[su_carousel source=”media: 38510,38511,38512,38513,38515″ limit=”65″ link=”lightbox” width=”800″ height=”540″ responsive=”no” items=”1″]

Looking at the life and achievements of Drago Rentería, it is nearly impossible to pinpoint a single professional path he has taken, or list only one thing he “does.”

The 50-year-old Chicano, who has lived in the Mission since 1999, can list among other things, professional photographer, activist, organizer and executive director on his resume. His dedication to social justice and helping give voice to marginalized groups, however, has been a focal point of his life for decades.

“I ‘came out’ when I was just 12 years old in the late ‘70s, in very conservative El Paso, Texas,” said Rentería, who is a trans man, but identified as a lesbian woman before he transitioned. “There were zero resources. The only gathering places we had back then were gay bars. It was a very challenging and dangerous time to be ‘out.’”

Rentería said he has been an activist ever since, but the road has not been easy. There were push backs often caused by the lack of understanding from communities where anything other than the heterosexual norm was unacceptable.

“At one point in high school, I became a born-again Christian and tried to ‘pray the gay away,’” he said. “Of course, that didn’t work. You can’t really change who you are inside and instead of seeing my queerness as something evil, I ultimately chose to embrace, love and honor who I was and that was the best decision I ever made.”

Another large part of Rentería’s identity is that he is Deaf.

“I contracted spinal meningitis [at age 11],” he said. “This resulted in a high fever and within two days, I lost 100 percent of my hearing—just like that.”

Martha Lechuga, 49, met Rentería in high school. Lechuga, who had been in the United States only a few years and didn’t know sign language or English, began to communicate with him through writing in Spanish. She said that it didn’t take long before she knew she wanted to be a part  of his life and they have been friends since.

“Life always has a way to put the right people in our path,” Lechuga said. “Drago … has not only influenced my life but made a complete change in the way my life could have gone.”

Lechuga was the first person in her family to be openly gay, something they did not approve of at all. It was thanks to Rentería’s support that she began to accept herself as a person and her sexuality, and also why she became a sign language interpreter.

Becoming an activist

After high school, Rentería left his hometown and moved to Washington, D.C., to attend Gallaudet University, a college for deaf people.

“Gallaudet was an amazing experience. Virtually everyone on campus signed [American Sign Language],” he said. “Imagine being able to take courses taught by people like you who speak your language. Imagine the ability to easily do simple everyday things like ordering food in the cafeteria or just asking someone you come across on campus for directions in your language. So many people take the privilege to do things like these for granted.”

Although he had been engaged in the queer community and an activist since his teenage years, it was in college he began to “understand the power of organizing,” and became the president of the college’s LGBTQ group.

“Again, it was not an easy time to be out,” Renteria said. “We dealt with so much homophobia on campus. Just being out was a radical act.”

Rentería transferred to U.C. Berkeley after two years, to study journalism and women’s studies. After college, he founded the Deaf Queer Resource Center, a volunteer-run national organization, which provides information, peer counseling and educational workshops.

It was through the organization that Vanessa Sandez, 41, first got in contact with Rentería. Sandez, a Chicana lesbian, said she was not out at the time, but was coming to terms with her feelings when she found the resource center’s website and reached out to Rentería.

“I call him ‘my brother,’ ‘mi hermano.’ He calls me ‘hermana” Sandez said. “He is my chosen family.”

Rentería currently works as a photographer, documenting the social injustices he has fought against most of his life, a job that, as a deaf person, can be challenging.

“I don’t always wear a press pass and I sometimes wonder if folks who see me at these events think I’m an interloper or something because I don’t chant or clap with them (how can I when I don’t know what’s being said?),” Rentería said. “On the bright side, I’m able to focus 100 percent on documenting what I see and creating the photographs that I create.”

When police are present at a protest, Rentería must be extra alert. “If police give disperse commands (which I obviously can’t hear) they may think I’m not complying and take action accordingly.”

Love is love

Rentería met his partner Jennifer Mantle, 41, who worked as a sign language interpreter, through mutual friends. Mantle said she felt a special connection and asked him out.

“Maybe I’m wrong, but I think I am pretty unique and that not only do I love my partner as a partner, but I admire him as a human being,” she said. “And I feel really honored to walk this path in this life with him.”

Rentería transitioned from female to male in the 1990s. As a response to the lack of resources available for transgender people, he has worked to educate people on the subject and help others with the aim to create change.

“As someone that’s very private, it meant stepping out of my comfort zone,” he said. “I have no regrets and would do it all over again in a heartbeat.”

After meeting Mantle, the couple began presenting together.  “[As] the partner of a trans man, my transition has also been part of her journey,” Rentería explained.

The couple began co-presenting an educational workshop called “The T in LGBT: A Deaf Man’s Journey from Female to Male,” about 15 years ago.

“He’s just a true social justice warrior,” Sandez said. “He is definitely a gem for the community. And when I say ‘for the community,’ I cannot just say for the LGBTQ community, or the deaf community, [but] the community in the Mission. It’s the global community, the trans community, the Chicano/Chicana/Latinx community, or people of color. The way that he reaches out to make things happen, despite having so much on his plate, it just amazes me. He is very inspirational.”