ALICE Y. HOM: When I first saw this, it made me so happy that there were men and women in it,
but also that it happened in 1979.
This kind of proves that we were there.
[INTRO MUSIC]
PATRICK G. LEE: We’re bringing to you a 5-part video series through NBC Asian America
on queer and trans Asian-Pacific Islander history.
This is a project I’ve wanted to do for a long time now because I always felt that
as a queer Asian American, it was hard for me to access the history and the lineage that
I come from and that I’m a part of and this is my way of hopefully lifting up some of
these stories and sharing them with my community.
Our first stop: New York City’s Chinatown.
[MUSIC]
HERB TAM: I honestly don’t know who they are actually.
I think that came along in 1970s, late 70s.
It looks like there’s a protest happening, there’s a march happening.
When I looked at it, it felt like a college campus.
The people in it looked really young.
PATRICK: So if we’re going to find out more about this journal, I think our best bet is
to talk to my friend Alice Hom, a queer Asian history buff based in Los Angeles.
PATRICK: Have you seen that journal before?
ALICE: I have.
I have seen this cover, I’ve used this picture many times in slide presentations.
The date of the picture was in 1979 and it happened for the first March on Washington
for Gay and Lesbian Rights.
You know, I first saw this at the Lesbian Herstory Archives in New York, in Brooklyn,
and you know, just flipping through those files and seeing this made me realize there
was a lot that I didn’t know.
And there was a lot of this history I didn’t know.
Why is that?
How come I didn’t learn this in the Asian American studies classes that I took?
I think the reason why sometimes it’s been difficult to document, capture, preserve Asian
American gay and lesbian LGBTQ stories is because there’s this idea or notion that
you have to be one or the other.
That if you’re taking about race, race should be the salient identity.
If you’re talking about sexuality, sexuality has to be that salient identity.
I did a slideshow on this just maybe a couple of years ago, and people who are Asian American
queers don’t know about it, and they’re shocked, and they’re also happy to see it too.
So it just points out what is missing still.
PATRICK: Alright, so now we’re headed back to New York – this time to Brooklyn to visit
the Lesbian Herstory Archives to see if we can dig up an original copy of the Gay Insurgent
Journal from 1980.
Being able to hold an actual original copy of the Gay Insurgent Journal was incredible.
I felt this sense of connection, of recognition to the people pictured on the front, to the
people who designed and printed the journal and mailed it to queers all across the country.
For the first time, I felt like I was seeing a history that reflected all of who I am.
I think with some of these names, we’re definitely going to be able to find out who
was in this cover photo.
[MUSIC]
PATRICK: Is this something that you recognize?
GISELE POHAN: Yes.
Yes.
DON KAO: That’s me, with hair.
GISELE: We put this banner together rather quickly having discovered a group of Asian
queers at the 3rd World Gay Conference.
DON: It was exciting being at the conference.
There were 500 people.
At some point, we basically announced to the conference that we needed time to find each
other. So we asked for the opportunity to have an Asian caucus.
GISELE: You know, it was really electric, and it’s like the universe was opening for
us to be together and to see each other, and I just remember…wow, the chills.
DON: It was pretty exciting.
They were from San Francisco, they were from Toronto, they were from probably Chicago,
Boston, Washington DC.
I’m not sure why I’m getting a little emotional… it was pretty amazing.
I think we spent the rest of the day together, and the next day was the march.
GISELE: I remember walking through this itsy, bitsy Chinatown in DC and just feeling so
proud. Like, “Wow, how cool.”
So they know there are gay Asians too.
It’s not just a white thing, it’s not just “those other people.”
We are here, you know?
DON: We don’t live in a society where people’s stories matter, people’s personal stories
matter.
So I left out a whole part…
I’m thinking here, what did I not talk about here that maybe would be important for people
to know?
For myself, I lived as a victim as being Asian, being gay, living with AIDS, not necessarily
fitting the beauty standard, and all those other things.
But where I have power is where I’m male, where I’m cisgender – meaning that I don’t
have to worry about my gender and my sex matching – where I’m educated, where I am probably
more than upper class now.
And so there are a lot of ways that we who have privilege and are also victimized can
flip the coin and do our work in more substantive ways.
GISELE: If I were to tell somebody just coming up right now or a few generations younger
than myself, I would definitely say to really trust your gut.
As I look back on my journals and my writings, I wish I had acted on more of my thoughts
because the things that aren’t right that you see, you don’t need to look to somebody
else to resonate.
You’re absolutely right, whatever your instinct is.