{"id":1955,"date":"2019-04-02T10:40:59","date_gmt":"2019-04-02T10:40:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schultzwebdesign.se\/CA\/?p=1955"},"modified":"2019-04-02T10:40:59","modified_gmt":"2019-04-02T10:40:59","slug":"first-non-binary-school-board-member-brandy-fortson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schultzwebdesign.se\/CA\/2019\/04\/02\/first-non-binary-school-board-member-brandy-fortson\/","title":{"rendered":"First Non-Binary School Board Member Brandy Fortson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Edit:\n a previous version of this story stated that there had been no previous\n LGBTQ+ representation on the Corvallis School Board. This statement was\n inaccurate.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A supportive voice for \nLGBTQ+ youth is set on raising inclusivity in our school districts, and \nit belongs to queer and non-binary human Brandy Fortson, as they run \nunopposed for a position on the Corvallis School Board. Fortson isn\u2019t \nthe only candidate running unopposed this year \u2014 in fact, there are no \ncontested races in the district, in stark contrast to years past. What \nseparates Fortson, however, is the fact that up until their inauguration\n on May 21, there will have been no prior non-binary representation on \nthe Corvallis school board ever throughout history. Even greater, \nFortson is gaining nobility for being the first non-binary individual to\n hold public office in the state, and possibly the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A community organizer and\n activist, Fortson also holds a position as a paralegal for a local \nsocial justice law firm. Their former jobs include being a Skills \nTrainer II and Qualified Mental Health Associate at the Children\u2019s Farm \nHome in Corvallis (run by non-profit Trillium Family Services), and a \nMental Health Therapist II at the Oregon State Hospital in Salem and \nJunction City. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above all else, Fortson \ntakes pride in parenting. Their two children are currently enrolled at \nelementary and middle school levels, and in the past, they have \nsupported foster children at the high school level. Through their \nchildren, Fortson already has a deep insight into the culture and \ncurriculums at our schools. They intend deepen this knowledge in serving\n and advocating via a platform of equity, diversity, and inclusivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am really lucky to \nhave the support of the Benton County Democrats, as well as the chapter \nthat I co-chair, Heart of the Valley Democratic Socialists of America,\u201d \nsays Fortson. Their other endorsers include Ward 2 City Councilor \nCharles Maughan, LBCC School Board Candidate Tony Lapiz, and head of the\n Lincoln Parent Teacher Association Aaron Lesan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Mental Health to Politics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a chuckle, Fortson \nsays their political career \u201cwas an accident, like most things in my \nlife,\u201d summarizing, \u201ccar accidents, happy accidents, career changes\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortson\u2019s world was \nsuddenly uprooted last July when they sustained a spinal compression \nfracture and shattered tibia from a serious car crash while in route to \nthe Children\u2019s Farm Home. Months of strenuous rehabilitation forced \nFortson away from direct care work and toward more opportunities \u201cto \ndive into a lot more altruism and political awareness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Many of us will recognize\n Fortson from local rallies and marches they\u2019ve organized, including the\n trans visibility rally, the Corvallis stands against fascism rally, and\n the Corvallis Women\u2019s March, which Fortson helped organized through the\n local DSA chapter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the accident, \nFortson\u2019s sister and niece moved from Portland to help care for them. \nForston says their niece, who goes by both she\/her and they\/them \npronouns, \u201cwas very upset and unnerved at the lack of culture around \npronouns in the high school, because in the Portland school district, \nthe culture is so set there that everybody asks for pronouns if they \ndon\u2019t know you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortson is set on \nprogressing a similar culture of asking in Corvallis schools, \nexplaining, \u201cToo often kids are shut out of the conversation of who they\n are. I\u2019ve seen this time and time again in classrooms with my own \nchildren, working with children and adolescents at the farm home, as \nwell as [during] my time working for the state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through opportunities to \nlead LGBTQ+ groups at the Farm Home, Fortson \u201creally got to see the \ndirect impact on how much respect and utilization of [clients\u2019] actual \npronouns benefited them directly for their mental health\u201d which Fortson \nsays \u201cdirectly correlates with lowering suicidality and other self-harm \nbehaviors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their Platform<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond a culture of \nasking, Fortson aims to promote inclusive, comprehensive sexual \neducation in the school district. \u201cIt\u2019s a disservice to our students for\n them to only be taught about safe, heterosexual sex practices.\u201d Fortson\n maintains that there is no LGBTQ+ mandated curriculum within the \ndistrict to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They say that while the \nschool has done a great job of approaching the conversation of equity \nand equality, there needs to be more push for an equitable curriculum. \n\u201cMy children at Lincoln should not be getting a different type of \nEnglish curriculum than Jefferson [because of socioeconomic \ndisparities].\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortson continues, \u201cAll of our students, regardless of status, deserve to be represented in our curriculums, in our schools.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Job<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortson says that there \nis some confusion over the role of school board members. Instead of \nbeing able to create a curriculum, the board is able to make \nrecommendations and approvals\/disapprovals, such as with hires and \nlevies. \u201cThat\u2019s when my voice would be the most heard, because that\u2019s \nwhen I can identify if the curriculum or levy that we\u2019re endorsing, or \nstaff that we\u2019re hiring, adequately supports and validates LGBTQ+ staff \nand students.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortson hopes to bring \nmore diversity to the school board as well. Since the position is \nnon-funded, the job generally accommodates those with steady incomes. \nMany of Corvallis\u2019 members, for example, hold teaching positions at \nOregon State University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnfortunately, this is a\n problem with a lot of civil servant positions,\u201d says Fortson. \u201cIt \nreally disallows for natural diversity of the community.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, Corvallis Can<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortson finally felt safe\n coming out as non-binary a year and a half ago, to which their friends \nand family were fully supportive. Fortson has faith that this support \nwill be largely reflected in the Corvallis community as well, stating, \n\u201cIf my 88 year-old grandpa from Georgia can handle my pronouns, \nCorvallis can [too].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While acknowledging that \nall change comes with resistance, Fortson is undeterred. \u201cJust putting \nmyself out there and showing that I in fact am a real person does a lot \nto remove the stigma around uncertainties and assumptions about what \nnon-binary and other folks who fall under the trans umbrella are, and \nwho they represent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing those \nintolerant or closed-minded to non-binary pronouns, Fortson examples, \n\u201cIf there\u2019s a person outside doing something, almost everyone will say, \n\u2018oh, they\u2019re outside grabbing something.\u2019 We already use this pronoun.. \nIt\u2019s in our daily usage \u2014 it\u2019s just a mental shift.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Stevie Beisswanger<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Edit: a previous version of this story stated that there had been no previous LGBTQ+ representation on the Corvallis School Board. This statement was inaccurate. A supportive voice for LGBTQ+ youth is set on raising inclusivity in our school districts, and it belongs to queer and non-binary human Brandy Fortson, as they run unopposed for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[27,62],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schultzwebdesign.se\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1955"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schultzwebdesign.se\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schultzwebdesign.se\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schultzwebdesign.se\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schultzwebdesign.se\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1955"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/schultzwebdesign.se\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1957,"href":"https:\/\/schultzwebdesign.se\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1955\/revisions\/1957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schultzwebdesign.se\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schultzwebdesign.se\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schultzwebdesign.se\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schultzwebdesign.se\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}