersection of identi- ties,” Whitten said. Originally from northern Virginia, C ontinueD on p age 23