Today, in honor of National Asian Pacific Islander Month, we are so happy to welcome guest blogger, Eileen
Ma, Executive Director of API Equality-LA. Since graduating from Columbia University, Eileen in 1993, she has worked as an
organizer and field coordinator for many labor and community
organizations nationwide, including the AFL-CIO, SEIU, SAG, Health
Access, Power U Center for Social Change, the L.A. Gay & Lesbian
Center, and many others. She has worked on a wide range of issues,
including environmental justice, labor rights, equitable development,
health care, and LGBT rights. Eileen is active in the Los Angeles
community as a core committee member in the Asian/Pacific Islander Queer
Women/Transgender Activists and other groups.
“A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people."
- Mahatma Gandhi
A recent API Equality-LA study on family relationships of Chinese
gays and lesbians living in the US indicates that family acceptance of gays and
lesbians is impacted significantly by broader community and cultural
influences. In addition to great concern
about their parents’ feelings and expectations, gays and lesbians cite pressure
from peers and social networks, fear of negative community perceptions, lack of
representation of gays and lesbians in ethnic media, as well as family
background, such as place of origin and family migration history, as factors in
their coming out or staying in process. [1]
This study hints at the breadth of work the LGBTQ community
and our allies need to do to create a truly accepting society where all gays,
lesbians, transgender and bisexual people have the support they need from their
families and communities. The measure of
equality is not just the quantity of laws on the books proclaiming equal
rights, but must include the degree to which people are able to live lives free
of the burdens of discrimination on a day-to-day basis. In addition to the important work of PFLAG to
build more loving families and beyond the legislative and policy battles for
civil rights and recognition, we must aim for a more comprehensive cultural
transformation in each of our communities.
For API Equality-LA, in Asian communities, this means that
beyond electoral and policy battles advocating for our rights, the most
impactful work we do generates dialogue to reach hearts and souls in the Asian/Pacific
Islander community, hoping to spark processes of evolution like the personal
one President Obama just shared, which led him ultimately to support marriage
equality. We reach out to civic leaders
and respected community organizations.
We reach out to people one-on-one at time-honored community events to
invite them to consider issues of equality.
We participate actively in community activities to increase visibility
of the LGBT community and to show our common cause with all. We have learned to speak to our community in
the language and with appropriate information they can understand, so that we
meet people where they are and start from a common ground.
This work takes time, but the results are remarkable. After 7 years of hard work, API Equality-LA
is proud to have helped to create a more positive climate for the LGBT
community; we have influenced decision-makers and those who disseminate information
and shape public opinion. Every API
state legislator in CA is now on record in support of marriage equality and acknowledge
our power and importance as a community .
After decades of one-sided coverage vilifying the LGBT community, the
major Chinese media now frequently and positively represent us and LGBT issues.
Moreover, LGBT equality has been adopted
as a priority by an overwhelming number of well-respected API individuals and
community organizations. These are
powerful signs of community and cultural transformation—and harbingers of the
future we all want.
Surely, the work and progress may look a little different in
every community, since the cultures of America are so diverse and distinct, but
some of the major areas of work may be the same. And the goal is certainly the same for all of
us—to ensure that all people, including gays, lesbians, transgender and
bisexual people, can not only have equal rights, but also live equal lives.
[1] Founded in 2005, API Equality-LA advocates in
the Greater Los Angeles Asian and Pacific Islander (API) communities for fair
treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and marriage
equality for same-sex couples. For more
information, including API Equality-LA's research, or to learn more, visit www.apiequalityla.org.
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