NQAPIA T HE N ATI O N A L Q UE E R AS I AN PAC I FI C I S LAND E R ALLIA N CE
2014
“Another victory in the fight for immigrants’ rights” Pg 3 Immigration Reform Pg 5 Hooray For Our Allies Pg 6 LGBT Asian American / South Asian Lawyers Pg 7 Regional Summits Pg 9 AAPI Parents Pg 10 Community Catalyst Awards In NYC Pg 11 Growing and Changing Pg 13 Regional Roundup Pg 14 Member Spotlight: MASGD
2014 NQAPIANEWS
About NQAPIA 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
NQAPIA - CURRENT PROGRAMS ANNUAL TRAINING AND ISSUE BRIEFING FOR LEADERS OF LGBT AAPI ORGANIZATIONS
immigrants, a national postcard campaign, and a National Week of Action.
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 Honolulu (2013), San Jose (2011), Chicago (2010), Denver (2008) and Oakland (2005). In 2014, we organized a series of Regional Summits.
PROMOTING VISIBILITY NQAPIA aims to improve the visibility of LGBTs in the mainstream AAPI community and of AAPIs in the broader LGBT community. This multilingual education campaign includes outreach to the Asian ethnic media and educational pieces translated into several Asian languages.
NATIONAL CONFERENCE This conference brings together grassroots LGBT AAPI activists from across the nation. Prior national conferences were in Washington, DC in 2012 (350 attendees) and Seattle in 2009 (250 attendees). New York’s 2004 conference (400 attendees) helped lay the groundwork for NQAPIA’s initial convening. The next national conference will be in Chicago, Aug. 6-9, 2015. LGBT IMMIGRANTS’ RIGHTS We are spearheading an educational and advocacy campaign on immigrants’ rights that includes local community forums, press conferences featuring AAPI
CAPACITY BUILDING RESOURCES, WORKSHOPS, AND TRAININGS This includes a descriptive directory of all of the nation’s LGBT AAPI groups, sharing best practices and model documents, fiscal sponsorship, and special trainings/ workshops. A NATIONAL VOICE NQAPIA raises the LGBT AAPI voice in current issues and we promote LGBT AAPI engagement. NQAPIA is a member of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, the coalition of national AAPI advocacy organizations and brings a racial justice lens to the LGBT policy agenda.
Thank You to NQAPIA’s Supporters! Anonymous
Ford Foundation
Unbound Philanthropies
Arcus Foundation
Four Freedoms Fund / Public Interest Projects
Verizon Foundation
Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, Queer Justice Fund Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center David Bohnett Foundation
1
NQA P IAN EW S | 2 0 14
Human Rights Campaign National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Office of Minority Health Resource Center / DHHS
Walter and Evelyn Haas, Jr. Fund
33,715 2,776 2,591 1,000 800 218 200 19 13 11 9 6 5 5 5 1
Non-LGBT AAPIs reached through emailed Pride Statements Postcards to President Obama for executive action on immigration
Individuals receive written update on immigration
2014 by the numbers
reform in the mail Conversations with families and friends about immigration reform
Phone calls to the President and Members of Congress for immigration reform
Guests at Community Catalyst Awards Dinner in New York City LGBT Asian American attorneys
Languages of information sheets for AAPI parents on being LGBT
National AAPI Organizational allies supporting LGBTs
Lobby visits with Members of Congress for immigration reform
Videos of AAPI Parents Who Love their LGBT Kids
LGBT AAPI groups meet with Department of Homeland Security and Lobby Congress
Regional Summits training 151 leaders of LGBT AAPI organizations South Asian groups trained by NQAPIA for SAALT’s “We Build Community” Groups fiscally sponsored by NQAPIA for grants and taxdeductible donations
Roundtable meeting with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
1322 18th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036
NQAPIA 233 Fifth Avenue Suite 4A New York, NY 10016 Website: www.nqapia.org Email: nqapia@gmail.com
Bex Ahuja Management Center, Brooklyn, NY Janani Balasubramanian DarkMatter, Brooklyn, NY Anj Chaudhry CAAAV, Brooklyn, NY Vivian Chung Wharton School of Business/UPenn, Philadelphia, PA Stan Fong Atlanta, GA Mandy Hu San Francisco, CA Kevin Lam State University of New York at New Paltz Alison Lin Oakland, CA Michelle Lee Koreans United for Equality, Los Angeles, CA Eri Oura Honolulu, HI Phillip Ozaki Lambda Legal, New York, NY Aya Tasaki Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, New York, NY Jayden Thai University of Louisville, KY Sasha Wijeyeratne Desi Queer Helpline Project, Madison WI Monna Wong API Equality - Northern California, San Francisco, CA * Affiliations for identification purposes only.
Stay in Touch with Us: NQAPIA
Board of Directors
Facebook: www.facebook. com/nqapia Twitter: @nqapia; #nqapia YouTube: youtube.com/user/ nqapia LinkedIn: http://www. linkedin.com/groups/ National-Queer-Asian-PacificIslander-4673352
NQAPIA Staff Glenn D. Magpantay Co-Director of Development glenn_magpantay@nqapia.org Pabitra Benjamin Organizing Director pabitra_benjamin@nqapia.org Roberta Sklar | Media Consultant Mia Nakano | Website Tech Consultant Julia Yang | Database Consultant Linda Le | Bookkeeper
2 01 4 | N Q API ANEWS
2
O
n November 20, 2015, President Obama announced his executive action on immigration reform. As LGBT Asian Americans, South Asians, Southeast Asians, and Pacific Islanders, we sit at the intersection of many communities and issues. The President’s plan for administrative relief also lies at that intersection. President Obama’s orders will temporarily help more undocumented immigrants than any action taken by any prior administration or Congress in decades. 4.9 million lives, including approximately 400,000 Asian immigrants, will change for the better. It will allow more people to qualify for the expanded Deferred Action (DACA) Program; allow undocumented parents as well as spouses and children of Lawful Permanent Residents and
3
NQA P IAN EW S | 2 0 14
citizens to apply for extended deferred action from deportation; and provide more professional visas for STEM workers many of whom are LGBT AAPIs, and more. These actions are the results of the immigrants’ rights movement. It is not the President’s victory. It is ours! Our communities fought for decades to get to this point and we must claim it. NQAPIA moved the debate by asking our communities to call the White House to demand relief. We stood on the streets to get postcards signed so the President knew we cared. We organized local campaigns to end the Secure Communities program. We put our lives at risk by coming out as undocumented queers. As our lives are at the intersection, many of our community members were also left out. The action provided limited relief for LGBT families whose
President Obama Takes Executive Action On Immigration
relationships are not always recognized under the law. There will be no relief for family members languishing it the visa backlogs or parents of DREAMers. The action forgives no one for crimes of survival and will continue the deportation of family members to places where we took refuge from. It keeps transgender women locked up as “men” in immigration detention. It increases the militarization of our borders, strengthening violent anti-immigrant rhetoric, even as the president acknowledges that border crossings are at their lowest level in decades. And under the new Priority Enforcement Program, “terrorists” remain a top priority concern. Discretion of arrest is on law enforcement without any safeguards against racial and religious profiling, where LGBT AAPIs are at risk.
administration on better implementation because the devil, and our dignity, are in those details. But let us also revel in our victory. Many in our family and community will surely benefit. And let us come together as queer APIA communities to work for the six (6) million immigrants, almost a million who are from Asia, still living in the shadows. NQAPIA will continue to fight for those left behind by creating permanent solutions for every member of our community.
NQAPIA’s work will move forward. We will push the
2 01 4 | N Q API ANEWS
4
Hooray For Our Allies! Aapi Groups Support LGBT Equality Members of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA) recognized LGBT Pride Month in a special initiative spearheaded by NQAPIA. Over the course of the month of June, thirteen (13) national Asian American organizations courageously released statements supporting LGBT equality. According to Ben de Guzman, NQAPIA Co-Director for Program, “This unprecedented demonstration of online recognition reflects the deep solidarity we already know exists in the AAPI community.”
Thank You to Our Allies! Asian Pacific American Institute of Congressional Studies Japanese American Citizens League National Asian Pacific American Bar Association South Asian Americans Leading Together Center for Asian Pacific American Women Asian Pacific Islander Health Forum Asian Americans Advancing Justice
Education Consortium Organization of Chinese Americans-Asian Pacific American Advocates National Asian Pacific American Families Against Substance Abuse National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum National Coalition of Asian Pacific American Community Development Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance
National Korean American Service &
The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association President William J. Simonistch penned an op-ed in The Hill opposing Arizona Senate Bill 1062, which would have given businesses the right to discriminate against LGBTs under the guise of religion. NAPABA urged Arizona Governor Jan Brewer to veto the bill, noting that if she did not do so, NAPABA might relocate its annual convention. The Japanese American Citizens League issued a statement to over 8,000 JACL members and friends that garnered 1,952 likes on FB. In 1994, JACL was the first non-LGBT civil rights organization to support marriage equality. OCA’s press statement reached 18,000 alone. NCAPACD’s statement appeared in a mainstream housing advocacy blog by the National Fair Housing Institute. AAJC highlighted their role in the repeal of DADT; passage of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act; and fight against California’s Proposition 8. NCAPACD, NAPAWF, OCA, and NAPABA also changed their logos to a rainbow colored format. Thirteen (13) AAPI organizations sent LGBT Pride statements to their memberships reaching 33,715 people and social media posts reached another 34,000 followers. BUILDING MORE ALLIES NQAPIA partnered with SALGA for an LGBT training for SAALT’s “We Build Community” program in March 2014. We trained five (5) groups: The Sikh Coalition; South Asian American Policy and Research Institute in Chicago; Chhaya CDC in Queens; Desis Rising Up and Moving in New York City; and Sapna NYC in Westchester New York. NQAPIA conducted workshops on LGBT issues for the conferences of OCA, AAJC, and the East Coast Asian American Student Union. NQAPIA also presented workshops on diversity and the AAPI community for PFLAG, NGLTF Creating Change Conference including a day-long AAPI Institute, and the Trans Health Conference in Philadelphia.
5
NQA P IAN EW S | 2 0 14
LGBT Asian American/ South Asian Lawyers Networking Reception in DC, NY & SF One week in September in three cities, nearly 200 members of the bar “came out” to celebrate the diversity within the LGBT, Asian American and South Asian communities. Partners and associates at corporate firms, government attorneys, solo practitioners, and small firms, and public interest lawyers enjoyed these back-to-backto-back networking receptions. The events raised money for students to attend NQAPIA’s conference in Chicago in August 2014. At all three receptions, notable jurists talked about the need for diversity and the importance of giving back.
In Washington, DC, Superior Judge Marisa Demeo talked about her confirmation process after President Obama nominated her in 2009. Judge Demeo is openly-lesbian, Latina, and formerly worked at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. In New York, attendees lauded State Supreme Court Justice Doris Ling-Cohan for her acumen in her ruling in Henandez v. Robles, the first case in New York to rule that the prohibition of same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. In San Francisco, US Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu talked about her journey from legal services to the bench and the need for LGBT people to find acceptance in AAPI communities and the legal profession. Special thanks go to Mayer Brown LLP in Washington, DC; Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in New York City; and Keker & Van Nest LLP in San Francisco for hosting the receptions and all the co-sponsors for making the evenings possible.
Law Firm Sponsors DIAMOND Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP Keker & Van Nest LLP Mayer Brown LLP
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
SILVER GOLD Allen & Overy LLP Covington & Burling LLP Farella Braun + Martel LLP King & Spaulding LLP Latham & Watkins LLP Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP Steptoe & Johnson LLP
Crowell & Moring LLP Morrison & Foerster LLP
BRONZE Hogan Lovells LLP Shearman & Sterling LLP
BAR ASSOCIATION SPONSORS Asian American Bar Assoc. of the Greater Bay Area Asian American Bar Assoc. of New York Asian Pacific American Bar Assoc. of Greater Washington, DC Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom LeGaL – The LGBT Bar Assoc. of Greater New York National Asian Pacific American Bar Assoc. National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance South Asian Bar Assoc. of New York South Asian Bar Assoc. of North CA South Asian Bar Assoc. of Wash. DC
2 01 4 | N Q API ANEWS
6
Regional Leadership Summits NQAPIA’s annual Leadership Summit is a wellregarded national training and issue-briefing that brings LGBT AAPIs from across the United States together. In an effort to train more leaders and promote mutual support and relationship building, this year NQAPIA coordinated five (5) Regional Summits. • • • • •
The South in Atlanta, hosted by local activists – April 4-6 Pacific Northwest in Portland, hosted by API Pride – April 11-13 Northeast / Mid-Atlantic in Philadelphia, hosted by hotpot! – July 18-20 California in Fresno, hosted by NQAPIA – July 25-27 Midwest in Minneapolis hosted by Shades of Yellow – Aug. 14-16
Issues confronting LGBT AAPI are often regionally or locally based. So the curricula for each summit were tailor made. Shreya Shah, from Training for Change presented on Organizational Life Cycles, Leadership Styles, and Inclusion. Ben de Guzman from NQAPIA briefed everyone on immigration reform developments. A pool of trainers, led sessions on phone banking actions, workshops on “Making a Strong Ask,” and grassroots fundraising. Everyone learned about the other LGBT AAPI groups in their respective regions, as well as how to plug into NQAPIA’s programs.
Thank You to the 2014 Regional Summit Sponsors and Major Advertisers ALL REGIONAL LEADERSHIP SUMMITS Arcus Foundation Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center David Bohnett Foundation Ford Foundation Four Freedoms Fund Office of Minority Health Resource Center DHHS Walter and Evelyn Haas, Jr. Fund Verizon Foundation SOUTHERN SUMMIT Atlanta Pride Bhojanic Indian Restaurant Human Rights Campaign NAAAP Atlanta - Chopstix for Charity Southern Poverty Law Center Weston Milliken
7
NQA P IAN EW S | 2 0 14
PACIFIC NORTHWEST SUMMIT API Pride of Portland The Pride Foundation Northwest Social Justice Fund Human Rights Campaign Japanese American Citizens League Change Labs Verizon Foundation MIDWEST SUMMIT Shades of Yellow Hmong American Partnership Hmong National Development PFund Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Chicago
NORTHEAST SUMMIT hotpot! Mazzoni Center Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania Leeway Foundation PFLAG – PA Voyeur Nightclub CALIFORNIA SUMMIT San Francisco Foundation Horizons Foundation Liberty Hill Foundation Gay Asian Pacific Alliance Foundation Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center Progressive Victory Asian Americans Advancing Justice – ALC
1
2
3
4
5
6
Thanks to the Summit Faculty and Trainers Alice Y. Hom, AAPIP Queer Justice Fund Alison Lin, NQAPIA Anj Chaudhry, CAAAV Ben de Guzman, NQAPIA Court Morse, BRO Eri Oura, NQAPIA Glenn D. Magpantay, NQAPIA Kevin Lam, NQAPIA Matthew Armstead, Training for Change Michelle Lee, KUE Mono Ah Nee, Honolulu Life Foundation Nick Kor, Shades of Yellow Nina Garcia, Barangay-LA Sarath Suong, PrYSM Sasha W, DeHQ Shreya Shah, Training for Change Talia Young, Hotpot! (1) Summit Trainers Michelle Lee and Ben de Guzman (2) Northeast Summit attendees (3) Midwest Summit attendees (4) Presenting PFLAG NY and DC by Clara Yoon, Rosetta Lai and Kate Shim (5) Organizational introductons (6) Cathy Chu APIQS-DC, Danny Taing GAPIMNY, and Michel Tzeng AQUA-DC (7) California Summit attendees (8) Lils Snoopy Fujikawa API Chaya - Project Q (9) Chris Leota UTOPIA-San Diego, Monoiki Ah Nee-Bahn Life Foundaiton Honolulu, Toese Falo UTOPIA, and Vincent Crisostomo APIENC (10) Arnaldo Inocentes PRIDE Asia and Rhee Sea API Pride of Portland (11) Yee Freedom Inc. takes a selfie with Zon Moua, Kabzuag Vaj, Rebecca Voelkel PFund, and Coya White Hat-Artichoker Bush Foundation
7
8 9
10
11 2 01 4 | N Q API ANEWS
8
1
2
3
(1) Dr. Vinay and Vinita Chaudhry (2) Filming Ha Nguyen (3) Deana Cheng and Dr. Rev. Patrick Cheng (4) Rosetta Lai and Audrey Chen with Suma Reddy APP (5) APP Postcard Kamlesh and Amit Bagga (6) Emcees Kit Yan and Unjung Lim (7) Aries Liao and Kira Sng and Charles Solidum (8) Community Catalyst Awardees Namita Chad and Andy Marra (9) SALGA Dance Troup (10) Dr. Emy Magpantay and Mari Morimoto
4
5
AAPI Parents Who Love Their LGBT Kids Just imagine if your parents turned on the Korean channel and a mother of a transgender son spoke about the love that she has for her son, in Korean. During Pride Month, KSCI-TV in Los Angeles “LA18” and KTSF in the Bay Area, aired bilingual Public Service Announcements (PSA) featuring parents who love their LGBT kids. The television stations cover the nation’s two largest Asian American media markets. NQAPIA partnered with the Asian Pride Project to film nine (9) short PSA videos in Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Tagalog, Hindi (one in Hindi and one in English with subtitles), Korean, Japanese, Lao, and Vietnamese. The parents came from PFLAG Chapters in Washington, DC, San Gabrial Valley, and New York, VietROC, and South Asian networks. The VENG Group, a professional media consulting 9
NQA P IAN EW S | 2 0 14
firm that specializes in the AAPI media, helped pitch ethnic television executives to run the PSAs. More airings are planned for next June in Chicago, New York, Houston, Boston, and Seattle. To accompany the PSAs, NQAPIA is developing simple one-page information sheets for AAPI parents on being LGBT. They are in 19 languages: Chinese (both simplified and traditional scripts), Korean, Japanese, Tagalog, Ilocano, Vietnamese, Thai, Khmer, Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Arabic, Hmong, Lao, Indonesian, Gujarati, and Punjabi. We hope they will help ease the coming out process. Special thanks go to Elena Chang, Suma Reddy, and Aries Laio at APP, Kat Rabbitt Productions, George Wu and Leonie Williams at the VENG Group, Dennis Davis at LA 18, and Michael J. Sherman and Mina Li at KTSF.
6
7
8
Community Catalyst Host Committee
9
10
Community Catalyst Awards NQAPIA inaugurated our Community Catalyst Awards Dinner in New York City with 218 people. The event was held at Salaam Bombay Restaurant in TriBeCa, Manhattan on March 29. It was organized in partnership with local LGBT AAPI groups and proceeds benefitted GAPIMNY, QWAVE, SALGA, and NQAPIA. We were joined with leading movement thinkers and agitators, parents, past Steering Committee members allies, Councilman Daniel Dromm, and many of old friends, all to honor the Catalyst awardees: •
•
•
Andy Marra is a nationally recognized advocate and role model for LGBT people, the Korean community, adoptees, and young people everywhere. Q-WAVE - For ten years, has strengthened the voices of lesbian, bisexual and queer women and trans/ gender variant people of Asian descent in the Greater NY area. Namita Chad is one of our unsung sheroes who has worked behind the scenes at so many organizations such as CAAAV, Astraea, SALGA, ALP, and DRUM to press for social change.
Anonymous Bex Ahuja Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice Saurabh Bajaj Mark Ro Beyersdorf CAAAV Anj Chaudhury Dari Project Dennis Chin Trishala Deb / Sonia Munshi Ben de Guzman Stephanie Hsu Human Rights Campaign Lambda Legal Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club of Queens Aries Liao Glenn D. Magpantay Mari Morimoto Piali Mukherjee PFLAG-NYC / Clara Yoon Phillip Ozaki Russell Roybal Jason Tseng Kit Yan Kamlesh, Harcharan, and Amit Bagga
Community Catalyst Sponsors Arcus Foundation Former GAPIMNY Steering Committee Members in Memory of Alain Dang Stonewall Foundation Verizon Foundation
The evening’s emcees Kit Yan and UnJung Lim brought humor. There were also moments of reflection for those who had passed and a cultural celebration featuring the SALGA Dance Team who queered up Bollywood. 2 01 4 | N Q A PI ANEWS
10
NQAPIA Growing and Changing NEW STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS For many years, NQAPIA’s staff and Board felt that we were being pulled in several different directions. As the only national LGBT AAPI organization, we were invited to participate in myriad discussions, conferences, panels, and sign-on letters. Our member groups and individual activists sought our help on a number of local issues. The needs of our community and requests of our allies were far greater than our capacity. So, last year, the NQAPIA Board and staff undertook a strategic planning process to hone our work. We indentified four strategic goals over the next 3-5 years: •
•
•
11
LGBT AAPI Member Group Engagement cultivating our base of organizations across the country to work on collaborative projects that amplify their voice more directly, like immigrants’ rights, to promote change. Convenings and Trainings - bringing together local activists to learn from each other, participate in collective action, and build local infrastructure. LGBT AAPI Visibility - bringing LGBT AAPIs to the fore in the Asian ethnic media, in the LGBT
NQA P IAN EW S | 2 0 14
•
community, and in the campaign for immigration reform. Internal Infrastructure - increasing our fundraising capacity, staff training, Board development, and database and communication systems.
Our programs will be better organized, more consistent with our unique mission, and feed directly into our own organizational development and priorities.
MEMBER GROUP SUPPORT As a federation, NQAPIA provides a range of services to develop leadership and capacity of LGBT AAPI organizations, including: • • •
focused trainings and individual support fiscal sponsorship for grants and tax-deductible donations mini grants for outreach tabling at non-LGBT AAPI cultural celebrations and festivals
Last year, NQAPIA fiscally sponsored five (5) LGBT AAPI groups: Dari Project, Invisible to Invincible, Khush-DC, Trikone-Chicago, and MASGD. Combined they raised over $23,000.
Financial Statement for 2013 Fiscally sponsored by the Tides Center
Cash Activities Revenues Foundation Grants Sponsorships Individual Contributions Other Revenue Total Revenues
$359,714
Operating Expenses Program services Administration Fundraising
$241,561 $118,063 $35,358
Total Expenses
$394,982
Net Assets
EXPENSES
$288,850 $43,744 $24,676 $2,444
$<35,268>
Direct Program 61% Administration 30% Fundraising 9%
INCOME Foundation Grants 80% Sponsorships 12% Individual Contributions 7%
Restricted Funds: Segregated Savings
$67,722
Other 1%
NQAPIA also supported three (3) groups to table at the following events: Vietnamese Cultural Festival in Orange County, CA; Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture in Los Angeles; and Physicians Hill APA Heritage Month in the Bay Area. The groups – VROC, BARANGAY-LA, and APIENC – reached a total of 975 people including groups of teenagers, young adults, elders age between 50-68, and families with young kids to change hearts and minds.
STAFF AND BOARD TRANSITIONS After five years as NQAPIA’s Co-Director of Programs, Ben de Guzman, is pursuing new opportunities. He helped bring AAPI LGBT groups together that led to the founding of NQAPIA and was our first fulltime staff member. He has positioned us with strong leadership and enduring relationships. Pabitra Benjamin has joined as NQAPIA’s new Organizing Director, focusing on immigrants’ rights. Pabitra will work directly with local member groups and national groups in Washington, DC. She will also help coordinate NQAPIA’s national conference in Chicago in August and National Week of Action for Immigrants’ Rights in April 2015.
With over fifteen years of community and national organizing experience, Pabitra has done extensive campaign work on LGBTQ equality, immigrants’ rights and racial profiling. Bex Ahuja, NQAPIA Board Co-chair said, “Pabitra will build on the excellent ground work that Ben de Guzman laid for NQAPIA since 2005 and will bring our work to the next level.” The NQAPIA Board of Directors has also seen changes. Five members transitioned off. NQAPIA is grateful to vanessa coe, I Li Hsaio, Joy Messenger, Alan Ratliff, and Ryan Shen for all their work and support. We also welcomed six new board members: Janani Balasubramanian, Stan Fong, Kevin Lam, Eri Oura, Jayden Thai, and Sasha Wijeyeratne. Board members devote time and talents, donate, fundraise, and guide the organization’s strategy and direction. NQAPIA is currently accepting applications for Board members starting in 2015. If interested, contact Phil Ozaki at phillozaki@gmail.com.
Clockwise from top left: (1) NQAPIA Staff Glenn Magpantay and Pabitra Benjamin (2) Board members monna wong, Mandy Hu, Phill Ozaki (3) Southern Summit Surinder Bal, Keynote Dr. Anneliese Singh, Aparna Bhattacharyya Raksha (4) Board Co-chair Bex Ahuja (5) NQAPIA Board Meeting raises $5,000!
2 01 4 | N Q API ANEWS
12
Regional Roundup NAT I ON A L
SAN FRANCI SCO, CA
Responding to the Indian Supreme Court’s ruling on Section 377 that recriminalized homosexual behavior, South Asians started a national initiative through the International Development Exchange to leverage donations to support on-the-ground groups working to “overcome discrimination and restore justice” in India.
API Equality- Northern California launched the Dragon Fruit Project with a celebration at the GLBT History Museum. The Project is an intergenerational oral history project that documented stories of LGBTQ AAPIs and their activism in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.
https://www.idex.org/nogoingback/
For Women’s History Month, KhushDC used technology to have a 6-city Canadian and U.S. discussion about how LGBT South Asian organizations can increase inclusion of women and transgender people.
WE S T M I N S T E R , C A VietROC overcame homophobia in the 2014
WASHI NGTON, DC
Tet Parade, which serves the nation’s largest Vietnamese American community. 100 VietROC
NEW YORK, NY
members and supporters marched. National media
Asian Pride Project opened a groundbreaking photography exhibition, Our Portraits, Our Families at the Museum of Chinese in America. The one-month long exhibition celebrated the journeys, triumphs and struggles of LGBTQ individuals in AAPI families and communities.
covered the lead up to the march, and the public attempts to derail VietROC’s participation.
Top photo: Lobbying Congress for immigration: (L-R) Kham Moua OCA/ AQUA-DC, Asad Haider Satrang, Jason Chan and John Cheng GAPIMNY, Ben de Guzman, NQAPIA Board member Sasha W and DeQH, NQAPIA Board member Janani Balasubramanian, Nebula Li i2i, Krystal Ka’ai CAPAC, Sarath Suong PrYSM. Not pictured Minh Nguyen VAYLA.
13
NQA P IAN EW S | 2 0 14
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity
The Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity increases the acceptance of gender and sexual diversity within Muslim communities and promotes a progressive understanding of Islam that is centered on inclusion, justice, and equality. 2014 was the first year of MASGD’s relationship with NQAPIA as its fiscal sponsor. MASGD supports, empowers, and connects LGBTQ Muslims to challenging root causes of oppression, misogyny, and xenophobia. This was a year of transition and MASGD was deeply appreciative of the assistance offered by NQAPIA, which provided an invaluable network and infrastructure of support. MASGD’s hallmark LGBT Muslim Retreat, held outside of Philadelphia each May,provides a truly transformative experience where community members can reflect and celebrate our many identities and experiences. It is a rare place where LGBTQ Muslims can re/connect with the Divine and our faith traditions. Our 2014 retreat offered 96 participants a safe and affirming space. Attendees were inspired and uplifted by the healing. Sessions focused on diversity within the Islamic faith and issues surrounding mental health and resilience. Half of them gathered for the first time with other LGBTQ Muslims. Nearly a quarter identified as trans* or “another gender experience,” and over a third were identified as Middle Eastern or African. MASGD’s multi-day retreat is an opportunity for LGBTQ Muslims to explore the multiple dimensions that connect, provoke, and challenge us to imagine a different kind of world—then to take that vision back to our home communities and continue the work. Every year, local groups spring up and build strength around the country.
2 01 4 | N Q API ANEWS
14
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Asian Pacific Islander Organizations The South Asian Queers and Allies (AQUA), Durham, NC Queer & Asian, Houston, TX Trikone- Atlanta, GA Khush Texas, Austin, TX VAYLA- New Orleans Midwest Shades of Yellow (SOY), Minneapolis, MN Invisible-to-Invincible (i2i): Asian Pacific Islander Pride of Chicago Trikone-Chicago Freedom Inc. – Madison, WI Mid-Atlantic/Metro DC Area Asian Pacific Islander Queers United for Action (AQUA), Washington, DC Asian Pacific Islander Queer Sisters (APIQS), Washington, DC hotpot!, Philadelphia, PA Khush-DC, Washington, DC Greater New York City Area Dari Project Gay Asian & Pacific Islander Men of New York Q-WAVE SALGA New England Massachusetts Area South Asian Lambda Association (MASALA), Boston, MA Queer Asian Pacific-Islander Alliance, Boston, MA
Southeast Asian Queers United for Empowerment & Leadership (seaQuel), Providence, RI Pacific Northwest Asian Pacific Islander Pride of Portland, OR Trikone-Northwest, Seattle, WA UTOPIA- Seattle Project Q of APIFWSC-Chhaya, Seattle, WA Pride Asia, Seattle, WA Northern California Asian Pacific Islander Equality-Northern California Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women and Transgender Community (APIQWTC) Gay Asian Pacific Alliance, San Francisco, CA South Bay Queer and Asian, San Jose Trikone, San Francisco, CA UTOPIA- San Francisco Southern California API Pride Council Asian Pacific Islander Equality-Los Angeles Barangay - LA Satrang Gay Asian Pacific Support Network (GAPSN) Koreans United for Equality (KUE) UTOPIA- San Diego Viet Rainbow Orange County (VietROC) National Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity Network on Religion and Justice (NRJ)
Save the Date | National LGBT AAPI Conference 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 AAPIs community. Date: August 6 to 9, 2015 Location: University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois Housing: Crowne Plaza Chicago Metro Downtown 733 West Madison Street Chicago, IL 60661 Special NQAPIA Rate $139/night Reg. Fee: $225 (scholarships and limited income rate available)
Highlight •
South Asian Pre-Conference Convening
•
Southeast Asian Pre-Conference Convening
•
Workshops and Nationally Renowned Speakers
•
Cultural Performances
•
NQAPIA Community Catalyst Awards Banquet
•
National Strategy Meeting of LGBT AAPIs
•
Parents Convening
•
Youth Gathering
•
Plenaries on Transgender Issues and International Issues
Contact NQAPIA to for more information, to propose a workshop, or to join the planning committee.