Mathew, From Treasurer To President of Capital Pride 2026

Capital Pride is the big umbrella for the Queer community here in Salem. It organizes the two big pride events we have, Pride in the Park and City Pride, as well as dozens of smaller gatherings. Today we chat with Mathew (he/him) the President of Capital Pride. He was Treasurer at the time of this recording. 

https://salemcapitalpride.org/

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:01

Ahoy, Gems and Jewels!

SPEAKER_02 0:02

And non-binary ghouls. I'm Tallow. I'm Nyx. And you're listening to The Treasures of Queer Salem. Where two of your favorite troublemaking pirates discover the riches of the queer sea while aboard the Salamander.

SPEAKER_03 0:13

Today we're talking to Matthew Oldfield. He's the president of Salem Capital Pride and is stepping into this role after two years as the treasurer. Matthew lives in Central Salem and works for the state of Oregon.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Alright, thank you so much, Matthew. I have a question for you. What are you in here for?

SPEAKER_00 0:52

A podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

That is the most direct question to answer we've had so far.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

I'm I'm sitting as well. But no, mostly the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Yeah, hey, hey, we're we're we're here on for a podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

So our first question that we always like to start off is uh would you please share your identity and how you arrived at this identity that you hold now?

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Okay, so I'm a gay man. Um I identify as a gay man. And so I've been thinking about this question quite a lot because I try not to reflect too much on how I became who I am sometimes. And this has really sent me down a rabbit trail because I realized how many different random things there has been over the years to make this that you see in front of you happen. And I think it starts with um we have to go back to a movie called George of the Jungle with Brendan Fraser.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Oh yes. Um, so for those that might be uninitiated, first of all, how dare you go watch it. And secondly, uh, so it's got that toned, lean, like peak physique, Brendan Fraser, young, perfectly tanned, right? And he's this like loincloth clad king of the jungle, and he swings through the trees, and at some point he comes right to the to the city, and he's the best scene in the whole movie, right? Awakening for a lot of people, I think, is uh he comes to the city, he's in an apartment building, and he just had a shower. But of course, because he's the king of the jungle, he doesn't know how showers work. So, you know, he fumbled around and had an issue, and he comes out into the main room, glistening, completely nude. Now, of course, it's implied in the movie, but we I have an imagination. Right. Anyway, uh, it is just like I remember in that moment thinking, oh my, I shouldn't be thinking this thought. That was the first thing I had. Right. And the second one was I feel like I, as a man or a boy, am expected to be laughing at the fact that he had trouble with the hot and cold, and that he dropped the soap and fell on that. Like, that's the part I'm supposed to be paying attention to. The chiseling Brendan Fraser body is meant to be the woman's gaze, and that's how they get the women to come to the theaters. But I was like, I know. I I know in my head. But even then, I didn't what didn't like identify. You know, I was like, eh, okay, it's kind of like, ooh, that was nice.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

And not so what era of childhood or not childhood this was happening.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Oh, I don't remember when I first saw George of the Jungle.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Was it VHS or DVD?

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Oh, it well, it was VHS. Okay, if that helps put it in perspective. Um, but yeah, so there was that. I and I feel like there's other kind of movies where you just like you notice someone's attractive, and not to harp on Brendan Fraser, but it's in my head now. Um so what I realized was like that was the physique part of it. But there's more to you know to like being gay or identifying something that than just the physical. So a a bit less vain example, like Brendan Fraser and the Mummy, right? Oh, right, rogue, adventurer, that was everybody's by awakening. Oh like such a good movie, and there's so many good male leads in that that are also very attractive, and it's so rewatchable for that very reason. But it made me realize that, yeah, sure, Brendan Fraser is still very attractive in that movie, but it's like the qualities that he had that kind of drew me in. It's like, oh, he's confident, right? He's daring, he's dashing, he's he's willing to take charge. Like, okay, I can be attracted to attributes someone has and not just like the chiseling, glistening naked body of Brendan Fraser. Um, so those sort of like, okay, now that's a bit more complicated, right? Like the progression of time here is like, oh, now I have multiple pieces of information. I got the outside and I got some inside. But I really I think in a lot of reflection related to how I became who I am, I have to lay the blame at the altar of Disney. Right? Just Disney gave us so many great, gorgeous men. Um now, the first one comes to mind, of course, is Tarzan, because very similar to the George of the Jungle, right? Oh, beautiful, amazing outside. And yeah, he's got a heart and soul as well, so that's good, I guess. Um, and then you get on the other side of things where it's like you got characters like Milo, which made me realize, like, oh, that's a smart twink. Like, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

Oh, from from Atlantis. Oh, sorry, from Atlantis. I was like, who's Milo? There's a dog. No, no, that's not it. Oh my gosh. That was that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Well, that's a that's a different episode. Um, but I love the movie. Like Atlantis, visually, just as a good is a good movie in general. It is really good. Yeah. And then you get the Milo character who's, yeah, not only a an attractive twink, who's educated, but then he's got these great qualities of like fighting for the underdog, and he's kind of awkward and shy as well, but he he learns his confidence over time. So there's a lot of that that I think kind of taking all that together, kind of the the vein kind of exterior, like, yeah, muscles. Uh, and then you kind of add to that all the qualities that you realize like you can be attracted to the qualities of of people. So all these thoughts are sort of percolating away in my brain, right, as a as a kid, but I I never really acted on them. Like I know a lot of people that like were sexually active in high school or even like started in middle school. And for me, for those people that know me very well, I tend to be very just like focused and task-oriented. Right. At at case in point when you ask me why I'm here. It's a for I'm here for a podcast. Right. Um, well, part of that is to me, school was a job. School was always a job, and you're there to do the job and focus on the job. Somehow that was drilled into my head, and that's what I did. So I never like experimented in school, which I kind of regret a bit, but I didn't have until college, when I was like, you know what? Hello, college. Uh, because you get to experiment the lore of college. That's the whole point. Yeah, to me, that's part of the job of college, is you're supposed to you're there for school, but I'm like, uh, there it's not like 8 a.m. to you know 3 p.m. You got this space. What am I supposed to do with this space? Cool, hello grinder. I know like that's that's how that works.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

I have to check my agenda at one o'clock. Damn it, I'm supposed to be getting laid right now.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Exactly. You just fill in the schedule. I like to stay busy, so I got I gotta I'm I I'm task-oriented, and everyone was like a person on the list that gets you know checked off the list.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

So, did you know you were gay still in in high school? You just didn't really act on it.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

You know, that for me that's a harder one because uh so I've been thinking about like how do you decide you're gay. Right. Oh, sorry, I I say decide. I know that there's other ways to answer that question. Like some people will say, I always knew, or I was born this way. For me, it's a matter of semantics because it's a label. So the first when I say I am gay at that point, that's when I became gay.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

You decide to be gay, you decide to take on the label of gay.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Yeah, because implicitly it up to that point, it's like I'm just a straight man. Yeah, I'm just me, right? Uh that's a sort of title given to you by society as a whole. I didn't think about it much. And it's only when I kind of met someone in college that I was like, Oh, I have feelings for this person, and it's not just a fun hookup. Oh dang, if I want to be happy in life, I'm gonna have to come out as gay because I want to be with men. And I was like, that's when I started coming out to you know, friends first and then selective family members and like church friends as well, like all that kind of progression of coming out. Um the first time I said it, to me, that's when I became it. So I I don't know, that's sort of that's a very long-winded way of saying there's a lot of pieces that kind of to me g come together to become what is gay. Right. For me.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

No, that makes perfect sense actually. Yeah, Art, did you I I just real con quick context. Did you were you born in Oregon?

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Uh I so I was born in what now is a Walgreens in McMinnville, Oregon. Okay. So yeah, yeah. But then I spent the first ten years of my life in northern Idaho. So my family at some point, all of them got together and went, we're moving to Alaska. And Northern Idaho was as far as they made it. Uh they bought like they completely wrong direction. It was up. It was it was from Oregon. Um I don't know why they stopped, other than I think there was just at that time a good deal on property, and so like they all got different adjacent um properties that they put mobile homes on and built cabins and stuff. Um so that was so you were raised in a commune, a family commune. I don't really think of it that way, just because there's so many different extended family members. Like, like we still went outside. It was just, yeah, you had to drive like an hour or more to get to any major major. I put major in very big quotes, a major city that maybe had a safe way, you know, like uh a stoplight. A stoplight, yes.

SPEAKER_03 9:40

Yeah, my my partner uh grew up in Vermont. And so yeah, it was half half an hour to um the little tiny ish little city.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

There was a uh when my family moved there, they actually named the roads because the roads that went up from like the run that was already named that went up to their properties had to be named, right? So that the postal service and the county and whatever could know. So they had to come up with the names for uh the road, which still makes me laugh to this day. But um, yeah, so in that environment there were places where yeah, we had like electricity and but there are other times when it's like you would just turn the generator on for a couple hours a day and you'd you'd maybe watch cartoons as a kid in the morning, and that was it. And you know, you just dealt with it. So like most people my age grew up on video games. Um and I'm like, I have no frame of reference for that. I don't play video games, they don't make any sense to me. All of my siblings, for the most part, our opinions on that is like wh why why am I playing a video game? I have things to do. I you know, I have like a life. Not to say that you can't have a life in video games, it's just very different perspective. Right, yeah. Yeah, and then like later on being raised by grandparents, like I that's why I'm such an old person, despite not being an old person, is all this all those sort of situations that so it's it's a wonder I ever became gay, honestly.

SPEAKER_03 11:09

Is your family conservative?

SPEAKER_00 11:14

No, well, I I would say so some of my siblings are mixed now at this point. Um but like my grandparents, they're fine, yeah. They're fine. Uh-huh. They I when I first came out, my grandma, who always has to be right, was like, I've known the entire time. And I just remember thinking, you know what, grandma, you've been asking me if I've had a girlfriend or any like interested girls in class for as long as I can remember. How dare you pretend to have known? Um, and then my grandpa sweet response. He was convinced that uh this was not a conversation he had with me, it was one that he told my grandma after. He he goes, you know what? Maybe it's just that he hasn't found the right girl. Like he just needed to like he just hasn't found his right match, so he feels like he needs to explore beyond beyond that. And my uh my grandma chewed him out. Um and that was the end of that. So ever since then they're I mean, they're they're perfectly fine with it. But I mean I don't know if this would play into that conservative question, but like starting in middle school, I led worship, like helped lead worship uh Bible studies and things for years, like into college. Um did things like I was a youth mentor and youth groups and all that sort of stuff. So like I still even on the way here, I still listen. I love Southern gospel music to this day. Barbershop quartets are the best thing to ever have been invented. 100%. And I still love to sing. Um and so that's something I yeah, I I think about that a lot.

SPEAKER_03 12:49

It doesn't Wait, you're you're saying you're gay and you don't have religious trauma.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Oh no, there is that there. Um, but it mostly stemmed from a miscommunication. So when I started coming out uh to sort of my religious friends, I at that time was still helping to lead worship. So I like I was up front in front of the other people, right? So that's a that's it's a noticeable position. And so I kind of came out and eventually got around to the pastor at the time who wanted to like go out to lunch and talk about it. Now I misunderstood at the time, but here's how I interpreted it was he basically said, Look, we don't want you to be up there singing anymore. Which I took as, oh, it's because it's because I'm gay, like they just don't want me up there, and that really hurt me. Um turns out it wasn't that, it was something related to his daughter in the past had um out of marriage been sexually active, and he had made a hard stance, he had to not let her sing because she was not married and was like doing all this thing out of marriage. So because I was sexually active outside of marriage, he's like, I have to be consistent, right? I can't like have one rule for this person and not one rule for the other. Um now, I mean there's still problem but still problematic, of course, but it's more understandable. Um and I still attended for a long while and listened to the podcast still. Like I love Bible trivia and Bible knowledge and stories that people seem to sometimes forget are still relevant a little bit today.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

You mentioned that your family went from to Idaho and then you said ten years. Did you did you come back to Oregon?

SPEAKER_00 14:27

Yes. Um, so that was a yeah, that was a a bit of a uh progression. So some of the family decided they didn't like Idaho and started to slowly move back. So it was like a small trickle back to Oregon. And um at some point my grandparents, who were like the steadfast kind of center of everything up there, also moved back down. And it was mostly uh there was like medical stuff that could only really be done here, right? So they had to move down, and that left like my siblings and I, and our parents, up in northern Idaho, and our parents were not the best people in the world. Um and at some point my mom attempted to escape the situation by coming to Oregon. So my father packed us all up and also moved us to Oregon to chase after her. Uh and luckily the state of Oregon is much better about stepping in when it comes to issues in the household than the state of uh Idaho was. Yeah. Um so yeah, that's how we ended up back in back in Oregon.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

Yeah, yeah. And then uh I mean w you became a citizen of Salem recently, or how long have you been here? Let's see.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Um so I've been in Salem now almost three years, because it's as long as I've had my house. Okay. Um before that I was in Monmouth for a few years. Okay. And then I went to college in uh at OSU. So I was in Corvallis for five years to get my degrees.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Oh, phenomenal. That's awesome. Cool, cool. Yeah, I know I know Monmouth. Monmouth is awesome. Uh so you've been here for three years, and my question is, you know, when you arrive from coming out of college in your in quotation, slut days.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

I was the whore of Babylon. That's how I that's how I referred to it. Glorious days.

SPEAKER_02 16:07

Moving, yeah, moving from Corvallis to Monmouth, which is kind of a desert.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

It's still a college. Let me tell you what, dig it down.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

Oh no.

SPEAKER_03 16:18

You're you lived in Monmouth, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:20

I did, and I did not have that experience.

SPEAKER_03 16:22

Well, you should have tried harder than that.

SPEAKER_02 16:24

Well, I mean, it was in COVID. It was during COVID, so the whole experience was.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

There's ways. We invented a whole, like, literal hole for this situation. We call it the glory hole. You don't even need masks. You don't need to interact.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

There's no contact. What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_00 16:44

And it's really the only contact that matters.

SPEAKER_02 16:49

No faces, no eyes. Anyway, uh, continuing. So this might have to be an explicit one. So we get over to Salem, and I'm curious how you connect with like the the greater community here.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

Oh, you mean like the like like the queer community? Yeah, there's a whole yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:09

Oh, uh well, um I'm sure it was real subtle.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Uh well, it's the well, I my introduction actually was through Salem Capitol Pride. Oh, so it was mostly because I had known Zach briefly, and then we just didn't talk for a while, and at some point he he was like in college together? No. I lived in Monmouth, and there was a connection. Ah and then some years later it was like I was working for the state, and I had kind of the skill set that he thought would work well to fill in for the treasurer, and he was like, Hey, would you maybe want to do this? And I went, Oh, okay, fine. I'll do it because you asked and because it seems like you need it. And then that's how I became treasurer. And honestly, if it weren't for Capital Pride, I would hardly have any of the friends I currently have. Like, just none of them. I'm I'd maybe have one that I met in college. Like, that's the extent of it. So uh that's kind of I was thrown in the deep end, so to speak, when it came to I think connecting to the greater community. There's a lot of times I still feel like I don't necessarily connect to the community as a whole, but it's mostly because I think it's an internal thing of never feeling gay enough to fit in. Oh, imposter syndrome. Yeah, I mean, but to be fair, I have that in every category of life. So it's not anything new, it's just that it's applied to you sound pretty super gay to me. Well, that's good. I mean, that's uh I've worked really hard.

SPEAKER_02 18:36

Horror of Babylon kind of takes it for me. Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

Look, look, look, there's there's seasons for everything. Yeah. And that was a very long season.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

Long and wet season. Okay. Uh we're talking about this right now. And I'm not saying anything. It's it's it's winter. It gets really wet here in Oregon. Um so when we talk about um the connection with Salem, like what what were some of the few things or the beginning things that you started doing? You you mentioned Capitol Pride as in like uh the the Pride of the Park, I'm I'm assuming.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

Oh yeah. Um so before I became treasurer, so this is now several years ago, I decided to go to the uh Pride in a Park event. This was yeah, the one at the riverfront. And it I was this is the only time I have ever been to it as a non-volunteer. Um since then, never. I never get to walk around to the vendors, I never get to like buy cute little things. Um this was the first time, and you know what? I got my I purchased my few small things here and there, and I made sure to, you know, did the little thing to show I had showed up to have attendance, and I did the feedback form. And yeah, then it was just like uh text messages with Zach, like, hey, this is interesting. Is this what what sort of other things? Because I I'll be fair, I I'm not very good at getting involved. I kind of have to usually be pulled into things, kicking, screaming. Um, that's just sort of the way I am. I like to be on well, I say this, I like to be on my own sometimes. Um I like being in you know in my own space and on my own, thinking my own thoughts, and sometimes I have to do be pulled in. But once I'm pulled in, I love it. Like I love being around people, I feed off of people's energy, but when I'm alone, I'm like, oh, I don't like being around people. You know, like you just convince yourself uh whatever you're in is fine right now.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

Yeah. I mean, the first impression that I had of Matthew was our conversation when we had on the on the I mean I I had met you before, but uh when we had our Zoom video, and I hope you don't get mad at me for saying this, but the one of the one of the coolest things that you said was like if I had my choice of an ideal job, I would be put in a basement and asked to organize things or file things. And I just like okay. Yes, stop laughing.

SPEAKER_03 20:59

You just see this dreamy looking. Yes, it warms the cockles of my heart.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

It just oh that like that sentence alone sends my soul singing, right? Yeah, like that is what I want as an ideal like people leave me alone. There's no one to like do anything wrong that I have to clean up the mess for. I don't have to wait for people to send emails back, which I hate. Um I you know, my only ask, and I this changes over time, is that in this basement office where I'm organizing and and storing all these papers, there at least be one window. Right. Yeah, that's it. Right. That's I'm I'm a simple man.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Yeah. So you turned out to be the the president of Capo Pride. That's a that's a twist. What happened?

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Uh it I get asked to do things, and notoriously I have a problem with saying no. Right. Um now, I mean, that's not to say I don't want to do it. It's just that my default is I don't want to do things. And so generally it's like if it's helping someone. That's sort of my main focus. If it's helping people that I like that are important in my life, I will generally say yes if I'm able to. So for instance, when Zach asked me to step in as treasurer, I was like, okay, you know, sure. I I do have like I had a lot of I still have a lot of volunteer experience. I was I'm a part of the Elk Slodge and have been in charge of committees for years. And that's a lot of bureaucracy, that's a lot of organization, that's a lot of managing people. And I also do that for work because I work for the state of Oregon. So I was like, sure, I have these skills. Okay, fine. I'll step in, I'll help because you asked nicely. Um, and then I kept doing that because I was like, I have some organizational things related to this treasurer role that still need to be done. And I was done with that. And that's when it's like, cool, Zach is gone. Um, you're gonna run for president, right, Matthew? And again, I didn't plan to do it on my own. It was because I was asked nicely by other current members of the executive team that were like, Hey, could you please do this? We think you could do it well. I'm like, well, I guess if these people who are important to me believe in me and want me to do this and help out, okay, fine. You know, like as long as they promise they're gonna be here and be supportive and not just gonna leave it, because I will not be a Zach that does everything. Yeah. Um, that is not me. Yeah, and I will not do everything because I have boundaries.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

You hear that, Zach? I know you're listening.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

No, I'm for I mean, for better or for worse. It's a it's an admirable attribute, and he has a lot of skills, but he also, I think, has those some of those skills that I just don't have. So there's some things I would have to spend a lot of time and energy to even get to the point of knowing enough to do those things. So it's really nice to have a good team currently that all the all that work is sort of siloed in different people. Where it's like, okay, cool, you're completely in charge of marketing. Okay, I don't have to do any secretarial stuff because that person's in charge of it. Like we have a program coordinator now who's really good at sorting all that stuff out. Yeah, I could do it. I wouldn't want to, and I'd have to learn some things to do it, but I am good at managing and taking care of people. That's what I do.

SPEAKER_03 24:04

Cool, cool.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

I think there's a like a pretty famous quote that's like uh leaders have visions, and usually the organization will kind of reflect that vision. I'm curious, what is what is your vision for Capital Pride, and I I'm curious how that's gonna play out.

SPEAKER_03 24:19

Are we formally moving into second question now? I guess yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

I mean, we could plug that in. I'm I'm kind of just getting some background here, but you could also, if you want to plug that in, you could do as well.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Yeah, so um my it it's a big thing to say I have visions because that to me seems very like sky in the cloud. Like if you ask Zach what he wants to do, he has this laundry list of things. Do you have a five-year plan? Well, see, I well yes and no. So uh my big vision is actually organizational based. Um, that's one skill I bring to every single thing I do, and that's what I'm good at is organizing and sorting things. So, for instance, part of the reason like leading up to Zach stepping down was extracting all that information from his brain, getting it formalized and written down into positions, updating our positions so that not one person was doing a huge amount of work so it was more evenly distributed. Those are all things I was working on. And so part of the vision is to continue on with that so that we have a timeline and sort of organization for every event. So we yeah, we kind of have a general idea of like here's what we normally do, here's the budget for things, but it'd be real nice to have kind of these specialized documents for for all those things, so that if any of us at any point step away, there's it there's documents, there's there's supports, there's structure for someone to step in and do it, and maybe we just help with a few questions here and there. It's not like where I have to just sit down with Zach and go, okay, we're sitting here for two hours now and we're gonna talk about all this stuff because it wasn't written down. No, the next person presumably would be able to kind of step in and and move on. So for me, it's organizationally. We we want like a a timeline of the entire pride year. Like when do we start looking for our merch artists? When do we start getting our intern? You know, when when do when do we start looking for sponsors for certain events? That way we kind of have it all laid out and there's a structure to it. So for me that's that might not be the grandest of visions, but that's where I can bring a skill set to bear. And so that's what that's sort of my vision in that.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

I mean it's necessary, I would say.

SPEAKER_03 26:22

Yeah, especially I mean more of a maturing organization. Exactly. Capital Pride just keeps on getting bigger.

SPEAKER_00 26:28

Yeah, and so we definitely in sort of our our growth and history at this point, we are to that point where we need to have these formalized processes to be able to move on to continue to get bigger and continue to do more things and uh to continue to move on from where we are. It's like I I'm glad of where we are, but I also know that we need to prepare for whoever comes later to do the things that they can do. It's our job as stewards of the organization to do as best as we can to prepare it for whatever the future may hold. And to me, that's being as organized as we can. Yeah. So that's that's my vision of it.

SPEAKER_02 27:02

I find myself kind of in the s in in a similar situation as Zach, of a person who cannot sit still and needs to start new programs. I know if Zach's listening, me blaming him of not being able to sit sit still is just the cot the pot call calling the kettle black, right? Where this it's the same situation, but I always walk away from these experiences and I realize that I'm not like you like your like your brain. I don't have that brain of like organization and like creating and sorting, and I think that's super necessary. And I know it's not my strength.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

Well, and I think the struggle I have with it is I know it's a boring thing. I th this is how I view it myself. I love it, but I know it it's not charismatic, right? Like Zach has this great skill of like being charismatic, connecting with people, and I can connect with people, but you have to peel back kind of the layers to get there, and then we're like, then we can be friends, you know, then we can then we can connect and have inside jokes. I am very structured. I like having organization, I like having step-by-step, I like having things to check off a to-do list, and I'm good at organization. And yeah, that's really boring, but it's also a it's a just a necessary thing. So I I try to just embrace the fact that I am a necessary requirement and not necessarily something that is like, ooh, this is the most amazing gay person we've ever seen. Yeah, come in, be our president. Or as my friend said, I think come on. If I had that's how everyone in Salem speaks. I like it. Oh yeah, yeah. Sometimes I slip into different ones.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

It's worse when I drink, but uh I would think that would be more Silverton. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:39

Oh I have no idea. Brooks, maybe? Yeah, if you're listening from Brooks, uh, we like you too. Yeah, I mean it's it's really cool to see that you're stepping in there. And I mean, I'm not gonna there's a part of me that's like wanting to defend that because I know there's like Borne is relative, you know. Uh but and at the same time, you know, I think that like the work that you do is important and valuable. And I'm excited to see wh the what your uh your what what what your being on the helm is gonna do sort of thing.

SPEAKER_03 29:13

I think it's pretty uh obvious that Salem Pride needs that to sort of like clear, yeah. Figure out their structures a little bit more.

SPEAKER_00 29:23

Yeah. And I would say if if I do my job properly, you won't notice. Because that's to me the way it's supposed to work. I yeah, this position is a figurehead, so you know I I do have to talk to people and be out there and represent the organization, but there's so much of it that's happening behind the scenes that's supposed to be happening behind the scenes. So things like meeting one-on-one with all the positions to kind of make sure they have the resources they need to keep doing their their their role, or if they have a problem, I get to be the bulldozer to figure out the problem to solve their issues. That's all things you don't see, but it's all important to make sure that they're able to do the best they can do to make everything the best we can. Um so really I would say I am perfectly content not being the showy, like shiny figurehead on the like the Buick, the I don't even know what I'm trying to describe. Yeah, the little things, the little statues in the middle. Yeah. Yeah. Um I'm fine being like a mechanism on the inside. I and I would probably most uh associate myself with like the brakes of a car. I'm like, look, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, too fast. Just slow it down. We don't want we want to be safe here, we want to make sure the car is working properly, just slow it on down, put the brakes on. So my default, this might sound horrible, is I often say no. Yeah. Um, and I I do it with kindness and with love. I don't just no.

SPEAKER_04 30:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

Um I in my head, we should be really good at what we're doing before we add more stuff. Right. And that's sort of where I want to be is like, I want us to get to the point where we have a structure so we can then say yes to things because we know it can fit in, but we need to be really good at what we're doing right now. And yeah, I understand lots of people have lots of things we want to do, and I am one of them because I have things, but I also know that to some degree it is not the most beneficial to just be walking around and me saying all the cool things we want to do, because I think it gets people unnecessarily excited about something that might not be reasonable in the in the short term, right? That might be like a five-year goal, but I I hate for people to get too excited in the moment and then they're like, oh, this isn't even happening. Why would you say it? So I don't I don't like to be that person, so I try really hard not to.

SPEAKER_02 31:28

Yeah. I mean I I think everybody's talents are amazing, and everybody like has a has a role in that. I know one of the things that like I know a lot of people will feel, especially when they are under the leadership of an individual like Zach. Not to say that Zack is anywhere like this, but I think it could be scary to not know that if Zack stepped away, you know, that there wouldn't be a process, that all this stuff was isn't documented. There's a lot of organizations in our community that are currently run by uh a charismatic leader, and then they get burned out, they step away, and then the whole organization goes down, and that's not that's not what we want from Capitol Pride.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

Yeah, I mean, and I mean there's just there's a time and a place for that. Like charismatic is good. You want that person, you need that person. And but yes, the risk is always burnout. Like having spent a long enough time in volunteering, I've been volunteering since I was in middle school. Burnout is a thing. And if we can prevent it and prepare for it, for instance, like making sure each position in Capital Pride isn't overburdened, right? That is really important. Ha making sure everyone sets boundaries for like I am not responding to messages after a certain time or on certain days, great. If you have a family or a life thing, take your time. You know, if you need us to help you, let us know. Like those are all really important things. Uh and I I do think there's I'm glad Zach is having time to do all the fun things that that he wants to do and that he wants to be a part in the community, and I'm all for it. Um and I just sort of see it as like I'm holding the position for a little while for whoever comes in later.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

Do you still can't stay in contact with Zach? Oh yeah, no, reach out. Okay. That's gonna that's what I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

Partly out of necessity and also because how did we do this? Yeah, yeah. Also because he's you know, not a horrible person. Yeah. And we are friends, so I do enjoy talking to him sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 33:24

He's still volunteers, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:27

Yeah, and that's certainly I mean, that's his plan, especially with our bigger events, is he he plans to be there and kind of help, at least to my understanding currently, is help wrangle volunteers a little bit. That way we have kind of also a a firm, dedicated person who is aware of the overarching picture of the entire event, but also who we can kind of rely on a little bit for if a random thing comes up that maybe he dealt with five years ago that he's like, Oh wait, okay, I know how to do this because we had this problem five years ago when none of us who are currently members were even you know involved.

SPEAKER_02 33:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't want to make any sub suppositions here. Um usually the second question is what resources would you like to share with the community? Is there any like I'm just gonna let you take it here?

SPEAKER_00 34:09

Oh yeah. Um, so I tend to see everything we do, including our programs and events, as a resource. And I s I the reason I say that is because to me, building community is the biggest resource we have, right? Relying on each other, we're stronger together, it's better than being alone. Like having spent a long time alone is not as much as I like being alone, it is not always the best thing. Uh, and there's a lot of friendships to be had, there's a lot of relationships to be had. There's some people have done things you haven't done before, and it's important to have that knowledge base. So I see all of our programs as resources. So I would say, with the question of like what resources I'd like to share, our programs. They're they're kind of I see them sometimes as underutilized. Because I would love to see more people show up. We have a dedicated following for sure, but I always am sad when fewer people come in.

SPEAKER_03 34:59

Any specific programs you want to highlight?

SPEAKER_00 35:02

Oh well, I see. I was just gonna list off a few of them. Um not necessarily uh any specific ones, but I mean, for instance, we do twice-monthly board games. That's a great way to connect with people and to battle people because you get to battle for supremacy over who is uh leader of the board. Um, but also we have like quieter things, like we have our craft meetups.

SPEAKER_03 35:21

Wait, wait, wait. Board games was the louder one?

SPEAKER_00 35:24

Well, it depends on who's playing. Um there are other loud things, I'll admit. Maybe it's just I play board games loudly. Um unless it's a complicated board game, I might I do have a beef with these. Because if it's complicated enough, I have to focus on the game and can't talk. I the whole point of board games in my head is it should be easy enough for you to understand that you can still chit-chat. Right? It's a socializing thing. You're there to talk to people.

SPEAKER_02 35:50

Right.

SPEAKER_00 35:51

So when I frequently learn a new game, which I have to because I don't know a lot of the newer stuff, um, I have to s be so quiet and like focus and look at all the little tiny pieces on the board because there's so many of them.

SPEAKER_04 36:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

Um but yeah, so not to say that's always loud, but we do try and cater to like different groups of people and different interests. So like we have the board games and the craft meetups, and then yeah, our whole like DD program, something like 20-something DMs now that all kind of have their different groups of people that are, you know, mm storming castles and battling sinister foes and all that fun stuff. That's great. I love that. That's amazing. Um, but then yeah, just physical things like we have the yoga and we have the rock climbing, all of those are opportunities to meet like-minded people in a safe environment. And to me, that's the greatest resource that we have of all is fostering and safeguarding that community. So to me, that's those are the things I would share. I mean, yeah, along with yes, we have the regular resources you might think of more as resources, like we have our Discord server with all our fun little communities and people talk, and it's a great place to share knowledge and and and information and things that you know people just chit-chat about various food, plants, like restaurants, uh uh just all these niche things that people talk about. As well as we we have like on our website, we have the the page that has a whole bunch of different Discord servers across the community because there are other areas that have um those Discord communities. But yeah, I I I I would say show up to the programs. That's to me the biggest resource is meeting the people.

SPEAKER_02 37:24

I think one of the coolest things that Capital Pride has is not only the pro the multitude of programs that are offered, but I think when you just do like a group meeting where people just kind of show up and hang out, it's harder to connect. But these are like, you know, if you're interested in uh hiking, which is very, very common here in Oregon, um people love hiking. And so you can hike with friends. And if you're if you've never been to hike before or you're on you're in the closet, or you just can't come out because of your family, like you're always welcome to come to the hike, whether you're an ally or part of our part of our community. Um, and it gives you something to do while you're while you're kind of connecting with the community. Often at times is that awkwardness of a lot of us kind of walk in and we get that social anxiety, like, what if they ask me a question or what if they but if you're Who are all these people?

SPEAKER_03 38:15

Where did they come from?

SPEAKER_02 38:17

Yeah, but you just kind of you just hike or you you'll just rock climb or play. D D is actually the coolest way to connect with people if you're very shy, because you you're there for a reason. You're not just there to just talk.

SPEAKER_00 38:28

Yeah, I I will say that I think that level of like social anxiety certainly because I've been now facilitating the board game meetups for I think this is like the second year, because initially it was at my house, and then we've partnered with Ticket to Play, the board game cafe here in town, so now we do it there. But anytime people show up, I think there's a there's there's this assumption that I'm gonna tell them which games to play. I'm like, no, I don't do that. We break into groups, we have all these different tables, feel free. Like, I can help you plug into a place, but I'm not gonna tell you what to play. But I I do think some people come in with the expectation of like, tell me tell me the exact thing I'm going to do. Like, well, some of it has to be open-ended. Yeah, it's like hiking is a great example of like we are here to hike. That is the thing we are doing.

SPEAKER_03 39:09

And you generally have to uh choose the uh location of the hike before you go, otherwise it's Yeah, it's not just like we're hiking somewhere. Finding exactly so let's all go hiking and everyone goes to a different hike.

SPEAKER_00 39:26

Yeah, so I I do think that that is that is a bit of a struggle because I know that we do have a lot of socially anxious individuals, and myself included in some environments. So um yeah, uh it it's hard because there are some things that are very structured, but like for instance, you show up to crafts, well that's not a specific craft, that's just like cool, bring something to craft. You could craft with a friend, or you could just like the first time I went, I just brought my notepad to doodle because I love to draw. But I had to bring it, you know, like I had to prepare for it. So I didn't show up and someone told me what to do. And I think that's to me a a a sort of a barrier to a lot of the programs is like getting people to the point where they recognize that you know what, it's okay to just try something. And if you try and be excited about something, it's okay to show your excitement for this random board game that no one has ever played before. You brought it, you're excited, I'll play it with you. Um, that's how I've learned so many of these random board games people bring, and some of them get added to my list because I'm like, I liked that, and I just add it to my list. Yeah I haven't bought it yet, but they're on my list.

SPEAKER_02 40:28

Wait, are you pro or against Catan?

SPEAKER_00 40:31

Wait, is this like a hot take? Do people actually have strong feelings?

SPEAKER_02 40:35

I have strong feelings against Catan.

SPEAKER_00 40:38

Well, I should probably plead the fifth then in the in this particular It's okay. I like Katan. I I think I have partially played it once. Okay, okay. And the person who I think tried to facilitate, this is well before I was even involved with Pride, didn't quite know all the all the rules. So I remember being very confused. Because, you know, I I like to know the rules of the game I'm playing. Yeah now I do experiment sometimes where I'm like, you know what, I'm going into this blind and I'm just gonna like really focus on one mechanism and that's it. Like whatever happens, happens. All I'm gonna do is focus and just get these gems or block everybody else from doing things. Like, you know, you just focus on one thing until you all the rest fills in around it, because it's fun. I have to give myself variety somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 41:22

Yeah, yeah. We did something risky. Rock papers says, I'm always gonna choose rock. That's what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00 41:29

Well I mean you can't always choose rock.

SPEAKER_02 41:34

I'm just kidding. Um, hey, uh, so the next question that we always ask is uh what resources do you think our community needs?

SPEAKER_00 41:44

So I I this goes back to kind of the way I think of it organizationally. I think I would love for there to be a separate non-profit that all they do is gather together all the resources from all the others and maintain that. So they have all the lists of the Discords, all the uh my goodness, now my brain just stopped. All the sort of the documents and links and and yeah, I mean there's some places that do that, but they also do other things.

SPEAKER_03 42:10

Catalog.

SPEAKER_00 42:11

Yeah, and I part of it too is the reason where this stems from and why I've been thinking it's necessary, is that there are things we have that are underutilized. And I think a lot of nonprofits have that issue where they're like, we c we spend all this time making this resource and it's kind of underutilized, or people don't realize it's there. And I think I would love as a resource, which add to the laundry list of resources, a dedicated focus of like, here's a list, and also all they do is like promote and maintain the list and send it out. Because I would love for what we again this goes back to like with pride, I'd rather us do really well at what we're currently doing before we add new stuff. Same with the resources. I want us to like be really good at using what we currently have before we start going, okay, here's this new thing we need to, you know, that we should add. Not to say we shouldn't add, just that I I do think it would be great if we could really utilize the things we had to have.

SPEAKER_03 43:06

That's really interesting because I kind of view Salem Pride as that, as like the linking hub organization for all the other little one ones.

SPEAKER_00 43:17

Yeah, it's certainly an effort we make, right? Uh-huh. It's just that because we do so many other things, it can be difficult to keep up with everyone's stuff. Like we do have the community event calendar, right? We have where we have our things, but we also try and accumulate stuff from everyone else. And that's a big ask, right? Because the I mean, at this point now it's like the marketing um marketing director who does that. We receive submissions for all the event stuff, they have to update it. And a lot of well, not a lot of places, some places will have last minute changes. It's really hard to keep up on all those last minute like location or date changes to maintain that. Um but yeah, I mean we we make a market effort, we try to. Um, but I I do sometimes really wish we just had like Just a focus on here's maintaining the list of resources, here's the marketing for it. But they almost is separate from all the programs and events and such.

SPEAKER_02 44:09

Yeah. Kind of like a like a lake like a link tree or something.

SPEAKER_03 44:12

Yeah, a central uh gay depository. Depository.

SPEAKER_04 44:20

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 44:23

That's a word. Um I I mean I I think that's a really good point. And I think I think that when we talk about Capital Pride, I've always viewed it as like the mothership.

SPEAKER_01 44:37

Right.

SPEAKER_02 44:37

That's how it is to me. Cause it's like you know totally there's Rainbow Youth, then there's P Flag, and then there's the Trans Support Network, and all these people who are working in the community. And like I think there's a there's also this mentality of like some people who might be in conversation with me or other people who are in the same thing, that we're trying to bring everybody together and make this like united empire of you know, whatever. It's not. I think that the beauty of having Salem is that there are so many different ways to get plugged in. It's like when you have two gasoline stations on an intersection, they tend to both profit from that. The more of a variety that we have, the more opportunity we have. And what makes it beautiful is that like the M the the mid-well I'm at Queer Collective sends people towards Pride, or P Flag will say, or Rainbow Youth will be like, hey, when you graduate, go ahead and connect with Pride because they're they're like where you get into the community.

SPEAKER_00 45:36

Yeah, now I feel like I'm in charge of a mothership, or at least like a a collective of representatives. So does that make me palpitine? Yeah. I've always kind of been envious of his voice. So uh unlimited power. Um, but yeah, no, I I do think that's a that's a good way to think. I think of it like Capital Pride is more of generalized, where it's like, okay, every everyone. Whereas a lot of the different organizations specialize in something like Rainbow, okay, Rainbow Youth is youth, right? Like, cool, that's a specialized thing. Or you have like specialized trans organizations that are specific to that. They're specialized, and we love them for it. But once you kind of get to the capital pride bit of it, you're kind of looking at generalized, where it's like every everyone. We have everyone here. Everyone comes to these sayings.

SPEAKER_03 46:23

You don't have to, but you sell and pride is all the letters.

SPEAKER_00 46:27

Yes, it's all the letters. And despite the fact that if I were to list the letters off, I probably would miss some of the letters because there's I hate acronyms and there's so many letters. Um, it's everyone, right? It's and that's what it's meant for, right? It's it's meant for the entire community. It's even like if you were to go on our website and look at our bylaws and constitution, looking at our mission statement, it's it's about the whole community in this area. Like we're supporting it and fostering it and there to even support like our partner organizations as well.

SPEAKER_04 46:54

Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 46:57

Oh, there's a boson.

SPEAKER_03 46:59

Matthew, I think our time here is up. Thank you so much, Matthew. It was so good to talk to you. Please tell us where in the sea we can find you.

SPEAKER_00 47:06

Uh you can find me and the other executive members at Salem Capitalpride.com.

SPEAKER_02 47:12

Great. Well, please like and subscribe and leave a review if you like our podcast, or if or you can support us on Patreon at Crafty Coyotes, no space in between words.

SPEAKER_03 47:21

If you could uh put in a good word with the captain and have him let let us out, that'd be great.

SPEAKER_00 47:28

I don't know if I can do that. I need to stay on good terms with this captain, and I I can't be seen associating with you. Oh my god, that's dirty.

SPEAKER_02 47:40

Okay. Well, I mean, remember Salem? Even when the seas are choppy, hoist your colors.