Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Two Girls Against the Rain

New Documentary from Cambodia. Produced by Filmmaker Sopheak Sao.

Synopsis: A true story about two girls struggling hard for their love. This documentary won the first price at Meta House Phnom Penh for the Gay Pride Festival in May, 2012.

They met during the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, when coincidence led them to live in the same mobile unit. After a year Soth Yun (57) and Sem Eang (58) realized that they loved each other.

Two million people died during the Khmer Rouge years. Yun and Eang survived.

Today the lesbian couple live in a village in Takeo province in southern Cambodia like husband and wife. It has been a long fight to be respected by fellow villagers and their families. And the fight continues – now for their rights to marry.

The couple does not have children of their own, but have raised several nieces and nephew.


Check out the trailer!


Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Creating Change Conference 2013



Asian lesbians representing amongst other LGBTQ's at the Creating Change Conference in Atlanta, GA. 

Specifically Three Day-Long-Institutes to look forward to checking out: API Focus, Racial Justice, and Class. Check out Creating Change Conference 2013 website for more institutes. For scholarship information specifically for APIs to attend the conference, check out API Scholarship.

AAPI Focus: Building a Queer AAPI Movement 
Asian Americans, South Asians, Southeast Asians, and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are the fastest growing minority group in the nation and constitute an emerging sector of the LGBT community. More and more LGBT AAPIs are coming out of the closet, yet they still face invisibility, isolation, and stereotyping. The needs and concerns of LGBT AAPIs are often overlooked in the LGBT community or marginalized in the AAPI community. To counter this, the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA), API Equality-Northern California, and API Equality-LA are leading a coalition of organizations and individuals to present the daylong LGBT AAPI Institute. This will build on our successful AAPI Institutes in Minneapolis in 2011 and in Baltimore in 2012 and seeks to further the presence, visibility, and engagement of AAPIs at Creating Change and in LGBT social justice movements. The Institute is open only to LGBT AAPIs. Sessions will include a series of panels featuring experts in the field, proven activists and organizers, and interactive group discussions. Participants are very much encouraged to offer their own perspectives and opinions. We aim to create an AAPI movement space. Below are what the organizers hope participants can walk away with after attending the Institute. 

  • A network of fellow LGBT AAPI activists around the country
  • Concrete ways to overcome barriers that frustrate LGBT AAPI organizing
  • Strategies on pressing public policy issues, how to increase the visibility of AAPIs, and ways to counter homophobia in the larger AAPI community
  • An understanding of Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander queer histories in the U.S. with a focus on immigration patterns
  • Skills building in local organizing, leadership development, and capacity building
  • A better understanding of the multiplicity of our communities across gender, nationality, religion, and other lines and how this affects our ability to build a national movement

The Racial Justice Institute
The Institute's primary purpose is to offer Creating Change participants a range of tools for working more effectively towards racial justice in our churches, communities, campaigns, and workplaces. This one-day institute provides a balance of self-reflection opportunities with engaging learning activities and deeper intersectional analysis of how racial justice and LGBT liberation connect in contemporary social justice movements. The Racial Justice Institute has a rich history at Creating Change. Very well attended and well regarded, this Institute has grown exponentially in size and scope. Facilitated by a team of seasoned racial justice trainer/facilitators, the Institute will be steeped in an anti-oppression lens that reflects the intersections of gender, sexuality, class, ability and race to offer sessions that are creative, thoughtful and give participants practical skills to make a difference through the work we do every day.
 

CLASS MORE THAN EVER!
At a time of increasing crisis because of the current recession, the absence of an agenda for the LGBTQ movement that prioritizes class and race and the impact of the economic crisis on queer communities is deeply disturbing. This Daylong Institute, presented by Queers for Economic Justice, will help participants examine why queer poor and working class communities, often communities of color, remain invisible in most mainstream LGBT organizations. We will ask why class remains so hidden in the queer movement and explore how class bias and class assumptions determine the way that LGBT issues are deemed a priority or are not seen as "really" queer. To be more specific, economics and economic realities, fiscal policy and austerity measures, bank bailouts and bankruptcy, the dissections of social support services and the protection of others (read preservation of Social Security versus the dismantling of TANF), corporate welfare and welfare reform all have impacts that are specific to race, class, gender, gender identity, ability and sexual orientation. We want LGBTQ activists to think critically about the ways in which economic justice issues are embedded in every issue that the LGBTQ movement addresses and how this impacts LGBTQ people.
 

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Where's it at for New Year's Eve.


Reflect. Realign. Rejuvenate.
31st December | PHENOMENON 2013
New Year's Eve All Women Ceremonial Celebration (Alcohol Free)
DINNER + SHOW + CEREMONY

 
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions:
  • Siren Project is fiscally sponsored by The Art Association of the East Bay, Inc. (AAEB), a public benefit non-profit corporation. Your contribution to The Siren Project is tax-deductible under Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.  EIN# 20-8630049. 
  • Accessibility | The venue is American Disability Act compliant, accessible by BART and buses (both, that day, running for the whole night) with easy street parking.
  • Ambience | ALCOHOL and SCENT FREE, Lit by Lamps, Candles and Lights, Wellness Table, Art & Craft Area, Singles & Group Tables/Areas, Fireplace, Solitary Reflection & Relaxation Tents.
  • Nourishment | Gluten, Dairy Free and Vegan options available for dinner. Dessert and Midnight Snacks. Non-Alcoholic beverages (cold and hot)
  • Attire | Elegant but comfortable. We always appreciate costumes! 
  • Discounted Tickets | We are providing 20 work- exchange positions. We also have an "at cost" discounted option for women who are truly financially challenged (trust based). We also have "Table for Ten" group discounts.
  • Discounted Advance Online Ticketing ENDS ON December 26.
You can find all the information at http://www.sirenproject.org. If you have any question please call us at 510.681.9740 or email at sirenproject@gmail.com.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Ash by Malinda Lo: Book Review

I love reading, and the fiction novel is my favorite book genre. As I a refugee child, reading was integral to my learning and has strongly shaped my understanding and articulation of the English language. Indeed, my skill in “speaking English so well for being Asian” originates in reading as a means of escape from both mundane and harsh realities. Sadly, while it did not take much for me to become engrossed in a story, I also struggled to find relatable and likeable characters. Many fiction novels continue to be dispositioned to the white and patriarchal mainstream, with heroines akin to pining away for a male savior. The institutional standard of a happily-ever-after story. I am sure this was one of many contributing factors that stunted the process of growing into my Asian Lesbian identity.

This is why Malinda Lo’s novel, Ash, can be defined as extraordinary. Ash is a creative adaptation of the Cinderella love story, featuring iconic elements such as the evil step-mother and step-sisters, and of course a magical but fleeting evening tryst. Those factors are the furthest extent to which Lo parallels her story to the classic. In Ash, the prince becomes an inconsequential back character, only relevant to solidify the main character’s lesbian coming out process. Lo’s story boldly offers two lesbian perspectives weaved into a single love story. Feminist characters include an out lesbian huntress charged with leading a royal court tradition, and a head-strong and questioning young woman who rejects the traditional mores that are embedded in her household. Lo seamlessly incorporates some critical themes that many Asian Lesbians experience such as familial obligation, finding the path to one’s life purpose, resistance of compulsory heterosexuality, a natural but initially inexplicable attraction to women, all the way to the feeling of liberation and wholeness when the main character accepts herself. Lo was able to integrate all of these themes and more, without taking away the romantic and magical allure of a romantic fairy tale. Other interesting themes include an allusion to traditional Asian medicine such as the use of herbs and the harnessing of qi, as well as the concept of a shared energy from lineage and previous lifetimes. Awesome!

Ash simultaneously serves its purpose of providing a good read, while at the same time making a bold political statement in its story telling. It provides Asian Lesbians a fairy tale they can get lost in, pushing boundaries. It left me with a sense of gratification and the typical warm fuzzies people experience after finishing a good book, amplified with the audacious dream of our own happily-ever-after. I highly recommend Ash for those in desire of a non-cliché love story.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Happy National Coming Out Day!

People have been coming out for ages but in 1987, half a million people came out all at once to march in Washington DC for issues like legal recognition of our relationships, the repeal of sodomy laws, a federal ban on discrimination, passage of a gay and lesbian civil rights bill, reproductive freedom, an end to HIV/AIDS discrimination, and an end to racism. The following year October 11 became recognized and celebrated to be National Coming Out Day.  Coming out is not only a statement to the world but ultimately to yourself that you can be in the world as who you are and be okay.  Granted it is not always safe, thats real but hopefully one day as those who can, will and be visible for those of us who are in the process of joining us.  Thank you to ALL those before us that came out, were visible and made it easier for the rest of us to be who we truly are and love proudly who we love.  

In Solidarity and with Love,
LesbeAsian Pho Lyfe!


A LITANY FOR SURVIVAL
For those of us who live at the shoreline
standing upon the constant edges of decision
crucial and alone
for those of us who cannot indulge
the passing dreams of choice
who love in doorways coming and going
in the hours between dawns
looking inward and outward
at once before and after
seeking a now that can breed
futures
like bread in our children's mouths
so their dreams will not reflect
the death of ours:

For those of us
who were imprinted with fear
like a faint line in the center of our foreheads
learning to be afraid with our mother's milk
for by this weapon
this illusion of some safety to be found
the heavy-footed hoped to silence us
For all of us
this instant and this triumph
We were never meant to survive.

And when the sun rises we are afraid
it might not remain
when the sun sets we are afraid
it might not rise in the morning
when our stomachs are full we are afraid
of indigestion
when our stomachs are empty we are afraid
we may never eat again
when we are loved we are afraid
love will vanish
when we are alone we are afraid
love will never return
and when we speak we are afraid
our words will not be heard
nor welcomed
but when we are silent
we are still afraid

So it is better to speak
remembering
we were never meant to survive

- Audre Lorde, The Black Unicorn