MAY 2019 | JUNIOR CLAROS

Image description: Junior is indoors smiling at the camera. Behind him is a golden wall decoration and a red wall.
Image description: Junior is indoors smiling at the camera. Behind him is a golden wall decoration and a red wall.

Junior (he/him) is a Capricorn Ox who identifies as an immigrant, trans, and Filipinx. He was raised in a close-knit immigrant family that gave him a strong sense of family and community. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area as a working class person of color and having to face and navigate the daily challenges of classism and racism have also given him a deep appreciation for the many core values of APIENC, including abundance, interdependence, and self-determination. Away from APIENC, Junior works as an Information Technology manager.

Junior has been volunteering with APIENC since 2016 and is currently in APIENC’s Core and Trans Justice Committees. In his own words:

Volunteering with APIENC is fun and fulfilling. It allows me to deepen and broaden my friendships and community among other QTAPI folks. It also provides opportunities for me to support APIENC’s work in uplifting TGNC voices and visibility, developing QTAPI leaders, and increasing the visibility of our communities. Over the years of being involved in the QTAPI community, I’ve gained so much, and I’d like to give back to others in the community.

His most memorable moment with APIENC was joining APIENC’s Trans March contingent for the first time in 2016. He was immediately struck and inspired by the number of API TGNC folks and allies who showed up. APIENC was a large, powerful presence holding their own and leading the way with drumming, chanting, and singing. Not only was the contingent visible, but it also had a voice that was impacting and inspiring others!

Junior hopes that we continue to build stronger ties among the many sectors of our diverse Queer Trans API community, including across gender, age, ethnicity, culture, and identity, and that APIENC continues to play a strong role in bringing us together, amplifying our voices, and increasing our impact in the spaces we occupy. He also volunteers with Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women and Transgender Community (APIQWTC) as the Scholarship Committee chair and is involved with Red Envelope Giving Circle.