Tichike Tumalan didn’t necessarily plan on being a community organizer. What he wanted was to create places for people like him to connect with others.
Tumalan, 24, is a program coordinator at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center’s Trans Chicago Empowerment Center, but he’s been putting together community events for queer people long before he came into his current role. To him, queerness is something that’s “rooted in activism, fighting for each other and being in community.”
Tumalan got involved with PRCC before he was even hired, as he’s been organizing events out of there for a couple years. For his initial organizing—which focused on nearly the same demographic as his role at PRCC—he helped put together events for the “priority population” of trans people.
He had stumbled upon PRCC in 2019 while searching for affordable free spaces to host events since he was a college student at the time. His initial collective, called “Brown Baby Art,” was looking for a space specifically highlighting Black and brown trans people and ended up using the space for a queer art market.
He was hired at PRCC in fall of 2024 after he graduated from University of Illinois Chicago a few months prior with his bachelor’s in Latin American and Latino Studies. He was recently accepted to go back for his master’s degree this fall.
When it comes to organizing events, Tumalan said he was inspired to get involved because he didn’t see many spaces for Black and brown trans people. He now uses his role to create the spaces he envisions—from parties to support groups to arts workshops.
“This is the Trans Empowerment space,” he said. “We need to have a lot of Black and brown trans people here. We need to share resources. We need to be in community with one another, specifically now with the new administration.”
His focus often leans towards trans Latinos as a Mexican trans man himself. However, he said he learned how to incorporate Black feminist frameworks during his time in college and has been trying to implement different types of activism in his work.
“It’s rooted in, ‘How are we going to work together to go against these systems that are curating harm towards us?’” Tumalan said. “We can’t do that alone—it can’t just be the Latine trans population. It also has to include other folks that are marginalized, like Black trans people and Asian trans people, as well. It includes everyone.”
His own community is still something he naturally feels at home in. In some of the T4T support groups, specifically the ones hosted in Spanish, he feels more connected to participants’ lives. He said that can be the case for others—many people in the groups have migrated from a different country and feel most themselves in the Spanish groups.
To him, that’s why it’s important to make sure people have specific resources geared towards their demographics and experiences.
However, he’s aware of the intensity and detail it can take to plan and host these events. Over time, Tumalan said he’s learned to lean on and ask for help from others in order to avoid burnout. For his next event, the second T4T Love Fest, he said he has a bunch of help and volunteers involved.
As an artist himself, some of Tumalan’s favorite parts of his job include designing visuals and reaching out to people. He said he loves the opportunity to build deeper relationships with community members beyond just what they can do with each other.
Born and raised in Chicago, Tumalan grew up in Logan Square. He said he noticed a lot of the gentrification going on in the neighborhood—however, he has fond memories of walking to school with his sibling and other kids in the then-majority Latino neighborhood. Now, he lives in the Hermosa neighborhood.
Tumalan came out as trans when he was around 12-13. He said he was the only trans person at his school, which was difficult to navigate as some of his teachers were queerphobic or transphobic. Although he did have supportive friends and teachers, he still dealt with a lot of bullying.
“I feel like children are one of the most marginalized identities that there is,” he said. “A lot of times, their feelings get brushed off. They’re not seen as important. They’re not seen as [being] able to have some autonomy. So it was a little bit hard.”
When it came to his family, Tumalan said his mom had separated from his dad by the time he came out, which he thinks made it more possible for him to transition. He also had an aunt who was more open to queerness and helped encourage his family to accept his identity. He went on to start testosterone at age 16.
Although being in his school could feel isolating, Tumalan eventually found queer community through the events he began organizing.
That’s why intersectionality is important to him and his work—Tumalan said he and others he knows have experienced an “othering” by white queer or trans folks due to their Black or brown identities. He said it’s imperative to him to curate spaces where queer people of color feel seen and understood in their experiences.
For his upcoming T4T Love Fest, he said he’s curated all trans BIPOC venders and primarily trans BIPOC performers. He’s also planning to organize a series of party events specifically aimed at Black and brown queer folks.
Maria Collado, associate director for Trans Chicago, has worked directly with Tumalan since January but has known him for about a year. She said he’s someone who’s “incredibly dedicated,” creative and very involved with his community.
She also highlighted how he’ll go “above and beyond” for participants, even if it includes services the center doesn’t offer. She said one man came in just for testing and after Tumalan found out he was homeless and needed food, he took it upon himself to fundraise for him to secure housing as well as cook and deliver some meals.
“And that’s not the one guy he did it for,” she said. “Everybody that comes in through these doors, if they need anything like a resume, a recommendation, clothes for a job interview or whatever it is, he’s going to make sure that that person is provided for.”
Outside of work, Collado said Tumalan is a very outgoing and affectionate person. She said she didn’t expect to build a friendship with him outside of work considering she’s in a supervisor role, but she did due to his ability to connect with anyone.
Tumalan’s favorite part of bringing people together is getting to have that community connection—whether through having a longer talk or just checking in with each other. With everything affecting the trans community today, that’s what keeps him grounded, too.
“They’re like, ‘Oh, how have you been? What have you been up to?’” he said. “And it’s good to express my feelings and share how I’ve been feeling also, because I think it goes both ways. I think that’s my favorite part. Conversation, and getting to know my community a little bit more.