Jeremiah Allen ’15 had two goals when he arrived at Oregon State: getting into medical school and “fleeing any thought that I could possibly be part of the LGBTQ community,” he says.
Allen achieved neither. And both he and his community are better off as a result.
A single parent of three and a first-generation college student, Allen struggled initially. “I had no friends. My grades were suffering, and I didn’t think I could continue,” he says.
Enter Charlene Martinez, then the associate director of integrated learning for Diversity and Cultural Engagement (DCE). Martinez encouraged Allen to apply for a personal development and mentoring program, and with support from the DCE team, Allen came to embrace his intersecting identities.
“I am a queer, transmasculine, black and indigenous tribal member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and Lakota Sioux tribe,” Allen says.
His own journey spurred Allen to become an advocate on campus. He worked as a liaison for SOL, an LGBTQ+ multicultural support network. He also interned at Student Health Services, leading Oregon State’s first social justice and health inequity symposium.
Academically, Allen also began to thrive. After taking a social determinant of health class, he changed his major to public health, with an option in health promotion and health behavior.
“That class was really the first time I was exposed to health disparities,” Allen says. “I learned that people were really looking at how different social identities affect access to health care.”
Allen believes his degree prepared him to work with different communities and evaluate their access to services. “It gave me the tools to ask really critical questions about barriers that affect different communities and how intersectionality really matters.”
Allen continues to battle barriers. As a project director for the Pride Foundation in Seattle, he leads a statewide public education campaign — TRANSform WA — that celebrates the dignity, diversity and humanity of transgender and gender-diverse people. He also leads the Washington SAFE Alliance and sits on the executive committee of Washington Won’t Discriminate, helping to defeat two anti-transgender ballot initiatives in 2016 and 2017.
In addition, Allen partnered with Oculus VR for Good Creators Lab as a producer and casting director for “Authentically Us: Stories from the Transgender Community.” The three-part film series has been screened at South by Southwest, Tribeca, Cannes and other film festivals around the world.
“We hope to combat mass media messaging by showing the true and authentic humanity of transgender and gender-diverse people,” Allen says. “It’s not a film about them being transgender, it’s about people just living their lives.”
Nominated by the College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Allen was among eight OSU Alumni Association Fellows recognized last fall for their professional and community contributions.
Allison Davis-White Eyes, director of community diversity relations in the Office of Institutional Diversity, moderated a discussion with Allen during his on-campus celebration. “Jeremiah’s experience shows we can all take individual social responsibility for making the world a better place,” she says.
Allen believes the transformational experience he had at Oregon State has been a catalyst for his storytelling and advocacy work.
“My time at OSU and the relationships I built are a direct influence on the person I am today and my work as a social change agent,” Allen says. “I’m working to remove barriers and inequity, so all people, regardless of their identity, can have access to the tools necessary to live full, healthy lives.”
His own life offers a prime example.