Writer: Siena Iwasaki Milbauer
October is LGBTQ+ history month. This year, we are celebrating the occasion through a series called “We Were Here, We Are Here.” The goal of this collection of infographics and interviews is to honor historical and contemporary Asian American LGBTQ+ individuals.
People of color are frequently erased from the history of queer folks in the United States, despite the fact that they have often led the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. Think about someone like Marsha P. Johnson, who for many years was written out of the movement she helped found. Asian Americans are no exception.
Even now, visible Asian American LGBTQ+ folks remain seemingly few and far between. But the problem isn’t that we aren’t here. We just aren’t being publicly recognized and celebrated in a proportional way.
In the 1930’s and 40’s, Esther Eng found success as an openly lesbian Cantonese-American filmmaker. In the 1970’s, Filipinx-American activist Richard Adams challenged the US government to recognize his same-sex marriage. Today, Minneapolis-based Vietnamese-American poet Hieu Minh Nguyen, Indian-American gender justice legal champion Urvashi Vaid, and Korean-American groundbreaking swimmer Schuyler Bailar are all proudly queer. Asian American LGBTQ+ individuals are very much here, and always have been.
The folks mentioned in the previous paragraph are just a few of the people we will spotlight this month. We will also be interviewing Minnesotan Asian American LGBTQ+ community members about their experiences.
We hope you will follow along with “We Were Here, We Are Here.” New infographic entries will be out every Monday and Friday this month, with special dual interview/infographic editions every other Wednesday. Everything will be published through our social media, and interviews will also be shared via our blog. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook to stay up to date.
We also encourage you to do some searching of your own. Beyond our selection of honorees, there are countless other inspiring queer Asian Americans. We have always been here, and today, we are stronger and prouder than ever. Now that’s something worth celebrating!
Photo Credits: Richard Adams (Photo via LGBTQ Nation), Tita Aida (Photo via Dragon Fruit Project), Schuyler Bailar (Photo by and via Schuyler Bailar Instagram, @pinkmantaray), Lydia X.Z. Brown (Photo by Adam Glanzman & Northeastern University, via News @ Northeastern), Staceyann Chin (Photo by Staceyann Chin, via Observer), Esther Eng (Photo via Private Collection and Women Film Pioneers Project), Ifti Nasim (Photo via the Juggernaut), Hieu Minh Nguyen (Photo via City Pages), Urvashi Vaid (Photo via Jodi Solomon Speakers)