Lance Toma Creates Safe Spaces for San Francisco's LGBTQ+ AAPI Community Published an hour ago Submitted by Gilead Sciences Lance Toma was looking for community. Raised in Hawaii, he came out as gay when he moved to Chicago as an adult and found work serving LGBTQ+ youth and adults there. However, at the time there were few resources specifically created for LGBTQ+ Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. “I could see there was such a dissonance about race,” Lance says. “I kept thinking ‘How can I serve my AAPI community?’” The answer came in 1999, in the form of a job offer in San Francisco. API Wellness, now called the San Francisco Community Health Center, was looking for a director of programs and Lance moved across the country and took the job. In 2006, he was named executive director. Fifteen years later, he continues to create innovative programs and resources aimed at supporting the health and wellbeing of the LGBTQ+ community and people of color.