Él Martinez

community organizer | public health worker | consultant

¡Bienvenidos!

Él Martinez (they/elle pronouns) is a student, community organizer, public health worker, and consultant based in Worcester, MA. Él’s activism started at age 15, incited by their negative experiences as a transgender student of color in MA public schools. Since then, Él's professional endeavors have included legislative advocacy, LGBTQ+ youth programs, grassroots/student organizing, public health, and harm reduction initiatives.

As they pursue their degree in Community, Youth, and Education Studies and the Spanish language, Él continues their work in LGBTQ+ youth programs as the Adult Advisor for SWAGLY, a social support group in Worcester, MA. In their spare time, Él enjoys contributing to local mutual aid groups, customizing their clothes, and watching horror movies.

Consulting Services:

My consulting jobs have included speaking engagements, panel organization/facilitation, training/workshops, racial justice dialogues, public school and workplace policy audits, and more. My approach to all my work is holistic, comprehensive, and community-oriented as I pull from my experiences in legislative advocacy, LGBTQ+ youth programs, grassroots/student organizing, public health, and harm reduction fields.

I am not accepting consulting inquiries at this time.

The Healthy Youth Act

In collaboration with Youth for Sex Ed and the Healthy Youth Act Coalition, Él has joined in the fight to pass "An Act relative to healthy youth​" (S.268/H.544) which will require any MA public school that already teaches sex ed to provide medically accurate, consent-based, LGBTQ+ inclusive sexual health education.

Photo by Daniela Minidis

While attending Lesley University, Él utilized their organizing skills to demand basic human needs from the administration after serious issues with heat, plumbing, and food insecurity affected the student population. Projects included the establishment of a food pantry, a drive for warm clothing/ blankets, a petition with over 2,000 signatures, several sets of student demands, and a protest on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge. Read more about the protest here.

Él was a member of GLSEN's National Student Council from 2018 to 2020. In their position on the NSC, they produced student-authored content and traveled across the country to model in campaigns with partners such as Hollister and Morphe. They also acted as a representative for high-profile fundraisers and various media opportunities. Él keeps in contact with their fellow NSC grads to this day.

"Gender X" Legislation

At the age of 15, Él became a legislative advocate for what became known as the "Gender X" Bill in the state of Massachusetts. The goal of this bill was to cement “X” as a designation under the sex classification on documents in the state of Massachusetts. After almost 3 years of lobbying inside and outside the legislature, the DMV instituted the “X” option in late 2019.