As the executive director of the Asian Pacific Islander Community AIDS Project (APICAP), Pride Grand Marshal Jess San Roque is responsible for education and activism on behalf of Asian Pacific Islanders living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. APICAP offers outreach, para-professional counseling and support, health education, prevention and treatment, and risk reduction services.

In addition to his work with APICAP, San Roque is also on the Advisory Board for Bienestar, as well as The Center’s Public Policy Board and the San Diego Chief of Police’s GLBT Advisory Board. If that isn’t enough to keep him busy, San Roque is also a member of The Center’s Earnest B. Green Diversity Committee, the Mandy Schultz LGBT Scholarship Committee and the Tijuana AIDS Fund Committee.

San Roque, who is incredibly generous with his time, serves on several HIV/AIDS-related boards and committees in order to give the Asian Pacific Islander (API) population adequate representation and to monitor decisions that affect his clients at APICAP.

“I truly became involved in HIV activism because I really didn’t see a lot of Asian Pacific Islanders advocating for people living with HIV/AIDS. So I was, in a way, pushed to really be out there in the forefront. I’ve had many friends who have died from HIV/AIDS,” San Roque said.

San Roque went on to explain that in the API culture, when a person discloses that they are gay or have HIV/AIDS, one of two things happens. Either the family will rally around them and be completely supportive or they will turn their back and disown the person. More often than not, San Roque noted, the person is shunned by the family and left to find support elsewhere.

San Roque, who is very focused on stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS, wanted to create a place where all people of color affected by HIV/AIDS could find education, advocacy and support. His dedication to APICAP is such that, even when there was no available funding, San Roque stayed on as executive director for two of his 10 years without pay.

Another example of San Roque’s dedication to the GLBT community was made apparent when he was asked to co-chair the Philippine Parade planning committee in 1999. San Roque told the committee that he would participate on the condition that a GLBT contingent could be represented in the parade. He considers this one of his greatest accomplishments.

“I was able to bring in the LGBT community [to the Philippine Parade] for the very first time in 12 years that they’ve been doing this parade. I guess that was one of my biggest accomplishments, being able to bring the LGBT community to a very conservative community and a very conservative organization. I wanted to show them that we give a lot to the community,” San Roque explained.

San Roque was also the catalyst of another groundbreaking event. In February of this year he paved the way for long-time activist Nicole Murray-Ramirez to speak to members of the Catfish Club about HIV/AIDS issues in GLBT communities of color. San Roque’s efforts at bridging the gap between conservative contingents of the African-American community and the GLBT community paid off. In a follow up event, Reverend George Walker Smith spoke at The Center. Many San Diego GLBT leaders attribute this historic event to San Roque’s hard work.

San Roque remembers being very nervous the first time he marched in a Pride parade, but, because he was surrounded by close friends, he felt safe. However, his most important memories of Pride are not about his own personal experiences. His modesty comes through as he recalls the accomplishments of his agency.

“APICAP has been very involved with Pride. We’ve won three different awards as a Pride contingent, and I say this proudly because it was our clients who put together our Pride contingent. They designed and created the idea of how we should showcase the API community,” San Roque recalled.

San Roque feels that we should celebrate our pride all the time, not just during Pride weekend.

“Gay pride should be an every day thing. We should be proud of who we are. I truly believe that having Gay Pride [celebrations] is an important thing. It gives us a day to be who we really are.”