Name: Marty Davis
Title: Portland Icon/PNW Storyteller
Location: Portland, OR
What focus do you have when working with the community?
Story telling: Using social media to bring community stories to the larger community. Bringing the urban and rural gap by putting us together and showing our common goals and struggles.
How have you seen the LGBTQ+ community grow over the years?
Since COVID I’ve seen it grow APART.
What do you believe we as a community need to work on to be better?
Finding and supporting community leaders—nonprofits, business, political and entertainment.
What are the biggest challenges the LGBTQ+ community has internally?
We’re scattered—lacking focus and leadership,
How can we minimize our own prejudices within the community?
By being decent people.
What impacts has our community had on your life?
It allowed me a voice.
What is one thing you are doing that can inspire others to make our community better?
I pay attention. I try to listen. I try to be open to that which I don’t immediately understand.
What can we do to support each other more authentically with regard to the many different intersectionalities that make up our diverse community?
Come out. Stand out. Listen. Be heard.
What message do you have to the community that you would like to share?
Now is the time to band together and work through the weakness of social media. It is the single best way we have to stay connected, become educated about each other and grow in strength. If we scatter to the winds of multiple platforms we will lose each other.
United we stand..divided on Bluesky, and others…we fall.
