Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center in San Francisco (API Wellness Center in SF) is an excellent model to support the health of women of color who identify as queer Vietnamese Americans in every community. In the context of encouraging the visibility of queer Asian identities, the earliest non-profit HIV/AIDS organization in North America, API Wellness Center in SF provides services to diverse groups in Asian languages including Cantonese, Hawaiian, Hindi, Ilokano, Japanese, Malay, Mandarin, Tagalog, Vietnamese and Visayan. The center empowers youth and queer identities to fortify their emotional, health, social, and educational needs. In supporting youth to make positive changes in their lives and developing fundamental skills to facilitate their comprehension of their health and well-being, the center provides free and confidential HIV treatment, mental health, and other counseling services to individuals living with HIV/AIDS. The center is a safe and friendly space for socializing and networking. LGBTQ young Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) frequently experience feelings of segregation. They mostly feel isolated in Asian communities. In the case of Chinese youth, Varney points out that queer Chinese do not have terminology in their native tongue to explain their coming out to their parents and relatives . Mandarin, for example, lacks a sufficient translation for the terms gay or lesbian. In the normative discourse on race, queer Asian-Americans turn the “model minority” stereotypes into non-normative devices and that being queer challenges the traditional “straight” family. Queer Asian-Americans are typically stereotyped as alienated. Varney reports: In Asian communities where heterosexuality is assumed and in queer communities that are predominantly White, queer Asian-American youth have often felt as if they do not quite fit. This sense of alienation has led to the formation of community groups such as Asian Queers Under 25 Altogether. (87) As with Chinese-American communities, Vietnamese American communities contend with the various hardships such as language barriers, cultural conflicts, and financial and survival issues. Accepting queer identity is a big challenge for many Vietnamese American parents and the Vietnamese American communities nationwide. In “Vietnamese Health and Illness Topics,” Huy Nguyen points out that Vietnamese culture is exemplified by sturdy taboos against either open conversations or about showing evidence of sexuality. For this reason, appropriate terminologies for translating sexuality in the Vietnamese language are also practically nonexistent. He further explains: In contrast to what is popularly portrayed in American movies and television shows, in Vietnamese culture there is no tradition of a coming-of-age “birds and the bees” talk between parents and their children. Because explicit discussions about sex are taboo even within close-knit Vietnamese families, most Vietnamese adults learned about sex when they were growing up from peers and not from their parents, school, or the media. For this reason, parents who are less acculturated may be more resistant to public school-based sexual education. (1) Although in the past queers existed in the Vietnamese society and homosexuality was part of the Vietnamese cultural heritage, traditional Vietnamese culture still ignores this issue. In this context, queer Vietnamese Americans have been and are still mostly invisible within and beyond the Vietnamese American communities including Seattle. The lives of many queer Vietnamese Americans living in silence remain dismal. They face multiple dimensions of inequality based on race, class, gender, and sexuality and thus exist as peripheral identities within the marginalized Vietnamese American community. Changing this situation involves providing encouragement and a support network for queer Vietnamese Americans within the Vietnamese American community as well as within the mainstream society. Building on efforts that have been occurring in Seattle, it is clear that not every queer Vietnamese American is marginalized. Some have achieved advanced degrees and become activists, who not only organize events and call for action. For example, some help Vietnamese American immigrants who face detention in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Detention centers and deportation. Some collaborate with the Asian and Pacific Islander and Women and Family Safety Center (APIWFSC) in Seattle to create a zine called “A Breath of Fresh Air.” This project aims to support queer Vietnamese and Asian-American survivors of domestic violence to feel supported, remain secure and heal from mistreatment. Queer Network Program and its liberation project of AIPWFSC is a model to demonstrate the existence of queer Vietnamese Americans in community building, empowering queer longing, sharing stories, and resisting intersect oppressions. In an online article, “AIPWFSC Queer Network Program - QPOC Liberation Project,” Joanne Alcantara, the manager for the Queer Network Project, challenges the mainstream society where minor racial, ethnic, gender and sexual statuses are stigmatized by the dominant and white LGBTQ population. He states: We find that white LGBTQ communities often ignore the experiences and concerns of queer communities of color in performances, politics, and social agendas. Communities of color, although loving at times, can sometimes be unsupportive, hostile, and silencing towards queers. While we negotiate through both communities and attempt to form alliances, we as queer people of color will not wait for others to bridge the cultural divide. (1) Alcantara addresses the fact that AIPWFSC will lead its own organization for liberation and visibility through dynamic performances of Seattle-based artists, organizers, and activists to inspire, and underline their complicated identities as queer diasporas.

Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center in San Francisco (API Wellness Center in SF) is an excellent model to support the health of women of color who identify as queer Vietnamese Americans in every community. In the context of encouraging the visibility of queer Asian identities, the earliest non-profit HIV/AIDS organization in North America, API Wellness Center in SF provides services to diverse groups in Asian languages including Cantonese, Hawaiian, Hindi, Ilokano, Japanese, Malay, Mandarin, Tagalog, Vietnamese and Visayan. The center empowers youth and queer identities to fortify their emotional, health, social, and educational needs. In supporting youth to make positive changes in their lives and developing fundamental skills to facilitate their comprehension of their health and well-being, the center provides free and confidential HIV treatment, mental health, and other counseling services to individuals living with HIV/AIDS. The center is a safe and friendly space for socializing and networking.

LGBTQ young Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) frequently experience feelings of segregation. They mostly feel isolated in Asian communities. In the case of Chinese youth, Varney points out that queer Chinese do not have terminology in their native tongue to explain their coming out to their parents and relatives . Mandarin, for example, lacks a sufficient translation for the terms gay or lesbian. In the normative discourse on race, queer Asian-Americans turn the “model minority” stereotypes into non-normative devices and that being queer challenges the traditional “straight” family. Queer Asian-Americans are typically stereotyped as alienated. Varney reports:

In Asian communities where heterosexuality is assumed and in queer communities that are predominantly White, queer Asian-American youth have often felt as if they do not quite fit. This sense of alienation has led to the formation of community groups such as Asian Queers Under 25 Altogether. (87)

As with Chinese-American communities, Vietnamese American communities contend with the various hardships such as language barriers, cultural conflicts, and financial and survival issues. Accepting queer identity is a big challenge for many Vietnamese American parents and the Vietnamese American communities nationwide. In “Vietnamese Health and Illness Topics,” Huy Nguyen points out that Vietnamese culture is exemplified by sturdy taboos against either open conversations or about showing evidence of sexuality. For this reason, appropriate terminologies for translating sexuality in the Vietnamese language are also practically nonexistent. He further explains:

In contrast to what is popularly portrayed in American movies and television shows, in Vietnamese culture there is no tradition of a coming-of-age “birds and the bees” talk between parents and their children. Because explicit discussions about sex are taboo even within close-knit Vietnamese families, most Vietnamese adults learned about sex when they were growing up from peers and not from their parents, school, or the media. For this reason, parents who are less acculturated may be more resistant to public school-based sexual education. (1)

Although in the past queers existed in the Vietnamese society and homosexuality was part of the Vietnamese cultural heritage, traditional Vietnamese culture still ignores this issue. In this context, queer Vietnamese Americans have been and are still mostly invisible within and beyond the Vietnamese American communities including Seattle. The lives of many queer Vietnamese Americans living in silence remain dismal. They face multiple dimensions of inequality based on race, class, gender, and sexuality and thus exist as peripheral identities within the marginalized Vietnamese American community. Changing this situation involves providing encouragement and a support network for queer Vietnamese Americans within the Vietnamese American community as well as within the mainstream society.

Building on efforts that have been occurring in Seattle, it is clear that not every queer Vietnamese American is marginalized. Some have achieved advanced degrees and become activists, who not only organize events and call for action. For example, some help Vietnamese American immigrants who face detention in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Detention centers and deportation. Some collaborate with the Asian and Pacific Islander and Women and Family Safety Center (APIWFSC) in Seattle to create a zine called “A Breath of Fresh Air.” This project aims to support queer Vietnamese and Asian-American survivors of domestic violence to feel supported, remain secure and heal from mistreatment. Queer Network Program and its liberation project of AIPWFSC is a model to demonstrate the existence of queer Vietnamese Americans in community building, empowering queer longing, sharing stories, and resisting intersect oppressions. In an online article, “AIPWFSC Queer Network Program - QPOC Liberation Project,” Joanne Alcantara, the manager for the Queer Network Project, challenges the mainstream society where minor racial, ethnic, gender and sexual statuses are stigmatized by the dominant and white LGBTQ population. He states:

We find that white LGBTQ communities often ignore the experiences and concerns of queer communities of color in performances, politics, and social agendas. Communities of color, although loving at times, can sometimes be unsupportive, hostile, and silencing towards queers. While we negotiate through both communities and attempt to form alliances, we as queer people of color will not wait for others to bridge the cultural divide. (1)

Alcantara addresses the fact that AIPWFSC will lead its own organization for liberation and visibility through dynamic performances of Seattle-based artists, organizers, and activists to inspire, and underline their complicated identities as queer diasporas.