12:25pm | Editor’s note: The following is the first installment in a new series of interviews with emerging LGBT leaders. 

Chris Covington is a young man who has spent most of his life in Central Long Beach, where he currently resides. Despite the personal troubles he faced as a teen, Chris was able to pull his life together and graduate from Reid High School. 

It was there that the now 20-year-old young man first cultivated an interest in public service — an interest that he now continues as an intern in the office of Councilman Dee Andrews. He credits his mother, Reid High School, Andrews and the California Conference for Equality and Justice for putting him on the right path.

Q: How did you get involved in the office of Sixth District Councilman Dee Andrews?
A: I interned with Dee because of the close professional relationship he had with one of the administrative secretaries at Reid High School. He would visit the students, which I was a part of, and mentor us. I learned that the Long Beach Youth Council had an opening for the Sixth District, so I applied but did not make it because I was already 18, the cutoff year. Even though I did not make it on the Youth Council, I did learn about an internship at the district office and got it.

Q: What are your responsibilities as an intern?

A: Last year I was the coordinator of youth volunteers. This year, I am doing both administrative tasks, such as helping with scheduling the council member, and community outreach during events. I interviewed constituents during the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade and the opening of McCarthy Park in order to gauge their reactions and opinions of what our office is doing. 

Q: How did you become interested in city government?
A: I saw some of the changes I made while on the student council and wanted to continue that kind of work. The stereotype of my school was that it was the constant continuation school filled with gang members, troublemakers and pregnant girls. I wanted to change that by working with faculty and administrators to change the stereotypes of our school. I worked to change our image through a fashion show that highlighted the school’s different ethnic groups and a Wall of Intolerance that allowed students to share their stories of discrimination. 

With the help of other students and faculty we helped make the school a better place, and I wanted to move on to my community. I am a resident of the Sixth District, so I thought I could help fix it by being an intern.

Q: What do you think are the most pressing issues facing young people in your district?
 
The most pressing issue I hear from young people concerns gangs. Within neighborhoods there are issues of recruitment and violence. A lot of kids end up in the gang-to-prison pipeline. 

Summer jobs are another issue. The Long Beach Port did a big recruitment drive through our community. They came and offered internships because they knew there were very few opportunities for the youth. Summer Night Lights [a program organized through The California Endowment and Central CHA] came and hired youth and community residents in our community.

Q: What are some of the issues specifically facing LGBT youth in Central Long Beach?

A: For LGBT youth, educating others about us not being different is a major issue. I have not personally had an issue around harassment or violence, but some of my friends have been called derogatory names and have been harassed and jumped at night.
 
The youth also feel like they do not have a place to hang out. We have The Center, but it does not appeal to youth from Central Long Beach. It is friendly, but they do not feel like it is a place they can be themselves. They just want a place to hang where they feel like they can be themselves, and not feel like they are in a gay box.