I first met Sammie in 2015 when I chaired the Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women & Transgender Community (APIQWTC) scholarship committee, and we awarded Sammie one of the scholarships. On paper, Sammie already had an impressive track record of social justice organizing. When we later met again at a party where Sammie was leading the
On a hot summer day in 2018, Sammie first welcomed me into APIENC. It was the first day of my Summer Organizer Program, and I didn’t know what to expect. As folks filtered in, Sammie sat our group down and asked: what is radical welcome? I stared at them blankly, the sweat making my dress
For a huge portion of my life, I’ve been in denial that South Asian society is ready to fully support my sexuality and attraction to the same gender. I’d replay the thoughts in my head: “If they didn’t support me at thirteen, why would they now?” At home and around my family, my “choices” turned
When my time as an APIENC Summer Organizer came to a close, I brought ink to skin, tattooing a representation of my transformation this summer. Now, on my right arm is an abstract person whose head is exploding, three bold eyes flying in different directions. If I could encapsulate this summer with APIENC in a
I sat in a Zoom room with 30 other people—most, I didn’t know, and all, I had never actually met in-person. It was our first weekend of LEX—APIENC’s API Queer Justice Leadership Exchange—and I felt a mix of anxiety and excitement. Just over a year ago, I first joined APIENC. At the time, the COVID-19
My name is Leo Shanti Hegde, I use he and they pronouns, and I am excited to share that I’m APIENC’s newest community organizer! I’m a second-generation Indian American who grew up in Edison, New Jersey. I attended college on the ancestral lands of the Cherokee and Shawnee people in Nashville, Tennessee, and since 2019
Dear APIENC community, This year, our community has faced crisis after crisis. We’ve been targeted by white supremacist attacks, denied access to gender-affirming healthcare, isolated through the COVID-19 pandemic and so much more. So many trans and queer APIs have been made to feel helpless. While many of us may be feeling low on charge,
