SEPT 2019 | T

Image description: T is indoors, sitting on a purple sofa, left arm resting on the back of the sofa, looking down and smiling toward a chessboard.
Image description: T is indoors, sitting on a purple sofa, right arm resting on the back of the sofa, looking down and smiling toward a chessboard.

T (they/them) is a software engineer, organizer, powerlifter and gardener who is also currently an active volunteer with APIENC’s Trans Justice committee. Most recently, T has been working hard to support APIENC’s TGNC API Needs Assessment. They identify as a trans South Indian person who experiences caste privilege.

T was politicized in the Bay. Their worldview was shaped through their experience with ASATA, learning from Dalit and Muslim organizers fighting Hindu nationalism, training activists on digital security practices, and deep relationship with radical community. All these experiences inform why T continues to volunteer with APIENC.

While being “APIENC-adjacent” for many years, T decided to join the Trans Justice Committee and is currently learning what organizing looks like when we truly prioritize our relationships with each other. T’s most memorable APIENC moment was helping to plan the volunteer Appreciation Brunch last November: there was an air quality crisis and Brunch organizers were presented with an opportunity to proactively respond and care for our community. While the crisis could have caused us to cancel the Appreciation Brunch, APIENC staff and volunteers were able to shift our agenda to make sure people who needed rides could get them, people who needed care kits could have them delivered, and most importantly, our relationships and our community was stronger after.

T has big hopes and dreams for the LGBTQ API community, which are rooted in our relationships to each other:


“I want to see us create spaces to actively learn about each other’s histories and experiences, in a way that doesn’t flatten our identity or assume shared experience but instead build across differences and hierarchies in the hopes of strengthening our movements and showing up for each other. “

-T

Fun fact: T recently participated in their second powerlifting competition.