{"id":5109,"date":"2011-07-19T13:17:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-19T13:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/five-questions-with-armando-vasquez-ramos-interview\/"},"modified":"2019-06-18T01:03:31","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T01:03:31","slug":"five-questions-with-armando-vasquez-ramos-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/five-questions-with-armando-vasquez-ramos-interview","title":{"rendered":"Five Questions With … Armando Vasquez-Ramos Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

11:01am | <\/strong>Editor’s note: The following is the third installment in a new series of interviews with emerging LGBT leaders. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Armando Vasquez-Ramos is a product of Long Beach. Born and raised here, Vasquez-Ramos grew up immersed in the city\u2019s public service realm as his family spans the scope of employment; he counts academics, firefighters, social workers and union organizers among his family members. He works for the office of Fourth District Councilman Patrick O\u2019Donnell as the field and legislative deputy. <\/p>\n

The 29-year-old grew up with two highly educated parents, both of whom were among the first graduating class of Cal State Long Beach’s Chicano\/Latino studies program. Their activism as radical Chicanos, as well as their professional successes, have given Vasquez-Ramos a unique perspective on activism, Long Beach and identity.
<\/span>
Q: What effect did your parents\u2019 academic success have on you? <\/span><\/strong>

A: <\/strong><\/span>In my family it was not an option to not go to college. We were kind of in the minority of Chicano families in that I personally did not come from humble beginnings. I grew up in College Park. My sister grew up with very high expectations of academic success, and I think we both chafed under the pressure a little bit. We got our degrees, but it took longer than the standard four-year plan.<\/span>
<\/span>
Q: Do you consider yourself a radical?<\/span><\/strong> <\/span><\/span>

A: <\/strong><\/span>My parents were radical enough for everybody. They fought the good fight. I am the poster child for the saying, \u201cI fight so my children can have it better.\u201d I was lucky enough to have been born into a life of opportunity; mine is not a story of struggle. I am very grateful for all that my parents have done for me, and I understand the difficulties faced by others who happen to look like me.<\/span>

Q: How did you become involved in city government? <\/strong>
<\/span>
<\/span><\/strong>A:<\/strong> I got my job in city government almost by chance. My degree [from Long Beach State] was in journalism\/public relations and I wanted to work in public relations because I thought it would glamorous and fun. After a few bad experiences with corporate public relations, I learned of an opportunity in Councilman O\u2019Donnell\u2019s office and I took it. I actually ended up being very good at it, so I stayed on.
<\/span>
Q: How do you transfer your interest in journalism to your work in Councilman O\u2019Donnell\u2019s office?<\/span><\/strong> 
<\/span><\/span>
\"\"A: <\/strong><\/span>When I was hired by Patrick\u2026along with being his field deputy and legislative deputy, one of my jobs was to manage his press. I write his press releases, update his website, respond to press inquiries, and manage his social media. What I really like about this job was that it included a PR component, which is what I studied in school. What I enjoy most is that it I am not one in a sea of dozens like when I worked at corporate public relations; I am the only one handling this one person.<\/span><\/p>\n

Politics is also not that different from politics. A great [Long Beach State] political science professor once told me that politics is all about who gets what, when, where, why, and how. Those are the five W\u2019s of journalism. <\/p>\n

Q: Do you think your ethnicity or sexual orientation gives you a unique perspective on Long Beach?
<\/strong>
A: <\/strong>I do, as a matter of fact. I think it adds a layer to my perspective because Long Beach is supposed to be one of the most diverse cities in the country. On top of being an ethnic minority, I am a gay minority, all of which gives me another level to analyze our city. That being said, I do not need to be entrenched in any cause whether gay or Latino to know what I am. It does not make me more gay or more Latino. <\/span>
I was born and raised in this city; diversity has always been the status quo. Growing up, I never heard a racial epithet hurled at someone because we were not raised to do that. People come here and are amazed at how open and accepting Long Beach is to everyone. <\/span> <\/span><\/span>

Editor\u2019s Note: Armando Vasquez Ramos serves as the executive vice president of Communications in the Long Beach Lambda Democratic Club.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Armando Vasquez-Ramos is a product of Long Beach. Born and raised here, Vasquez-Ramos grew up immersed in the city\u2019s public service realm as his family spans the scope of employment; he counts academics, firefighters, social workers and union organizers among his family members. He works for the office of Fourth District Councilman Patrick O\u2019Donnell as the field and legislative deputy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hi-lo","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5109"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=5109"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}