Black and white photos framing local LGBTQ youth of color hung on the walls of the Phoenix Center for the Arts’ crowded gallery space on Friday night. People milled around the room, leaning in to read the personal stories from each subject that were typed up and placed next to their portrait.
Bea Velázquez is the mind behind the exhibition. She is an Arizona State University masters student graduating this December with a degree in social justice and human rights advocacy.
The photo exhibit, “VEME: Queering Phoenix,” is part of Velázquez’s capstone, though the idea to showcase stories from the LGBTQ youth population has existed for over a year. The goal is exemplified in the title of the show: “veme” is the Spanish verb “to see me.”
The show is just one of the ways Velázquez, who uses their/them/they pronouns, is working in downtown Phoenix to help LGBTQ youth.
It was during Velázquez’s work for a downtown organization that serves LGBTQ youth, one-n-ten, that they found the inspiration for “VEME.”
“I would come across so many stories that were so inspirational and were often times my motivation—something that would just help me to keep going,” Velázquez said.
“I just thought that there’s such an important need for these stories to be heard for social justice and for equality reasons but also on an independent and individual level as a source of inspiration,” they added.
These stories are just as important as the portraits in the exhibition. Before having their photo taken, every participant was asked to share their experiences with coming out, religion and expressing themselves visually.
When it came time to choosing their portrait location, most participants opted for a destination in downtown Phoenix. Velázquez said Indian Steele Park and other nearby spaces were popular choices.
When Velázquez would ask why they chose a downtown space, many participants replied, “You come here and you see all sorts of different people,” or, “When you’re here, no one cares who you are or what you’re doing.”
One of Velázquez’s subjects was 18-year-old slam poet Jennifer Vega, who opted to be photographed outside of Lawn Gnome Publishing on Fifth and Garfield streets.
The downtown arts district is “a place you can almost always find very real, raw people,” said Vega, who also uses their/them/they pronouns.
The biggest challenge LGBTQ youth face is the task of altering the norm, Vega said.
“How do you push a structure that people have always lived by?” they said.
“Everyone fears what they don’t understand and everyone dislikes what they don’t understand,” Vega added. “It makes them feel small and vulnerable — that’s human nature.”
Velázquez’s work at one-n-ten helps LGBTQ youth in other ways, such as addressing homelessness.
Individuals who identify as LGBTQ make up an estimated 20 to 40 percent of the youth homeless population nationwide, according to a federal homelessness report.
“It is a massive epidemic that needs to really be addressed,” Velázquez said.
Velázquez led the one-n-ten education, career and life skill development program and served as the liaison for organizations who work with homeless populations.
“While doing that work I started to realize that a lot of the programs out here in the Valley didn’t really fit the needs of queer homeless youth, so I started to advocate within the organization that we needed our own housing program,” Velázquez said.
That is how the Promise of a New Day program came to be.
The program initially consisted of five studio apartments and has since grown to 25. One-n-ten recently received a $500,000 grant from The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation, which will allow the program to expand to 40 units, Velázquez said.
These resources one-n-ten provides are another big pull for LGBTQ youth to come downtown, said Marshall Shore, previous co-chair of the center.
“I think (LGBTQ youth) come downtown because here, you have the one-n-ten offices and resources there,” Shore said. “A lot of times they’re just looking for places to be themselves.”
In the past few years, Velázquez, through one-n-ten, has also introduced the Youth Education and Services (Y.E.S.) program.
“The Y.E.S. program started as a series of workshops that me and a co-worker ran together,” Velázquez said. “Now it’s a full time program and there have been five or six generations of students who have graduated from there. It’s massive.”
Many parents of LGBTQ youth act as barriers preventing individuals from reaping the resources one-n-ten provides, said Stella Kowalczyk, another one-n-ten program coordinator. The organization serves people between the ages of 14 and 24 — minors who may still need or crave parental permission or guidance.
Vega said they witnessed unaccepting parents prevent their children from accessing resources, but does not discredit all guardians and parents. They have also seen “incredibly supportive parents” for LGBTQ youth, allowing them to explore being out more openly.
“If only every LGBT youth had a parent like that in the safety of their own home,” Vega said. “You see such a progression of a person instead of them trying to hide in a closet for a long period of time.”
After coming out to their sister and friends, Valázquez said it took an additional two years to come out to their parents. They quickly became huge supporters.
“I think one of the biggest fears that parents have when their children come out as queer is that they’re signing up for a life of turmoil and a lack of success and opportunities,” Velázquez said. “No one wants that for their child.”
Next to the support from their parents, Velázquez also expressed gratitude for the downtown community’s interest in “VEME: Queering Phoenix.”
“There was such minimal negative comments,” Valázquez said. “I definitely thought there was going to be more of a resistance, but I couldn’t be happier for the support downtown especially gave this project. I’m really thankful for it.”
Contact the reporter at Sierra.Laduke@asu.edu.
