An Asian American Queer Journey
Custom Top: Nolan Elsbecker, Shoes: Syro, Pants: Feng Chen Weng
Identifies as: Queer
Filipinx
Career: Singer/Songwriter
What does queer mean to you?
Queer to me Is rubbing against the grain of what people expect you to act and like. It’s not just being gay, it’s a completely different attitude to things. To me, it is shameless expression of the self in all forms. Beauty in flexibility and possibility.
What is it like to be Asian and queer growing up In America?
Back in Manila I couldn’t express myself fully without being compartmentalized to a certain stereotype. When there is no nuance in expression then there’s no breathing room. So, I kept my queerness hidden until I came to here. It was a journey grappling with my own identity as I immigrated to New York, but it was ultimately liberating as I navigated the city with a new and more open community.
Do you feel being Asian and queer in America has been liberating or hindering?
Queerness is an expression that is meant to be limitless. When you lead yourself with that then liberation is the goal. That includes liberation on all fronts including freedom within one’s own cultural expectations. I take so much pride in being Filipinx, and I also fight for queer liberation on all fronts.
Right— Top: Dion Lee Knit Jock: Austin Nolan; Left — Knit Balaclava: Austin Nolan, Top: KIDILL, Custom Pants: Nolan Elsbecker, Necklace: Ambush, Shoes: Syro
Identifies as: Queer & Trans
Cambodian
Career: Asian American Abolitionist Immigrant Rights Organization
What does queer mean to you?
Queerness is infinite. Queerness is the future. Queerness is everything yet nothing. Queerness is beyond the confines and political moment. Queerness is not identity – it is beyond gay - but a radical political orientation. Queerness is the limitless potential. Queerness is “everything on a bagel”.
Coming from a traditional Asian household has it been difficult to talk to your parents about being queer?
I personally hate “coming out narratives”. Queer and trans people, especially people of color are always “coming out”. For me the difficult of understanding one’s queerness is not rooted within the spoken, but rather the silences and gaps that exist within one’s life.
Have you gone through your own discrimination as being Asian and queer?
Queer Asian people have struggled like many other queer people of color with the racism of the LGBTQ community and then transphobia and homophobia of the Asian American community. I personally have been physically and verbally attacked for being my unapologetic self.
Left— Hat: Stylist Own, Dress: Vintage Archive, Knit Jock Strap: Austin Nolan, Shoes: Syro; Right— Shirt: Marc Jacobs, Skirt: Vintage Archive, Knit Chaps: Austin Nolan Shoes: Syro
Identifies as: Gay & Queer
Chinese
Career: Producer
Did New York have any influence on your queerness or expression as an adult?
Growing up in the south, it was miserable, New York is what gave me the boost in my racial identity/reconciliation. I see way more Asian people here on a daily basis then I would see in Atlanta.”
What is your orientation and what do you identify as? Gay/queer
The argument being “we’re all the same, we’re just like you, please give us rights” - this mentality homogenizes lgbtq+ identities to a detriment as it fails to recognize the complexities and struggles of other minority groups (trans + race, gender, class) and prioritizes the white, cis-gender, straight-acting, affluent individuals.
What does queer mean to you?
The concept of being Queer is what I would call Post-Modern, a newer generation of lbgtq+ people who are critical of the movement’s direction and has a newer argument to make “we’re not all like you, we don’t care, it doesn’t matter, bitch you’re in the way of my rights” - this mentality I vibe with, because it does get to include more POC voices.
Coming from a traditional Asian household has it been difficult to talk to your parents about being queer?
We still don’t talk about it. Also there is a huge language barrier. I’ll never fully be able to articulate my feelings in any poetic way to her and vice versa. and it’s not just language, but a cultural issue. talking about our feelings, doing deep dives, it’s such a western approach. It’s not that my mother doesn’t do this is her way, but it’s in her way. Our expectations and reactions to each other will always fail to be fully translated or comprehended.
Left— Knit top + Bottom: Austin Nolan; Right— Jewel Mask: Area, Dress: Vivienne Tam, Shoes: United Nude
