Dec 9, 2017 6 min read

A lot of what Mary Jo Podgurski taught Emmett Patterson over their years of friendship and mentorship was profound.

But one thing she said, in particular, has really stuck with him.

“When an adult says something, sometimes people listen. When a young person says something, that’s when people really listen,” Patterson repeated.

Podgurski’s encouragement fueled Patterson’s activism and now, people are listening to the 24 year old, a transgender man who transitioned while a senior at Trinity High School. This week, both mentor and student presented during the National Sex Ed Conference in Atlantic City, N.J. Hosted by the Center for Sex Education, the conference is attended by more than 700 professionals from all over the world.

“Mary Jo is part of my history,” said Patterson. “She is the person who showed me that this is something people can do and I’m good at – talking to people about things that are not easy to talk about. She trusts young people, with such an open heart, to lead.”

Patterson’s selection for the prestigious conference at such a young age is a significant accomplishment, said Podgurski.

“I feel like this is a bookend experience for me,” she said. “Age is a gift. It’s powerful for me to have one of my former students be involved in this field, which I have been in for such a long time.”

Podgurski, founder and president of the Academy for Adolescent Health Teen Outreach and Observer-Reporter columnist, is a nurse/educator/counselor whose life has been dedicated to young people.

Patterson started as a peer educator with Teen Outreach as an eighth-grader and later worked as a supervisor at Common Ground Teen Center, which Podgurski runs.

Podgurski, who was out of town for more than two weeks for conferences, said the center remained open during her absence because of the teens who work there.

“The center is operating just fine because of them,” she said. “Emmett was one of those people. I think the world of him. It makes me happy. A lot of people who have been peer educators have gone on to be peer educators in college. None has gone into the field like Emmett.”

Like Podgurski, Patterson believes in the power of peer education. The group he co-founded, Not Your Average Sex Talk, supports college students to develop inclusive peer-to-peer sexual education programs for their communities.

“(Podgurski) is a huge part of it. I was one of the first openly transgender people to come out. It shook the community a bit, in not such a fun way all the time,” he said. “Even before I came out to others, I came out to her. She was so supportive. I started working for at the Common Ground Teen Center, with young LGBT people like me. … she saved me. She gave me a job when no one would give me one. She trusted me as a 17 year old. The most important thing she really did was encourage me to trust my own knowledge. Lived experience is critical knowledge. You might not get a certificate, but trust your gut. Provide context someone on the outside can’t offer. She practices what she preaches and showed me that this work is possible and can be monumental.”

Patterson is a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C., where he studied gender, public health and LGBT policy. He’s employed by Aids United, which gives him the opportunity to travel all over the world and help marginalized people get access to HIV resources.

His conference presentation, with Not Your Average Sex Talk co-founder Lex Loro, will help other education professionals support college-aged activists.

They started the group while undergrads, in response to the lack of pertinent information for LGBTQ and disabled youths. They facilitated a youth sex talk for LGBTQ youth, to which about 70 people showed up, and the hired presenters didn’t.

“I had been really fortunate to work with Mary Jo and Lex also had experience facilitating, so it was like, ‘Let’s just do it.’ We put everyone in a circle, very peer-to-peer, and we realized we had something there,” he said. “We realized young people are more like to open up to other young people.”

Like Podgurski, who realizes the worth of have young people lead as peer educators, Patterson believes in supporting youth to develop relevant programs in their own communities.

“(Sex education) is not always about condoms. We had a community that wanted to talk about power dynamics, what happens with partners of different races and ethnicities, hormone therapy the effects on sex drive. They wanted to hear information that was tailored to them,” he said. “We’re on the margin of society when it comes to health information. There are so many unknowns. … We’re ready for this kind of conversation.”

Patterson said he used to have to drive into Pittsburgh for hormone treatment and primary care.

“Washington has started to become Pittsburgh-adjacent, creating a community of unity and providing services. Because some people can’t get into the city. Physical location matters,” he said. “Washington is becoming a bedrock for LGBTQ people, not like when I left. I felt isolated and alone. It wasn’t anything like it is now. … My people have shown up.”

Podgurski, last year’s conference co-chair, presented a pre-conference workshop this year on her Nonnie Talks About … book series. On Friday, she was on a panel that discussed creating a life-long career in sexuality education.

Her books, she said, allow adults to present challenging topics to children, including pregnancy and birth, gender, race, puberty and sex.

While she talks about the body in her role as an educator, Podgurski said it’s more about communicating with kids about things they may be exposed to on the internet.

“We live in a world where kids are absolutely exposed to things. All they have to do is have a phone and they are exposed to so much. My goal in this is to try to inspire adults to see what’s really happening in the world and support kids.”

“Education is a defense against what can hurt a child,” Podgurski said. “They don’t know what they don’t know.”