Commissioners

Michelle Kelly-Barroga uses they/them/theirs pronouns and is the Deputy Director at Oasis Youth Center in Tacoma. 

Michelle comes from Filipino families who left their country for a chance to achieve the American Dream. Michelle was born in Tacoma, WA, and spent their formative years in the Philippines. Michelle received a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing from St. Paul University Quezon City. They found their way back to Tacoma as an adult to pursue a career in youth services and to enjoy the company of their family and friends. 

Michelle has a rich history with Oasis. They first joined Oasis as a youth member, went on to win a Pride Foundation award for leadership and became a dedicated volunteer. Michelle recognized the unique needs of middle school age LGBTQ youth and their families and led the development of a vital and innovative program: Project 13. Project 13 is a one-of-a-kind program that offers a safe space to build positive self-identity, community support, and critical thinking skills to practice consent, recognize healthy relationships, and have a vision for healthy futures. Through Project 13, Michelle is able to provide LGBTQ youth and their families a fitting place to learn, gather and develop lifelong friendships, a place many LGBTQ folks could only dream of at a young age. They are dedicated to use their story, experience and creativity to fuel their passion to be an advocate and preventionist for the LGBTQ community.

Everett Maroon has lived in Walla Walla since 2008, after spending more than a decade in Washington, DC as a systems analyst and project manager. He has served as the executive director of a healthcare-focused nonprofit organization since 2010, and is co-chair of the Greater Columbia Accountable Community of Health’s opioid demonstration project. He also sits on both the finance committee and the behavioral health council for the Walla Walla County Department of Community Health, and is a member of Rotary. Everett attended Syracuse University, graduating with bachelor’s degrees in English and psychology. He and his partner, Dr. Susanne Beechey, are proud parents of two children.

Alvaro Figueroa Garcia (he/him/his) is the Commission Specialist at Avista Corporation, the largest electric and gas utility company in Eastern Washington, where he has worked since 2015. In addition to his compliance work, Alvaro has helped create implicit bias & microaggression training, helped connect families to resources for LGBTQ youth, and has been involved in advocating for zero tolerance of bullying in public schools for LGBTQ youth.

He has been working and serving on non-profit boards, task forces, committees, and commissions for the past 10 years. He was a co-founder of the Latino Hope Foundation (Spokane) in 2015 which was established to provide scholarship opportunities for Latino students in surrounding areas, in addition to providing support and mentorship to develop students professionally. Alvaro is currently the Vice President for the Northeast Community Center in Spokane and will take on the role as President in 2024. He has served on other boards such as the Eastern Washington University Alumni Association, Spokane Edible Tree Project, Washington Water Power Foundation, and the Spokane County Human Rights Task Force.

Alvaro Figueroa (he/him/his) is a proud gay first-generation Mexican American born and raised in Pasco, WA. In 2011, he moved to Spokane, WA and has resided in its community ever since. He holds an undergraduate degree in finance and economics with a minor in Spanish and a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Eastern Washington University. He is currently completing his seconds Masters degree in Organizational Leadership at Eastern Washington University and hopes to begin his Doctorate in Leadership Studies in 2024.

This Commission is a catalyst for progress, and he is excited to continue serving with other Commissioners who share a dream of promoting love, acceptance, and growth in the Pacific Northwest.

Matt Landers (he/him/his) has been professionally involved in LGBTQ advocacy issues in Washington State for over a decade, including working as Director of Public Policy & Government Relations at GSBA - Washington's LGBTQ+ chamber between 2011 and 2022 and working with campaigns such as Washington United for Marriage (R-74), Raise Up Washington (I-1443), Washington Won't Discriminate (I-1515, I-1552), and the Washington Fairness Campaign (I-1000).

He has degrees in geography from Macalester College and the University of Oregon. Previously he served on the board of Out for Sustainability, volunteered with regional chapters of the LGBTQ Victory Fund and OutRight Action International, and was appointed to serve on the King County Gender Identity & Sexual Orientation Task Force and the Seattle Commercial Affordability Advisory Commission. Matt currently works in government relations at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and is a 2023 Marshall Memorial Fellow with the German Marshall Fund. He lives in Seattle with his husband.

Ebo Barton is a passionate artist, educator, and activist dedicated to creating healing spaces and driving social change. They proudly embrace their mixed Black and Filipino heritage, and as a Transgender and Non-Binary Queer individual, they highlight the value and significance of intersectional identities.
Currently serving as the Director of Housing Services for Lavender Rights Project, Ebo advocates tirelessly for inclusive housing opportunities for LGBTQ+ communities. Their expertise also extends to the Seattle Social Housing Developer Board, where they contribute to equitable housing initiatives. Additionally, Ebo engages with the Community Advisory Board for Creative Justice Northwest, using art-based interventions to transform the juvenile justice system.

Ebo's artistry has made a profound impact, with their poetry featured in "Black Imagination" curated by Natasha Marin and their performances showcased on esteemed online platforms. Their exceptional talent led them to a 5th place finish at the Individual World Poetry Slam in 2016. They co-wrote and co-produced the award-winning play "Rising Up" in 2017, and their portrayal of "Invisible One" in Anastacia Renee's production "Queer. Mama. Crossroads" resonated with audiences.

In 2020, Ebo released their first published poetry collection, "Insubordinate," which received critical acclaim. The following year, the collection was named a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. A respected leader in the arts and activism, their transformative work fosters societal introspection and empowerment.

Abigayle Coleman aka Abby goes by she/her/they/them pronouns. She is of mixed race descent with ancestors from Mexico, the Philippines, Native American ancestry- specifically Chiricahua Apache, and Irish descent. They grew up as a military brat, in particular a Coast Guard brat, for the first 12 years of their life. She was an intern for Senator Brian Schatz in 2020 and had to leave when the pandemic occurred. She then finished her Bachelor's in Political Science at home while working for her father and hiring veterans. She was homeschooled and did private schooling and did not attend her first public school until high school.

While in high school she was severely racially bullied, which would propel them down a path of social justice. She fought for her small town to proclaim June as pride month and received the proclamation from the mayor in June 2021. Abby loves to do volunteer work and started the first ever pride group in her town. They are still planning the town's first pride celebration.  While working for the state she was on a panel with the Latino Leadership Network and with RAIN on intersectionality. There, they shared a poem on her experiences with racism and homophobia. She also gave a presentation to her work colleagues on generational trauma and assimilation, in the context of her great grandfather from the Philippines. Abby's ultimate goal is to keep Washington State a safe haven for BIPOC and Queer folxs alike. They strive to study policy and believes in the everyday voice of people. Doesn't matter where you come from, everyone has a story and that is what diversity truly is.

Tobi Hill-Meyer is an indigenous Chicana trans woman with 15 years experience working in nonprofits, serving on boards, and consulting in nonprofit management. She is editor of the Lambda Literary Finalist anthology Nerve Endings: The New Trans Erotic, author of children's books A Princess of Great Daring and Super Power Baby Shower, and director of the award winning erotic documentary series Doing it Online. Currently, she serves as Co-Executive Director for Gender Justice League.

Ms. Amasai Jeke, an Indigenous Fijian feminist activist, advocates for gender equality and LGBTQI rights. With over a decade of experience, she's worked with organizations like Rainbow Pride Foundation Fiji and served on various regional advisory boards and currently serves as the SPEaC Change Program Coordinator for UTOPIA Washington, focusing on climate justice. She's also involved in various regional groups, including the Peer Support Group on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Fiji and the Asia-Pacific Youth Voices Count, representing LGBTQI voices at national and global levels, including collaborations with the United Nations.

Darlin was born in Cuba and immigrated to Miami, Fl where they were raised on café con leche, community care, and so many pastelitos by a single mother and a brigade of tias who made sure to inculcate a strong sense of justice and curiosity in them. Darlin holds a Bachelor of Arts in Human Rights and Visual Arts from the University of Dayton, Ohio. Darlin’s lineage and ancestors are Chinese, Indigenous and Arab as a result of forced labor migration and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. A common kaleidoscope of identities that many of hold across Latinidad. Darlin is queer and non-binary and from this place they reimagine what it means to be Caribbean.

Darlin is the Program Manager for 2SLGBTQ+ Health, in the Office of Healthcare Equity at the University of Washington Medicine, where they are developing the Inclusive Health Center, focused on advancing 2SLGBTQ+ Healthcare and Gender Affirming Care. Darlin is deeply invested in creating a more equitable healthcare landscape for 2SLGBTQ+ people. They are an undisciplined scholar whose research is concerned with the intersection of social change, identity, queer and trans liberation grounded in anti-racism practices. Darlin has previously enjoyed a variety of nonprofit positions throughout her career in immigration law, program and project management, policy education, while establishing and leading Yoga and Meditation programs within the nonprofits sector.

Darlin's life across Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and finally Washington, instilled a deep understanding through experience of the remarkable diversity that defines American life. After traveling across the vastness of the country, Washington, became the first place she could truly call home, embraced by the mountains and the sea.

Leiyomi Preciado (She/They) is a proud transwoman of Filipino, Mexican, and Indigenous American ancestry. Leiyomi is originally from Orange County, California and has called Bremerton and the Kitsap Peninsula home for the past decade.

Leiyomi works as a Certified Peer Counselor who provides services to adults who experience mental health and/or substance use. As person with lived experience with homelessness, Leiyomi is a fierce advocate for marginalized communities and those most impacted by systems and power structures. She assists by empowering people to utilize their voice to self-advocate and influence decision makers in focusing on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion as part of the solution and law implementation. Leiyomi is often a fixture in Olympia year-round. During session, Leiyomi is seen training people on how to tell their story when meeting with elected officials and testifying for bills that have profound impact on those who are marginalized. 

Leiyomi has worked in collaboration and partnership with the National Alliance to End Homelessness, Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, Washington Recovery Coalition, Washington Community Connectors, and the Washington State Society of Clinical Social Work to help dismantle stigma and increase understanding and awareness on how combat homelessness and help educate service providers on transgender history and healthcare.

Leiyomi has been a part of various boards and committees like Disability Rights Washington Mental Health Advisory Committee, Office of Recovery Partnership Advisory Committee, Bremerton Race Equity Advisory Committee, Quincy Jones Mural Committee, 23^rd LD Dems, Kitsap County Dems, and as a previous President of United Peers of Washington. She currently serves as Chair of the Young Dems of Kitsap Peninsula and Vice President of Government and Political Affairs for the Young Dems of Washington.

Leiyomi was also the first openly transperson to run for public office in Kitsap County for County Commissioner and was nominated by the 23^rd LD and Kitsap County Democrats as a nominee to fill the then open vacancy for State Representative. Through her extensive work in the community, Leiyomi has been honored by Disability Rights Washington for her work on Trueblood, awarded Kitsap’s 20 under 40 Award by Leadership Kitsap, and the recipient of Rep. Tarra Simmon's Champions of Justice award.

Omni Romero (they/them) is a trans nonbinary strategist and storyteller living with HIV who is committed to transformative justice and wellness for all BIPOC and LGBTQI2S+ people and their communities. Omni was born to Mexican and Salvadoran farmworkers in rural Eastern Washington State in a town without a hospital. They graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with honors in Cultural Anthropology and continued with graduate studies at Duke University. Since 2012, they have led grassroots organizing, resource mobilization, and strategic planning work across the US and Mexico. Since 2016 they have provided gender-affirming Spanish interpretation/translation for clients around the globe. Omni is the inaugural Director of Community Advocacy, Research, and Education (CARE) at the Pride Foundation, working across Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Prior to this, they worked as the inaugural Director of Encuentro at the Latino Commission on AIDS, working across all sixteen Southern states and especially the Deep South. Omni has worked on the ground in over 25 US states, as well as federally and internationally, to advance social justice and health equity for marginalized communities (particularly BIPOC, gender-diverse, limited-English, and rural communities). Omni has held various social justice leadership positions nationally and has trained thousands across the country on topics including evidence-based interventions in healthcare, gender-affirming HR, and transformative grantmaking and storytelling.  Omni has driven over $10 million in funding into community projects through donor engagement, grantmaking portfolio management, participatory grantmaking opportunities, and successful municipal budget campaigns, among other avenues. Omni’s HIV Language Justice work has been featured in CNN’s Blind Angels Series. Omni loves to explore rivers and starscapes, experiment with metal and poetry, they love all things purple, and their proudest moments are making people laugh. 

Originally from Saint Paul, Minnesota, Mark lived in Seattle for 43 years, before moving to Walla Walla in 2022 with his two husbands and finding a warm and welcoming community in a beautiful setting in Eastern Washington. Mark had a long career as a small business owner in the beauty industry in Seattle, before moving into nonprofit and fundraising work for the decade before he retired from his last position as Acting CEO & President of GSBA. He continues to use his passion to raise awareness and funds for nonprofits in the ARTS and in support of youth, by serving on two Boards in Walla Walla and advising others in their fundraising efforts. Him and his husbands built their home to be a gathering place for making connections and showing support for the community and have hosted numerous friend and fundraising events for local organizations and love introducing friends to causes they are passionate about. He is also a potter and loves to express his creative energy through clay. He is proud to be an out and open member of the LGBTQ+ community and a voice in Eastern WA for equality.

Jason Victor Serinus has been emphatically out since the spring of 1970, when he founded the New Haven Gay Liberation Front. In late spring, he moved to NYC to work in the original New York Gay Liberation Front and live in the pioneering 17th St. Gay Men’s Collective. He marched in NYC's first three “Pride” parades, including the Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade, and worked on GLF’s Gay Flames newsletter and short-lived Gay Community Center. Jason returned to NYC in June 2019 for Stonewall 50, where he marched as part of the GLF Grand Marshal contingent in the Heritage of Pride Parade.

Jason moved to the Bay Area in the summer of 1972.  He and his husband were first married on Feb. 13, 2004 in San Francisco City Hall on the second day of the Month of Lavender Love. Subsequently, there were legally married in Oakland City Hall on June 16, 2008—the first night that same-sex marriage was legalized (for the first time) in California—in a public ceremony officiated by Mayor Ronald V. Dellums and Rep. Barbara Lee. They moved to Port Townsend in the summer of 2014. Almost a year later, Jason organized Port Townsend's Supreme Court Same-Sex Marriage Decision Victory demonstration.

Jason has contributed to the local and national LGBTQ+ press since 1973. During the AIDS crisis, he wrote many of the holistically-oriented articles in the San Francisco Sentinel. He also edited the book, Psychoimmunity & the Healing Process: A Holistic Approach to Immunity & AIDS, founded the Castro Street Healing Group, co-sponsored Lousie Hay’s major presentation and workshop in San Francisco, and led seminars on holistic approaches to AIDS in major US cities. 

Currently, Jason reviews audio equipment for Stereophile and classical performances and recordings for Stereophile, Opera Now, Classical Voice North America, San Francisco Classical Voice, and the Bay Area Reporter. A professional whistler who performed Puccini’s “O mio babbino caro” as The Voice of Woodstock in the Emmy-nominated Peanuts cartoon, “She’s a Good Skate, Charlie Brown,” he continues to perform on an occasional basis. He also organizes Jefferson County GBTQ Men’s potlucks and helps publish the Gudlife weekly LGBTQ+ informational newsletter for the Olympic Peninsula. Joining the Washington State LGBTQ Commission is another chapter in a history of activism that began in the summer of 1965, when Jason journed to Williamston, NC with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s SCOPE Project to help register Black people to vote.