Western Washington Gets Real: Bringing pride and community to the Latinx LGBTQ+ community

Gwen Baumgardner
·2 min read

For the past six years, Ray Corona has been working to make Seattle more inclusive.

He created the organization Somos Seattle, as a way to bring pride and community to our city’s Latinx LGBTQ+ residents. He said he was inspired to do so by his family.

“When my family first moved to Seattle, it was extremely important for us to be connected to community and to basically find a community where you can share language. Share traditions. Share that part of our culture,” recalled Corona.

He moved with his family from Mexico when he was just nine years old. Corona said while he’s grateful for their time in Seattle, it hasn’t been an easy journey.

“As somebody who is undocumented, who is a DACA beneficiary, I can tell you that my journey to get to college was definitely a difficult one. And at that time, there was very little support for undocumented students and really for minority students,” said Corona.

So now, he’s working to change that for others. He created a scholarship within the Mukilteo School District for Latinx LGBTQ+ students - like he once was - before graduating from UW.

In 2017, he founded the organization Somos Seattle from his apartment, incorporating two of the things he’s most proud of - his identity within the LGBTQ community and his heritage. Through Somos, he’s brought together a community of thousands.

He said Somos Seattle translates to ‘We are Seattle.’ Part of the organization’s show of representation is at their annual Latinx Pride party. It’s just one of the events the organization hosts each year to bring their community together.

The organization also offers support through networking, social media, and online resources. Most importantly, it provides a family.

“A lot of people oftentimes face rejection. So, the goal was to create Somos to basically create this chosen family. People who might not have a positive coming out story could also connect and engage and enjoy and really learn about the community and learn about themselves in a way that was really authentic, and really just true to who they are in their heritage,” said Corona.