When Jonathan Dromgoole moved to Washington DC to pursue his undergraduate education in 2012, he realized how the decisions made there reverberated all the way back to his family in Texas. As a first-generation, immigrant, Mexican, and gay American, he noticed a lack of representation of his communities in these spaces. Since then, the IQLatino alum has dedicated himself to increasing and making space for underrepresented communities at the decision-making table through public policy and public service.
Jonathan was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, to an American father and a Mexican mother. He moved to the United States with his family at a young age, and grew up mainly in Austin, Texas. He remains connected to his Mexican roots, as his mother’s entire family remains in Guadalajara. Although it has become increasingly difficult to go back to Mexico, he is very grateful that technology has allowed them to remain connected, he told IQLatino. His Mexican heritage has also informed his identity. “Being Mexican and growing up in the United States has forced me to straddle both identities and both languages even. As a first-generation American, but also as the generation in my family to establish a foundation in the United States I have always felt the pressure to succeed, to be resilient, and to persevere to assure that the sacrifices we made were worth it,” he said.
After high school, Jonathan pursued his Bachelor’s degree at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Washington DC, where his work in public service began. Living in the nation’s capital made him realize that there was something special about the work people did there. “At the same time, I knew I wanted to pursue a career that gave back and helped out my community. I saw, and continue to see, public service as the avenue to give back, to make our local, national, and global community better, and to ensure that underrepresented communities have a seat at the decision-making table,” he said. He planned to move to Mongolia as part of the PeaceCorp after graduation, but met his now-husband, Juan, towards the end of his time at Georgetown. They moved across the Potomac river instead, to Arlington, Virginia, where they still live with their two dogs. In 2017, Jonathan returned to Georgetown to pursue a Masters of Public Policy.
In his new home of Virginia, Jonathan has been able to grow his career and take on important leadership roles. “I am proud to say that in these short five years living in Virginia, I have been able to get involved in my community through serving as Chief of Staff of IQLatino, Sorensen 2020 Class Representative, founding Vice-Chair of the Arlington Dems Latino Caucus, founding Chair of the Arlington Dems Equality Caucus, and most recently as the Director for LGBTQ+ Affairs for LULAC’s Virginia Board and the President of the Democratic Latino Organization of Virginia,” he said. “This was just in five short years, imagine what will happen in another five!” he added. He is also currently working on his first book “Out To Lead” coming out in the Fall of 2021. The book focuses on resilience, leadership, and how we should get used to seeing more LGBTQ leaders.
Although the young community leader has had a successful and fruitful career, it has not all been easy. “I’m gay, I’m Mexican, I’m young and I’m ambitious so you can guess that I have faced my share of challenges. Often I’m underestimated because of the combination of identities I embody,” he explained. Nonetheless, what first inspired him to go into the field of public policy and activism continues to drive his work, and he has loved proving those who underestimate him wrong time and time again. Additionally, Jonathan credits his support network of friends, his husband, and his mentors for their guidance and support through every challenge. “I’m deeply proud to have overcome tremendous adversity and limited expectations of what I was meant to be coming from a low-income immigrant family. I’m proud to be the first, but certainly not the last, in my family to go to college and then pursue a master’s degree. I’m proud of finding my authentic voice and living out and proud as a gay man,” he said. Now that he has entered the spaces that were not created with the intention of including a first-generation gay Mexican, he feels it is his obligation to bring others with him.
As for fellow young Latinos who would like to pursue a similar path of activism and public service, Jonathan had some advice: “DO IT!! We need more Latinx individuals from diverse backgrounds in public service, advocacy, and policy. Your stories are worth telling, but you have to be the ones to share them. Now it’s not going to be easy and it’s not going to be fast, but it is going to be worth it,” he said.
At IQLatino, we are proud of and applaud all the work that our alum has done and continues to do for his communities. To learn more about his upcoming book, check out @OutToLead on Instagram.