Tag: LGBTQ+

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Invisible Queerness

Being queer and Asian is “a very powerful identity.”

Creator:
Clover Lee (she/they)

Mainstream discussions around diversity and representation often revolve around culture/race/ethnicity; but it’s obvious that an intersectional approach is needed to better address and understand people’s experiences. What happens when race and queerness intersect? What kinds of experiences do they have that might be different from those who aren’t queer? In Clover’s paper, she explores the experiences of queer Asians in Vancouver to illustrate the power of such an intersectional identity, and also the challenges of embodying this intersectional identity while navigating an LGBTQIA+ space that is very White-centric, as well as domestic spaces that are very heteronormative. While it is challenging to have to navigate these spaces and deal with discrimination in multiple forms in numerous spaces, the people featured in Clover’s paper are resolute in their pride for their identity.

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“I don’t feel like I am desirable”

[G]ay Asian men must get their membership ‘approved’ when white gay men do not.

Author:
Nathan Bawaan

Nathan writes about the experiences of Asian Gay and Bisexual Men (GBM) and men who have sex with men (MSM), and the struggles that they often have to deal with – systemic racism within LGBTQ+ communities, the resulting internalized racism, and how both impact their mental health. As Nathan explains, Asian GBM and MSM exist in a system in which they sometimes reject their own ethnic identities and idealize Whiteness (and particularly White gayness), often out of a desire to fit into LGBTQ+ spaces. This piece dovetails nicely with Tiffany Ou’s animation about the stripping down of the fight for queer liberation into effectively a gay White man’s struggle. Nathan points out that this kind of self-loathing, to the point of not recognizing oneself as being desirable, presents particularly difficult mental health challenges for Asian GBM and MSM – with extremely concerning physical health implications, too. How, then, can Asian GBM MSM find community within LGBTQ+ spaces, or must they create their own?

Click on the following to reveal the paper (Note: PDF viewer not compatible with some mobile platforms; but it is available for download or to view via mobile PDF viewers)

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Thresholding

“So, what did nice conservative gay white men do? They sell a community that liberated them down the river” – Sylvia Rivera

Artist:
Tiffany Ou 欧倩怡 (she/her)

Queerness. Queerness is an identity, and it’s also a way of existing. Queerness, though, isn’t just about being queer. What many boil down to a single point of discourse is actually a complex interplay of multiple identities and intersectionalities at the same time. Tiffany’s illustration/animation shows the viewer a simple yet effective visual representation of how cultural and historical discourse often oversimplifies the richness of queerness into a single issue. In the context of a society with lots of societal defaults, the erasure of the richness of queerness and the diversity among queer folks fighting for liberation often converges into the image of a struggle for White cisgender gay men’s recognition. What implications does this have for racialized queer folks fighting (/who fought) for liberation, and what more needs to be done?

Click on the following to reveal the artist’s statement (Note: PDF viewer not compatible with some mobile platforms; but it is available for download or to view via mobile PDF viewers)

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Intersectionality Matters!

Both Asian Canadians and LGBTQ+ Canadians are facing increasing rates of discrimination and violence

Author:
Tsuba Shima (she/her)

Health is a huge issue when it comes to the Asian diaspora for numerous reasons – cultural barriers, traditional systems of medicine, discrimination, and other factors all play an important role. The discussion that needs to take place with greater prominence is understanding how racialization, gender, and sexual orientation all intersect with each other to better explain and account for variability in health. Tsuba conducts a comprehensive review to examine whether or not such intersectionality matters when examining health disparities. In particular, do conventional health trends regarding racialized settlers in Canada replicate for racialized LGBTQ+ folks, and what implications does this have for future research involving this topic?

Click on the following to reveal the paper (Note: PDF viewer not compatible with some mobile platforms; but it is available for download or to view via mobile PDF viewers)

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You should work twice as hard as everyone around you

“…oh you are Persian, so you should get good grades…”

Host:
Sahar Sajjadi سحر سجادي (she/her)

Guest:
Kawa Ada (Afghan heritage; Actor, Writer, Producer; he/him)

The migration experience can often be a very difficult one, and this difficulty can be compounded when one simultaneously experiences multiple axes of oppression: what happens when someone is at the intersection of being a war refugee, from West Asia, and being part of the LGBTQ+ community? Between external and internal racism, homophobia, war trauma, and acculturative stress, there is so much that someone in that position would have to deal with. From the midst of this intersection emerged an individual with endless understanding and insight. Join Sahar and her guest, Kawa, as they explore various cultural issues that West Asian diaspora face in Canada. There is perhaps no better way to set up this entry’s question with Sahar’s own: What does it mean to be a human, and what does it mean to live your truth?

Download here

Click on the following to reveal the podcast’s transcript (Note: PDF viewer not compatible with some mobile platforms; but it is available for download or to view via mobile PDF viewers)

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