API Equality-LA

For Give Out Day this year, we are fundraising to sustain and grow the API Equality-LA internship program. 

 Founded in 2005, API Equality-LA has been a tireless advocate in the Greater Los Angeles Asian and Pacific Islander (API) communities for fair treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and marriage equality for same-sex couples.

Our internship program serves to introduce young leaders who are passionate about equal rights for API and LGBT communities to community organizing and advocacy work. The program provides students and recent graduates with the theoretical foundations and practical skills to effectively organize in API and LGBT communities.

A few of our past interns have kindly shared their stories about their experience working with API Equality-LA. Keep the program going with a donation today! 

Shaomay, Fall 2014 Intern 

“Interning at API Equality-LA has greatly influenced the way I think about myself and my community. I used to be ashamed that I am API and queer. It was just too hard to be both. I struggled to accept these parts of myself. During my time at API Equality-LA, I have come to realize that the people here, staff, volunteers, chairs, and everyone involved are so remarkable. They make me feel proud of who I am. I have never felt the strength of the word community as I do now. Many places rave about the term community, but to see it being applied here in API Equality-LA is really empowering.”

Elliot, Summer 2013 Intern 

 

"I interned at API Equality LA because I wanted to learn more about how organizing can be used to influence policy in areas that matter a great deal to me. But what I ended up learning was so much more. The interns who I worked with  were all incredible, extraordinary individuals. Many of them were in the top of their class and some were already on their way to successful careers. But no matter how smart or comfortable they appeared to be, the other interns I worked with were struggling with issues of their identity as much as I or anyone else in our position was.

There are very few civil rights organizations that specifically address issues affecting queer people of color, so many assume all LGBT people have the same problems and one solution can solve all LGBT problems, including the immigration issues that undocumented LGBT people are faced with. But it was only through my time at API Equality LA that I could see how the hypervisibility of Asian Pacific Americans as presumed foreigners/immigrants combined with the simultaneous invisibility of Asian Pacific Americans in discussions on gay rights render LGBT Asian Pacific Americans more vulnerable, though this vulnerability is hidden by the model minority trope.

I am so fortunate to be living in a time when we have learned to celebrate difference, but when difference is viewed in singular terms and one is thought to represent all, there is still work to be done. Though the other interns and I were facing identity issues in our own way, we were able to find our own beauty in each others’ differences, and I hope that API Equality LA can remain a place where other interns can find themselves, each other, and their community for years to come."

 

 

See more at: http://apiequalityla.org