Happy LGBTQ Pride! June may be over but our Pride will never end! Since COVID19 hit, it’s been one crisis after another, but your support is helping us to weather through it. Thank you so much!! For 4 months, I’ve been sheltering at home in Queens, NY. I live a few blocks from Elmhurst Hospital. In April, it was the epicenter of the epicenter of the pandemic in America. Refrigerator trucks are still outside. Testing lines snake around the block. When I rode my bike nearby there was a stench in the air that I haven’t smelled since the days just after 9/11. When Trump saw pictures of the emergency room, he changed his tune and thought “Maybe there is a public health problem.”
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I knew that NQAPIA needed to immediately support the community with love and resources, especially those who were vulnerable, and fight the hate, violence, injustice, and ignorance that we were seeing. Your donation made a huge impact in our work. Here are 10 Resilient Respites that you made happen.
Supporting Black Lives Matter with money, people, action
The killing of George Floyd in Minnesota shocked so many of us. APIs for Black Lives Matter joined several protests. At NQAPIA, we centered the voices of Black folks and renewed our work to fight police misconduct. A zoom discussion on Asian-Black solidary with the bar association drew 149 attendees. Our videos show how LGBTQ APIs can, and must, support Black Lives Matter. We issued an early call to action for APIs to fight against police brutality. 69 people sent messages to federal, state, and local officials to defund the police and invest in communities. After the killing of George Floyd, we immediately launched a fundraising drive. 25 people joined a phone bank that raised $3,251 for Black trans-led organizations, which was profiled in NBC Asian America: 75 ways AAPIs are speaking out for Black lives.
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Digital Convenings & Workshops for 771 LGBTQ API activists
NQAPIA is a national federation of 62 member groups across the country. In March, we launched crisis response through e-actions and modeled public statements to respond to xenophobia. NQAPIA immediately transitioned our work to take care of our community with online convenings, workshops on hard skills, and virtual artist performances ● 266 people attended our on-line peer-support groups, accessed mental health resources and participated in our culturally relevant mindful movement ● 134 activists shared their skills on digital meeting facilitation, digital fundraising, budgeting, and caregiving for older LGBTQ APIs ● 71 people got political education on Mutual Aid, Climate Justice, and Being Black & API.
In total, 771 people participated in all of our digital spaces, allowing us to connect and process while we were all physically distant.
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Countering Anti-Asian Violence
Ever since Trump said the “Wuhan Virus” and the “Kung Fu Flu,” our community encountered an unprecedented level of intimidation and harassment. NQAPIA spoke out against COVID19 related violence and bigotry in Vice.com, and hosted an open convening with 83 people to strategize a community response. This resulted in a new campaign: “Unmasking Our Stories: LGBTQ+ Anti-Asian Violence Under COVID19.”
COVID19 Public Education
We celebrated Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with a month of digital trainings, support groups, skill shares, and political education workshops. We commissioned a series of LGBT API artists to educate and inspire the community.
Protecting Our Health
Last year, NQAPIA organized 259 people to submit their stories to delay a proposed rule to eliminate the Affordable Care Act’s nondiscrimination provisions (Section 1557). But on June 12, the Trump Administration pushed forward. NQAPIA’s analysis reached both coasts with articles in the Washington Blade and Los Angeles Blade on the reckless and irresponsible move to allow discrimination in health care, especially as more states open up. Also, in March, while Congress debated the CARES Act, NQAPIA lobbied to ensure immigrants had free access to testing and treatment. Our COVID19 e-Action: Don't Leave Us Out secured 264 personal messages to individual US Senators and Representatives.
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Getting Our Fair Share: educating 1,044,432 LGBTQ people about the Census
The Census drives resources and representation for our communities. NQAPIA’s article explained the importance of the Census and its impact on the LGBTQ community and people of color. It was published in media outlets across the country in The Advocate, and in Georgia, New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Seattle, and Philadelphia reaching over one million (1,001,155) people. A combination of infographic ads on various census issues directly reached 43,277 LGBT APIs. The ad features topics such as the Census and the arts, college financial aid, LGBT families, disability justice, older Asian Americans, mental illness, Census & trans/gnc people, intimate partner violence, and HIV/AIDS. We will continue this promotion in August when the census door-to-door canvassing period commences.
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Winning LGBT Rights at the Supreme Court – Reaching 3 Million in Asian Media
When the US Supreme Court ruled that the Civil Rights Act (Title VII) prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, NQAPIA immediately mobilized to educate the Asian media about this important victory. 1 in 3 (or 5.2 Million) Asian Americans live in one of 30 states and are at risk of being fired, refused housing or denied services simply because of who they are. We trained 10 Asian spokespersons who were bilingual in Chinese, Korean, Hindi, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. Some of them resided in Texas, Florida, and Georgia where there are no state protections. Ethnic media readership reached 3,209,153 Asians in the US. • Nguoi Viet newspaper, circulation of 605,552 Vietnamese • Korean Yonhap News Agency, 1 million wire subscribers • Korean Central Daily, circulation 1.37 million • Korean Times, circulation 200,000 • Japanese Nikkan San (Daily Sun) • Rafu Shimpo, circulation 33,601 NQAPIA had an amicus brief in the case focusing on LGBT people of color. NQAPIA's more nuanced statement said that we still have so much to do but we will savor this moment.
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Leading the LGBT Community to Save DACA … for Now
In a stunning second victory, the Supreme Court blocked Trump’s proposed cancellation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. NQAPIA led the LGBTQ community in an amicus brief showing how more is at stake for LGBTQ DACA recipients. Many come from countries where homosexuality is a crime. Our brief profiled the stories of Tony Choi, a gay Korean, and Bupendra Ram, a queer South Asian from Fiji. 35 LGBT groups joined our brief, including several local API groups and national organizations such as Lambda Legal, GLAD, Immigration Equality, PFLAG, SAGE, and TLDF. For now, DACA recipients are safe, but DACA can still be cancelled later. Congress must pass the Dream Act!
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Fundraising Success – Turning a $91,000 Deficit into a $25,940 Surplus!
When the quarantine started, NQAPIA cancelled fundraisers and faced contractual cancellation fees. We endured an initial $91,000 financial hit! But a few rapid response funds, and 117 individual donors like you, came to our rescue and overturned a massive deficit to a $25,940 surplus! They gave gifts ranging from $5 to $4,000, averaging $142. This will resource all of the work detailed in this update. We also launched a Rapid Response Fund to support low-wage immigrant workers in the restaurant and hotel service industries who have supported NQAPIA and the LGBTQ community. We raised $2,695 to help them get through this crisis.
We were only able to do all this because of your support. Thank you so much, Glenn D. Magpantay Executive Director
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LOOKING FORWARD - There is still so much to do. We will continue our:
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Digital Advocacy o Congress must outlaw anti-LGBTQ discrimination in housing, education, health care, public spaces and services by passing the LGBTQ Equality Act o States and Cities must defund the police and reinvest in communities. o We must abolish ICE and defend immigrants’ rights
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Leadership Summit trainings with capacity-building online workshops on: Foundation Fundraising, Building a Team, Legal Issues and 501(c)3, Power, Privilege and Consent, Managing Support Groups, and Census 2020
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Election Mobilization through with voter registration, voter guide candidate positions in 13 House and 16 Senate races, and voter protection to guard against anti-Asian, anti-trans disenfranchisement.
You will make all of this happen. Thank you! NQAPIA Post Office Box 1277 Old Chelsea Station New York, NY 10113
You Delivered 10 Resilient Respites – Thank You