NQAPIA Newsletter 2011

LGBT AAPI Youth Briefing at The White House PLUS: A (Lunar) New Year for “Creating Change” Community Catalyst Awards: Honoring Our Own Immigration: Same Challenges, New Opportunities and more...

STAFF & CONTACT INFO:

Board of Directors: As of October 2011. Affiliations for identification purposes only.

Ben de Guzman Co-Director of Programs NQAPIA 1322 18th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 ben_deguzman@nqapia.org Glenn D. Magpantay Co-Director of Development

The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) is a federation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) organizations. We seek to build the organizational capacity of local LGBT AAPI groups, develop leadership, promote visibility, educate our community, enhance grassroots organizing, expand collaborations, and challenge homophobia and racism.

NQAPIA is a project of the Tides Center in San Francisco, CA.

NQAPIA 233 Fifth Avenue Suite 4A New York, NY 10016 glenn_magpantay@nqapia.org www.nqapia.org nqapia@gmail.com

SUPPORTERS: Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice

In this issue:

Open Society Foundations

LGBT AAPI Youth Briefing at The White House, Here and There: Local Updates,

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Asian Americans/Pacific Islander in Philanthropy

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A (Lunar) New Year for “Creating Change”,

National Gay & Lesbian Task Force

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Community Catalyst Awards: Honoring Our Own,

Aries Liao QWAVE, New York, NY Alison Lin HotPot!, Philadelphia, PA Asha Leong Washington, DC Joy Messinger Invisible to Invincible (i2i), Chicago, IL Rakesh Modi, Trikone, San Francisco, CA

Mandy Hu Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Palo Alto, CA Sel Hwahng IGLHRC, Brooklyn, NY Karl Kimpo Chicago, IL Phill Ozaki Japanese American Citizens League, San Francisco, CA Tawal Panyacosit API Equality, San Francisco, CA

Mala Nagarajan Creative Collaborations, Rockville, MD

Ryan Shen QWAVE, Flushing, NY

Becca Ahuja National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, Brooklyn, NY

Liz Thomson Invisible to Invincible (i2i), University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Anjali Chaudhry Chhaya CDC, Jackson Heights, NY

Monna Wong Baltimore, MD

Lance Dwyer API Wellness Center, San Francisco, CA

David Bohnett Foundation

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Immigration: Same Challenges, New Opportunities,

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NQAPIA Summits: Training AAPI LGBT Leadership,

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Wells Fargo Bank Asian Americans Justice Center Ignatius Bau API Equality Northern California

Visibility and Memory: Reflections on 9/11 from South Asian and LGBT Perspectives, Where We’ve Been: NQAPIA on the Road in 2010 and 2011!,

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Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA) United Airlines Continental Airlines

Photo Credit: Michelle Yeung

LGBT AAPI Youth Briefing at The White House

Here and There: Local Updates

Clockwise from left: 1. LGBT AAPI Administration Officials; 2. Kalpen Modi, White House Office of Public Engagement; 3. Alice Hom & Ben de Guzman; 4. Group shot in the White House

On May 23, NQAPIA brought AAPI LGBT community perspectives directly to the White House itself. Working with the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and the Office of Public Engagement, NQAPIA, the Queer Justice Fund of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy and Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center brought youth leaders and community advocates from around the country for an historic discussion on issues of concern to AAPI LGBT Youth in recognition of May as AAPI Heritage Month.

Speaking with representatives from federal agencies about policy issues, and LGBT AAPI appointees in President Obama’s Administration, the participants of this White House Pride & Heritage event were able to engage the highest levels of government to tell their stories.

In June 2011, NQAPIA staff joined other AAPI LGBT leaders from other parts of the country at a reception at the White House to celebrate June as Pride Month.

LGBT AAPI organizations across the United States have promoted visibility, advocated on issues, and provided critical support to those who need it most. Here’s a sample of what they’ve done:

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New York: GAPIMNY, QWAVE and SALGA joined the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission to protest the Hong Kong Social Welfare Department’s “ex-gay” conversion workshops for its social workers. Activists held a “public shower-in” in front of the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office on August 7 as a jab to the workshop’s program that touted cold showers as a “cure” for homosexuality.

Washington, DC: As part of its annual Pride & Heritage celebration, DC’s local LGBT AAPI organizations rolled out the red carpet to welcome the youth and advocates who took part in the LGBT AAPI youth briefing at The White House on May 23.

Held at Café Asia, the event was packed to the gills and brought together friends and allies from national organizations, political appointees and community activists.

St. Paul, MN: Shades of Yellow (SOY) put on the Hmong LGBTQA Loud & Proud Action Summit on May 21-22, 2011 to provide a space to build community, heal, and plan action steps to unite the intergenerational gap between parents and elders with LGBTQ individuals.

ABOVE: “Public Shower-In” at the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office in New York, 8/7/2011

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Portland, OR: Asian Pacific Islander Pride took part in the national Banyan Tree Project campaign by hosting a Happy Hour on May 19, 2011. They joined events all over the country to recognize national API HIV/ AIDS Awareness Day. San Francisco, CA: API Equality- Northern California took the term “visibility” seriously in organizing what might have been the first ever LGBT AAPI flash mob in San Francisco on Sunday, August 21, 2011.

Almost 100 people took part in the event, which was covered by ethnic media and went viral on a number of social media networks.

Washington, DC: NQAPIA was saddened to hear about the death of KhushDC-member Gaurav Gopalan, who died on September 10, 2011. His death was pronounced a homicide ten days later. KhushDC worked to not only to wrap its arms around Gaurav’s chosen family in DC, but to hold authorities accountable and to demand safety for all our communities.

Gaurav’s murder was the most recent example of a tragic and unconscionable string of violence against the LGBTs, the majority of whom were people of color and transgender.

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A (Lunar) New Year for “Creating Change”

Every year, AAPI LGBT activists take part in Creating Change: The National Conference on LGBT Equality hosted by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Creating Change is the country’s largest social justice conference for LGBT activists and brings thousands of participants together. At the 2011 conference in Minneapolis, MN, NQAPIA partnered with a diverse group of individuals and organizations from the Twin Cities and around the country to put on the most ambitious slate of programming ever.

NQAPIA spearheaded the first ever AAPI Institute, a full day of programming by and for AAPIs, in addition to workshops on LGBT AAPI Organizing and Immigration and an AAPI Caucus. The Institute included an opening dialogue moderated by API EqualityNorthern California Director and NQAPIA Board member Tawal Panyacosit representing different generations of LGBT AAPI activists, including former Task Force Executive Director Urvashi Vaid, NQAPIA Co-Director for Programs Ben de Guzman, and HotPot member Alison Lin.

Sessions allowed participants to explore issues facing AAPI LGBT communities, learn about our histories, and build communities and movement together. Over 70 participants made this inaugural event a smashing success that included AAPI folks from around the country, students, and an appearance by Lt. Dan Choi, founder of West Point LGBT group and military inclusion activist.

This year’s Creating Change began on the same day as Lunar New Year, so the Task Force welcomed planners of the AAPI Institute to the main stage during the opening plenary to recognize this culturally significant holiday for our communities.

Moving testimony from Vanessa Coe from API Equality-Northern California, Chong Moua from Shades of Yellow, and Ben de Guzman from NQAPIA not only honored our families to celebrate Lunar New Year, but unapologetically laid out the dilemma that our communities have to face in attending the conference to talk about Creating Change, or to actually do it by engaging our communities in the cultural events that happen at the same time in our localities back home. NQAPIA continues to engage the Task Force to figure out how to best manage schedules and commitments to best be able to create the change we need to.

LEFT (FROM TOP TO BOTTOM): 1. AAPI Institute attendees; 2. Slide Show during the AAPI Institute; 3. Institute presenters (From L-R): Alison Lin, Urvashi Vaid, Tawal Panyacosit

ABOVE: Group shot at “Creating Change: The National Conference on LGBT Equality” in Minneapolis, MN.

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Community Catalyst Awards: Honoring Our Own

In 2011 and 2010, NQAPIA’s Community Catalyst AwardS were given to celebrate individuals and organizations that have provided exemplary service to AAPI LGBT communities.

On July 30, 2011, in collaboration with APIQWTC, GAPA, SBQA, and Trikone, NQAPIA hosted the third Community Catalyst Awards. The event was held at UC Hastings College of Law, and was kicked off by a welcome address by Frank Wu, chancellor and dean of the school, who highlighted Hastings’ rich tradition of support for AAPI and LGBT students and the community. Local diva Tita Aida and community leader Geena Dabadghav served as emcees and kept the lively program moving.

In addition, members of the local AAPI LGBT groups were recognized as “Unsung Heroes,” including: Poonam Kapoor (Trikone), Ed Tang (SBQA), Alex Lagdameo Baty (GAPA), and the APIQWTC Banquet Planning Committee.

The Rice Rockettes, known for their turn on the TV show America’s Got Talent, performed, and local Pacific Islander group One Love Oceania brought the house down with inspiring spoken word and musical selections. API Family Pride also exhibited their famous Wall of Pride, celebrating families with “Public Recognition of Private Courage.”

In July 2010, the celebration was in the Midwest and jointly organized with Invisible to Invincible: Asian & Pacific Islander Pride of Chicago (i2i), to present awards to:

Over 150 participants came to the event, including elected officials such as San Francisco Board of Supervisors President David Chiu and City Assessor/Recorder Phil Ting.

The 2011 honorees were:

• Lola Lai Jong: Longtime Asian American lesbian activist; contributor to Out and Proud in Chicago, An Overview of the City’s Gay Community; Chicago, IL

• Lance Toma and the Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center for their work on HIV/ AIDS in AAPI LGBT communities

• Lunar New Year for All Coalition: First LGBT contingent to march in Manhattan Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade; New York, NY

´ • Sông Thât · Radio, coordinator of the LGBT contingent in the Vietnamese Lunar New Year Tet Parades.

• Mohammad Abdollahi: Openly gay co-founder of DREAMActivist.org; Ann Arbor, MI

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: 1. 2011 Honorees Group Shot; 2. Kit Yan, FORMER NQAPIA Board member and emcee for Chicago Community Catalyst Awards; 3. 2010 NQAPIA Co-ChairS Rakesh Modi & ASHA LEONG with San Francisco Board of Supervisors President David Chiu; 4. Guests group shot; 5. 2010 Catalyst Honoree Mohammad Abdollahi; 6. One Love Oceania performing at THE 2011 Community Catalyst Awards; 7. 2010 Catalyst Honoree Lola Lai Jong; Photo Credit: Jed Dulanas, Michelle Yeung

Over 100 people joined the event at the Japanese American Community Services, which also celebrated i2i’s 5th year Anniversary.

Proceeds from the Community Catalyst Awards supported NQAPIA and local AAPI LGBT organizations.

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PORTLAND nov. 17, 2010 40 Participants Seattle nov. 18, 2010 100 Participants

Immigration: Same Challenges, New Opportunities

BOSTON MAR. 1, 2010 140 Participants PROVIDENCE MAR. 2, 2010 100 Participants

FEB. 28, 2011 10 PARTICIPANTS

CHICAGO MAR. 8, 2010 40 Participants

NEW YORK MAR. 4, 2010 120 Participants

Chicago, IL // March 8, 2010 akabaka productions South Asian Americans Leading Together

WASHINGTON, DC MAR. 3, 2011 30 Participants

SAN JOSE APR. 9, 2011 50 Participants

ATLANTA JUN. 9, 2010 50 Participants

PHILADELPHIA MAY 17, 2010 140 Participants

HAWAI’I APR. 14, 2011 10 Participants

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ver 60% of the AAPI community is foreign born, and AAPIs have a critical stake in immigration reform. NQAPIA continued to hit the road in 2010 and 2011 to build awareness and education on immigrants’ rights in a series of LGBT Immigration Forums. Since 2010, we have been to 12 cities to do 13 forums.

From Boston to Honolulu, almost one thousand people have taken part in NQAPIA’s community forums on immigrants’ rights. Diverse organizations have partnered with us on these Forums including LGBT organizations, AAPI groups, immigrant advocacy groups, and other community-based organizations at local, state and national levels.

In response to the new political climate in our nation’s capitol, NQAPIA shifted to more grassroots strategies. The Asian American Justice Center and

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HOUSTON MAR. 24, 2011 40 Participants TOTAL # OF PARTICIPANTS: 830

IMMIGRATION FORUM CO-SPONSORS NQAPIA are co-developing a series of fact sheets that provide specific and useful information on the impact of immigration policies and legislation on LGBT and AAPI communities. Each fact sheet covers a specific topic such as: family immigration/ same-sex couples, undocumented immigrants, deportation/ detention, workplace and student issues.

Most recently, NQAPIA has begun conversations with Jose Antonio Vargas, whose groundbreaking essay about his life as an undocumented immigrant and his experience as a gay Filipino man, helped launch the new “Define American” initiative.

As the debate marches on, NQAPIA will continue to bring the voices of AAPI LGBT immigrants and their communities to the table.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: 1. Ben de Guzman; 2. Peter Corpus; 3. Group shot at Seattle LGBT Immigration Forum; 4. filling out A NQAPIA immigration post card; 5. Sangeeta Swamy; Photo Credit: Michelle Yeung

National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum National Gay and Lesbian Task Force New York Immigration Coalition OCA-NY Queer Asian Spirit Queers for Economic Justice South Asian Americans Leading Together Stonewall Democratic Club of NY

In addition to LGBT AAPI organizations Boston, MA // March 1, 2010 Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders Massachusetts Asian and Pacific Islander for Health Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project Matahari Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition The History Project: Documenting LGBT Boston Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth The Network/La Red South Asian Americans Leading Together Providence, RI // March 2, 2010 Deported Diaspora Immigrants United Marriage Equality Rhode Island Olneyville Neighborhood Association New York // March 4, 2010 Anti-Violence Project Asian Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS Asian American Writers’ Workshop Audre Lorde Project Center for Community Change Immigration Equality Make the Road New York

Philadelphia, PA // May 17 2010 Asian American Arts Alliance Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition Atlanta, GA // June 9, 2010 Center for Pan Asian Community Services Asians and Friends Phillip Rush Center Phil Palmer Georgia Equality Atlanta Lesbian Health Initiative Portland, OR // November 17, 2010 Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon Basic Rights Oregon CAUSA Center for Intercultural Organizing Pride Foundation Seattle, WA // November 18, 2010 Asian Counseling and Referral Service Pinay sa Seattle (Gabriela-USA) Pride Foundation Seattle Central Community College South Asian Americans Leading Together Washington, DC // March 3, 2011 Asian American Justice Center National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum-DC Chapter San Jose, CA // April 9, 2010 Asian American Justice Center Asian Law Caucus Asian Americans for Community Involvement Boston, MA // February 28, 2011 Network La Red Suffolk University School of Law Honolulu, HI // April 14, 2011 Peace and Justice Coalition Houston, TX // March 24, 2011 Asian American Justice Center Queer & Asian-Houston Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality, Rice University Katine & Nechman, LLP OCA-Greater Houston Houston Young Stonewall Democrats allgo: Statewide queer people of color organization

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NQAPIA provided training sessions on working with the media, volunteer recruitment, leadership development, fundraising, and organizing in languages other than English. The Summit taught me some great fundraising techniques that are applicable in all-volunteer organizations like mine rather than the ones that I usually go to, which seem more geared to larger more established organizations.”

Priyanka Mitra South Asian Lesbian & Gay Associations (SALGA), New York, NY

NQAPIA Current Programs Annual Training and Issue Briefing for Leaders of LGBT AAPI organizations This weekend long summit focuses on networking, learning about current issues, sharing strategies, building local organizational infrastructure, and building national collaborative programs.

Prior convenings were held in San Jose in 2011, Chicago in 2010, Denver in 2008 and Oakland, CA in 2005. Our next training will be held in Honolulu in 2013.

Since 2008, NQAPIA has hosted an annual Summit of all of the nation’s AAPI LGBT organizations that form its federation for: 1. a leadership skills building training; 2. briefing on current issues affecting LGBT AAPIs; and 3. coordination on national collaborative projects and campaigns.

The 2010 Summit included 60 leaders from 39 organizations. It was hosted by Chicago’s Center on Halsted, and featured a roundtable discussion with national LGBT people of color leaders from the International Federation of Black Prides and Unid@s: The National Latino/a Human Rights Organization. The 2010 Summit included 50 leaders

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from 37 organizations and was held at the Billy De Frank LGBT Center in San Jose.

At both Summits, the issue briefings focused on marriage equality and immigrants’ rights. One leader from Los Angeles commented that, “Many people in my organization, including myself, are not fulltime activists. So one of the most valuable things that I am taking away was the plethora of information surrounding important issues” in the country.

These Summits have provided local AAPI LGBT organizations not only with resources to build their capacity and support their work locally, but expands the network of AAPI LGBT leaders and activists around the country to support each other.

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: 1. Gina Singh & Amita Rao at 2010 NQAPIA Summit; 2. Group shot at 2010 Summit; 3. Group shot at 2011 Summit; 4. API Equality-Northern California at 2011 Summit; 6. Hector Vargas at 2011 NQAPIA Summit; 7. Belinda Dronkers-Laureta and Trinity Ordona at 2011 NQAPIA Summit.; Photo Credit: Jed Dulanas, Michelle Yeung

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NQAPIA provided valuable skills-building sessions that I hope to be able to transfer to my members. A very common reason why members in our group don’t step up into leadership roles or even volunteer roles is due to the feeling that they lack ‘experience’ or ‘skills.’ I wish all my members could experience the training sessions offered at the summit because I know they would walk away feeling more confident about their own abilities…

I know I am.”

Diane Kim Korean United for Equality (KUE), Los Angeles, CA

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The Summit rocked my world! It was heartwarming and refreshing to meet so many inherently warm people; so deeply inspiring and energizing to find that they are also exceptionally motivated, outspoken, and passionate about their work. NQAPIA is responsible for the rebirth of my local chapter - it wouldn’t have been possible without them!”

Kathy Eow Queer Asian Pacific Alliance, Boston, MA

National Conference This conference brings together grassroots LGBT AAPI activists from across the nation. Prior national conferences were in Seattle in 2009 (250 attendees) and New York in 2004 (400 attendees). Washington, DC is the next conference on July 19-22, 2012.

LGBT Immigrants’ Rights In collaboration with local LGBT AAPI groups, we are spearheading an educational and advocacy campaign on immigrants’ rights that includes local community forums and press conferences featuring immigration advocates and immigrants and a national postcard campaign.

Multilingual Visibility Campaign NQAPIA aims to improve the visibility of LGBTs in the mainstream Asian American community and of Asian Americans in the broader LGBT community. This multilingual education campaign includes outreach to the Asian ethnic media and educational pieces translated into several Asian languages. (Continued on page 15)

Visibility and Memory: Reflections on 9/11 from South Asian and LGBT Perspectives

By Ben de Guzman, NQAPIA Co-Director for Programs NOTE: This is an excerpt of a fuller statement that appears at www.nqapia.org

As we commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, communities at the margins bring our own perspectives on how we remember those events, and how we in turn are remembered.

South Asians, like other Asian Americans who were often “Missing In History” as noted by activist Helen Zia, were central figures, but not always for the best ways. Even as Japanese Americans and their legacy of internment showed the United States what it meant to stand in solidarity with Muslim Americans and Arab Americans who were monolithically implicated en masse for the actions of a radical fringe, South Asian Americans and Sikhs in particular, bore the inadvertent brunt of a wounded nation looking for someone to hold accountable. By dint of the color of their skin and the trappings of their religion, they were thrust very visibly into a spotlight that more often than not, felt like crosshairs.

Svati Shah, a graduate student at the time of the 9/11 attacks remembers very clearly the ways in which South Asian LGBT leaders took care of their families and communities in New York City in the shadow of the attacks. Phone calls and frantic searches to find each other and our families were not too different than those of everyone else in the city at the time. We suffered and we served.

We were part of unconscionable body counts, and we were first responders who answered the call.

But “9/11” took on a life of its own and became a complex set of meanings and political realities.

What had become unity in the face of adversity threatened to become scapegoating in the name of security.

South Asian LGBT activists joined their straight brothers and sisters to respond to the onslaught

of restrictive and punitive policies leveled against our communities, who were already grieving along with the rest of the country. A set of immigration laws and policies already predisposed to stack the deck against immigrants and non-citizens mixed with foreign policy fed into the post-9/11 climate of rising apprehension and fear and created a perfect storm against South Asian, Sikh, Muslim and Arab communities, as well as other Asian Americans and immigrants.

In the response to the immediate threats to the civil liberties of South Asian and immigrant communities, LGBT involvement became a common occurrence, but also an unremarked one. LGBT South Asians organized to oppose the post 9/11 backlash, detentions and inhumane enforcement of immigration laws, and blanket policies of special registration for Muslims and South Asians that brought back reverberations of Japanese American internment.

Svati Shah observed that they did so not to find a “queer angle” but to respond to a “triage angle” where the immediate needs of the community did not ask whom you slept with. Many of the organizers were out of the closet to one degree or another, and as they engaged the work to ensure liberty was valued as much as security.

W.H. Auden wrote, “We must love one another or die.” Auden’s poem provided some comfort after 9/11 and his own gayness was immaterial in urging us to reach out to one another in our time of need. South Asian LGBT activists fight against the threats against our common humanity, even as we must unapologetically fight for our own right to find and keep love. 

NQAPIA Current Programs (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13) Capacity Building Resources, Workshops, and Trainings This includes a descriptive directory of all of the nation’s LGBT AAPI groups, organizational tool kit with best practices and model documents, fiscal sponsorship, and special trainings/workshops.

Participation in Current Issues NQAPIA raises the LGBT AAPI voice in current issues and we promote LGBT AAPI engagement. Some examples include the Equality March on Washington in 2009, the Immigrants’ Rights March on Washington in 2010, Census 2010, and an LGBT Youth Briefing with White House Initiative on AAPI and Office of Public Engagement in 2011.

NQAPIA on the road: 2010 & 2011 As one of the only national LGBT AND AAPI organizations, NQAPIA is often asked to provide the LGBT perspective for national AAPI advocacy groups and the AAPI / people of color perspective for national LGBT groups.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: 1. NQAPIA Co-Chair Alison Lin; 2. NQAPIA San Francisco House Party, 4/11; 3. LGBT Immigration Forum in San Jose, 4/11; 4. Laronne Faulkner & NQAPIA Board Member Phill Ozaki at San Francisco House Party; 5. Drea Nishimoto at 2011 NQAPIA Summit

June 24, 2010, Arlington, VA: Asian American Center for Advancing Justice Advancing Justice Conference

May 16, 2011, Arlington, VA: Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum Voices Conference

October 26, 2010, Washington, DC: National LGBT Coalition for Health National Conference

June 6, 2011, Washington, DC: Capitol Pride Queer People of Color Panel Discussion

December 4, 2010, Washington, DC: Gay and Lesbian Leadership Institute’s International Gay and Lesbian Leadership Conference

July 23, 2011, Oakland, CA: Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance National Convention

May 3, 2011, Washington, DC: Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies Leadership Symposium

August 6, 2011, New York, NY: OCA (formerly Organization of Chinese Americans) National Convention 15 // NQAPIA NEWS 2011

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Asian Pacific Islander Organizations Northern California Gay Asian Pacific Alliance Trikone Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women and Transgender Coalition Asian Pacific Islander Equality–Northern California Barangay South Bay Queer and Asian

National Conference: Save the Date!

Southern California API Pride Council API Equality-Los Angeles Gay Asian Pacific Support Network Barangay - The Gay Filipino Organization of Los Angeles Satrang Asian American Queer Women Activists

Presence Power Progress A National Conference of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Asian Americans, South Asians, Southeast Asians, and Pacific Islanders to network, organize, agitate, educate, and build capacity of the nation’s LGBT AAPI community.

Pacific Northwest Trikone-Northwest, Seattle, WA Asian Pacific Islander Pride-Portland, Portland, OR

July 17-22, 2012 - Washington, DC

New England Southeast Asian Queers United for Empowerment & Leadership (seaQuel), Providence, RI Queer Asian Pacific Alliance, Boston, MA Massachusetts Area South Asian Lambda Association, Boston, MA Greater New York Area Gay Asian & Pacific Islander Men of New York QWAVE South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association Mid-Atlantic/ Metro DC Area API Queers United for Action, Washington, DC Asian Pacific Islander Queer Sisters, Washington, DC Khush-DC, Washington, DC Queer Philadelphia Asians, Philadelphia, PA Hotpot!, Philadelphia, PA Midwest Invisible-to-Invincible, API Pride of Chicago Shades of Yellow (SOY), Minneapolis, MN Trikone-Chicago, Chicago, IL The South Trikone-Atlanta, Atlanta, GA Queer & Asian, Houston, TX

Crystal Gateway Marriott 1700 Jefferson Davis Highway Arlington, VA 22202 Highlights: • Desi Pre-Conference Institute • Women’s/Feminist workshop track • Workshops and Nationally Renowned Speakers • Cultural performances • NQAPIA Community Catalyst Awards Banquet • National strategy meeting of LGBT AAPIs • Parents Convening • Youth Gathering • Trans workshops

For more information, to propose a workshop, or to join the planning committee, Contact: nqapia@gmail.com