As LGBTQ rights, particularly for transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals, have come under attack in recent years, the San Jose-based LGBTQ Youth Space’s Speakers Bureau has seen a rise in requests for panelists. To meet the demand, it is seeking more volunteers from the South Bay’s LGBTQ community willing to share their stories.
The asks for panels have kept up in recent months amid the Trump administration’s assault on LGBTQ rights and denouncement of various diversity initiatives in both the public and private sectors. Requests for speakers are being made by a wide gamut of entities, from high schools and colleges to social service agencies and groups for parents or caregivers.
“What’s been really great with the current climate we are in is we are getting more requests than ever,” said Justin Ortiz, coordinator for the speakers bureau since last year.
The speakers bureau currently has more than two-dozen volunteers it can reach out to when requests for panels come in. Ortiz welcomes new volunteers on a rolling basis and will provide an hourlong training for them before sending them out for their first appearance.
“I don’t think we can have too much representation, especially within the panels we do,” said Ortiz, who strives to have a diverse array of speakers on each panel to represent the breadth of identities within the LGBTQ community. “We are not ambassadors for the community, we are just providing snapshots for different pockets.”
Ortiz, 28, a gay and queer San Jose resident, moderates the panels and aims to have four speakers on each one. Panels usually are 90 minutes with each participant receiving $50 if in-person, and $25 if virtual and for the trainings.
“As far as I know, we are maybe one of, if not the only, LGBTQ speakers bureau in the South Bay,” said Ortiz, who has worked for the agency for two years and also coordinates its workshops on healthy relationships and violence prevention. “Even though we might be a small group, we are getting requests every day and new volunteers every day. It tells us there is a need for these conversations we are having.”
Transgender Cupertino resident Naomi Castejon-Wong has been sharing her story as a panelist since last April. A model and the Miss Cupertino USA 2025 titleholder, she is set to compete this summer for the Miss California USA title and the chance to represent the Golden State at the Miss USA competition, the winner of which competes for the Miss Universe title.
“I have time to give back to the community and see the impact it is having,” Castejon-Wong, 30, said about being a panelist. “It is always inspirational to me and helps me center myself.”
Married five years to her husband, Christopher Wong, the couple has been together a dozen years. Fluent in French, as her family hails from France, Castejon-Wong was born in the United Kingdom then immigrated to Silicon Valley at age 4.
She struggled with her gender identity in school before coming out as transgender and went on to become a registered nurse in 2020. But Castejon-Wong then pivoted to pursue a modeling career and compete in beauty pageants, placing in the top 14 at the Miss International Queen USA 2025 competition last December.
“We are human beings. We are here. We do exist. It is important to see people have support in their lives,” said Castejon-Wong, adding, “it can propel you to another level. If you are constantly being told this isn’t right or something about you is wrong, you build up so much internalized shame. Seeing people like you who are accomplished is important for students to see.”
Depending on the audience she is sharing her personal story with, be it medical professionals or youth, Castejon-Wong will tailor how detailed she is regarding her transitioning process so it is age appropriate. But when it comes to being asked questions, she said she is largely an open book.
“For a demo that is younger, I wouldn’t want to divulge as much intimate detail. But when I do my bio, I don’t set any ground rules,” she said. “I haven’t experienced any question yet I have had to turn down. If the time comes and it is not a question within my comfort level or I am not willing to answer that, I will try to reword it or rephrase it in a way that is more approachable or more receivable.”
The Bay Area Reporter recently spoke by video with Castejon-Wong and Ortiz about the speakers bureau. Ortiz grew up in San Francisco then moved to San Jose when in middle school. After earning degrees in health education and sexuality studies from San Francisco State University in 2020, he moved back to the South Bay.
In 2023, he was hired on at the LGBTQ Youth Space. In recent weeks, Ortiz moderated panels of speakers before Cupertino high schoolers and San Jose city employees, and was scheduling one at Agilent Technologies in Santa Clara.
“A lot of recent requests are for how to model safe spaces for youth and advocating for that piece,” noted Ortiz, who on average is fielding five panel asks each month.
Looking for guidance
In addition to the spike in speaking engagement requests, Castejon-Wong said she has noticed a shift of late in the types of questions people are asking the panelists. They are often coming from a state of fear, she said, especially queer and trans youth who are looking for guidance “in these tough times,” she said.
“I am telling people, especially the queer people we speak with, to read up on your history. We have been through these tough times before,” said Castejon-Wong. “This is not the first time we have been persecuted. We really should educate ourselves on the past to see hope for the future.”
Having community and corporate backing for the speakers bureau, and the LGBTQ community at-large, is more important than ever, argued Castejon-Wong, due to the rollback of rights for queer and trans people. In addition to showing support for LGBTQ people and their rights, it hopefully inspires other groups and businesses to step up as allies, she said.
“Allyship is a key factor in our success as a community,” said Castejon-Wong. “We make up such a small group of individuals and a portion of the community. We can’t always be the only ones in the fight.”
The LGBTQ Youth Space is a program of Caminar that provides drop-in services and counseling for LGBTQ young people, and to those who are questioning and allies, ages 13 to 25 who live in Santa Clara County. It received a $75,000 grant from the El Camino Healthcare District in its fiscal year that began last July toward the speakers bureau’s staff time and stipends for the panelists.
With volunteer speakers now living in Anaheim and Seattle, they are available to participate in virtual panels. Ortiz said he will train anyone to be a panelist no matter where they live.
“I won’t turn away anyone who wants to share their stories or speak about the community with fellow panelists,” he noted.
While informative for the audiences panelists present to, the experience is also beneficial to the LGBTQ volunteers, noted Ortiz. At their request, he now coordinates a monthly meetup virtually to discuss the latest news developments, how to address certain questions that may come up, and to simply provide each other support.
“I think what has been really unique about what we do with the speakers bureau is it is an outlet to connect with other LGBTQ-plus folks and for having conversations with each other,” he said. “There is something therapeutic and powerful to really provide our experiences and share pieces of advice with the audiences we are working with.”
Staying in the loop on the news of the day is important for Castejon-Wong, but she added she tries to not let it overwhelm her day-to-day existence.
“Being a trans person in this climate is very scary. There is that fine line of wanting to stay super informed and know everything that is happening,” she said. “Being post-operative, I need to know things like do I have access to my medication and hormones and the medical care I need.”
Modeling how she is handling such concerns before LGBTQ youth is particularly important and one of the reasons she so enjoys being a speaker, said Castejon-Wong. Oftentimes, trans people are not represented, she noted, or if they are, they tend to be older activists whose experiences are and were different from that of today’s youth.
Speaking at a college LGBTQ center, Castejon-Wong was approached afterward by a trans male teenager, likely 17, who told her it was “inspiring” to see another trans person be so open about their life and speak their truth.
“A lot of the time we see panels with a lot of LGB representation and not trans. The trans activists you do see tend to be on the older side, so seeing a younger person not far in age from them, it gives them that hope,” said Castejon-Wong.
Ortiz recalled receiving positive feedback from middle school students after a panel at their Gender Sexuality Alliance club.
“The students told us it changed their lives and perhaps changed them. That resonated with me, and I think about it all the time,” he said.
He doesn’t expect to see demand for the speakers bureau decrease anytime soon.
“Of course, there is some concern there with everything we are experiencing with our LGBTQ rights, and with what we are experiencing with everything being taken away from us, that the requests will diminish. I am happy to say we are not seeing that,” said Ortiz. “I feel optimistic about the work the speakers bureau is doing and the visibility we are bringing to our programs.”
For more information about the speakers bureau and how to request a panel, visit its website.
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