Puneet Varma (Editor)

National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance

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Founded
  
2007

Website
  
www.nqapia.org/wpp/

Area served
  
United States of America

Method
  
Campaigning, Advocacy, Support groups, Public speaking, education

The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) is an American federation of Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian. and Pacific Islander LGBTQ organizations. NQAPIA was formed in 2007, as an outgrowth of the LGBT APA Roundtable working groups at the 2005 National Gay Lesbian Task Force Creating Change Conference in Oakland, CA. NQAPIA seeks to build the capacity of local LGBT AAPI organizations, invigorate grassroots organizing, develop leadership, and challenge homophobia, racism, and anti-immigrant bias. The organization "focuses on grass-roots organizing and leadership development."

Contents

NQAPIA works with local LGBTQ AAPI groups to address a wide range of LGBTQ AAPI issues such as speaking out for immigration reform, partnering with the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force on a national survey of the needs and concerns of LGBTQ AAPIs, support convenings for queer women and South Asians, leading workshops on organizing LGBTQ AAPIs for social change, and hosting national trainings and issue briefings for leaders of LGBTQ AAPI organizations.

Profile of LGBTQ AAPI Organizations

Thirty-four (34) LGBTQ AAPI organizations from across the United States are members of NQAPIA. Two are national organizations. Most LGBTQ AAPI organizations are located in areas with large populations of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The largest population centers are in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Greater Los Angeles Area. Following these are the communities in New York City, the metropolitan Washington, DC Area, and New England.

Some LGBTQ AAPI organizations are organized by ethnicity or gender.
  • Seven (7) are South Asian groups.
  • Two (2) are Southeast Asian groups.
  • Six (6) serve specific ethnic communities, including Chinese, Filipinos, Vietnamese, and Koreans.
  • Five (5) are predominantly women’s organizations with Non-Profit Status (three of which are inclusive of transgender people).
  • Five (5) are predominantly men’s organizations (two of which are inclusive of transgender people).
  • Four (4) are LGBTQ projects of mainstream, larger AAPI organizations.
  • Three (3) are specifically youth organizations, all of which are housed within larger organizations that also provide staff support.

    • Pacific Northwest

    1. API Pride of Portland, OR
    2. Trikone - Northwest, Northwest, Seattle, WA
    3. UTOPA - Seattle, WA
    4. Project Q of API, Chaya, Seattle, WA
    5. Pride ASIA, Seattle, WA

    Northern California

    1. API Equality — Northern California, San Francisco, CA
    2. Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women and Transgender Community (APIQWTC), Bay Area, CA
    3. Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA), San Francisco
    4. South Bay Queer and Asian, San Jose, CA
    5. Trikone, San Francisco, CA
    6. UTOPIA - San Francisco, CA

    Southern California

    1. API PFLAG San Gabriel Valley, CA
    2. Barangay, Los Angeles, CA
    3. Satrang, Los Angeles, CA
    4. Koreans United for Equality (KUE), CA
    5. UTOPIA - San Diego, CA
    6. Viet Rainbow Orange County (VROC), CA
    7. API Pride Council, Los Angeles, CA
    8. Malaya Project, Los Angeles, Ca

    Midwest

    1. Shades of Yellow (SOY), Minneapolis, MN
    2. Invisible to Invincible: Asian Pacific Islander Pride of Chicago (i2i), IL
    3. Trikone, Chicago, IL
    4. Freedom Inc., Madison, WI

    The South

    1. Trikone - Atlanta, GA
    2. Khush, Texas, Austin, TX
    3. VAYLA - New Orleans, LA

    New England

    1. Massachusetts Area South Asian Lambda Association (MASALA), Boston, MA
    2. Queer Asian Pacific-Islander Alliance (QAPA), Boston, MA

    Greater New York City Area

    1. Asian Pride Project, NY
    2. Dari Project, NY
    3. Gay Asian & Pacific Islander Men of New York (GAPIMNY)
    4. Q-WAVE, NY
    5. SALGA, NY
    6. PFLAG NYC Chapter - API Project

    Mid-Atlantic/Metro DC Area

    1. Asian Pacific Islander Queers United for Action (AQUA), Washington, DC
    2. Asian Pacific Islander Queer Sisters (APIQS), Washington, DC
    3. hotpot!, Philadelphia, PA
    4. Khush - DC, Washington, DC

    Pacific Islands

    1. Pride Marianas, Spain
    2. Guam Alternative Lifestyle Association (GALA)
    3. Nolu Ehu, Waianae, HI

    National

    1. Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity (MASGD)
    2. Network on Religion and Justice (NRJ)
    3. Desi lgbtQ Helpline (DeQH)
    4. Queer South Asian National Network (QSANN)

    Participating Organizations

    1. API Equality - Los Angeles, CA
    2. Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), Providence, RI

    Conferences

    Every three years, NQAPIA coordinates national conferences for queer Asian Pacific Islander American Issues.Prior conferences were held in Seattle, Washington and Washington, DC in 2009 and 2012 respectively. In 2015, NQAPIA’s conference was held in Chicago, Illinois from August 6 – 9, 2015.

    Goals

    NQAPIA strives for inclusion of LGBT minority groups in both macro and micro-scopic scales through the use of conferences and community outreach programs. By providing education, social networks of support, and organization of federations and members, it aims to "press a positive agenda" to integrate LGBT racial and ethnic minorities in their communities.

    Activities

  • Conferences & summits: discuss racial and transgender issues on an international platform.
  • Workshops: raise awareness about a multitude of topics (ranging from skills and professional development to health and wellness).
  • Caucuses: create specific networks of support for individualized aid (such as networks based on region).
  • Social & cultural activities: educate and acknowledge cultures as a community.

    • Summits

    The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) organizes a weekend long training and issues briefing for leaders of LGBTQ API organizations. Local leaders from across the nation convene to network, learn about current issues, share strategies, and build the infrastructure of their respective organizations. In 2013, the NQAPIA Summit was in Hawai’i. NQAPIA Summits alternate between West and East Coasts.

    Programs & Campaigns

    The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) curates projects and campaigns which empower the queer Asian communities around the nation.

    LGBT Immigrants' Rights

    A campaign focused on immigration reform and upholding LGBT Asian American Pacific Islander immigrant rights by "educating local organizations and leaders", engaging in media in various forms and mediums, publicizing the stories of undocumented LGBT Asian American Pacific Islanders (as well as undocumented Latinos), and analyzing immigration reform legislation and the effect that legislation changes will have.

    Family is Still Family

    A multilingual campaign focused on educating Asian and Pacific Islander parents of LGBT youth, aimed to guide them in supporting their child and maintaining strong family bonds. This is accomplished through videos translated into Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai, Khmer, Hmong, Lao, Hindi, Tagalog, Ilocano, Arabic, and other languages as well as multilingual leaflets, "family acceptance workshops", advertisements for LGBT pride month, and features on various news channels, such as MSNBC, NBC, and Korea Times.

    DACA Undocumented Youth

    DACA/DAPA are both programs targeted at undocumented immigrants, particularly families. DACA (deferred action for childhood arrivals) allows for individuals to remain in the United States and obtain work permits if they are qualified to do so; however, it is not a route to obtaining permanent residence or citizenship status. Due to "legal challenges", the expanded DACA and DAPA programs are currently unavailable, but the original 2012 DACA program is open to the public. DAPA (deferred action for parental accountability) is orchestrated by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in order to temporarily provide aid to undocumented immigrants who are parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents and provides "relief from deportation and work authorization" for three years, but is currently not accepting applications.

    Uncovering Our Stories: The Voices of LGBTQ AAPI Immigrants

    "Uncovering Our Stories" was accomplished with the help of Mia Nakano, a director who worked on numerous other projects with similar themes. Its goal is to uncover the stories of immigrants who are "everyday" LGBT Asian American and Pacific Islanders, but whose stories rarely see coverage. The ultimate mission of this campaign is various levels of immigration reform, including greater family immigration rights and protections. It features Sapna Pandya, Erika Nunez, Tony Choi, Nebula Li, Rajat Dutta, Shweta Jumar, Maya Jafer, Dhaval Shah, John Sanchez, Chetam & Gaurav, Bupendra Ram, Sandy, Erwin de Leon, Alex Ong, Noel Bordador, Urooj Arshad, Linda & Lundy Khoy, and Sahar shafqat.

    Multilingual Visibility Postcards

    Through the use of printed postcards featuring various Asian American and Pacific Islanders, this campaign aims to "increase visibility of LGBT AAPIs". It features a variety of languages, from Korean to Thai to Bengali to Vietnamese, with a motif on front expressing support for same-sex marriage, immigrant rights, and queer/Asian pride.

    NQAPIA Community Catalyst Awards

    The NQAPIA Community Catalyst Awards are awarded to individual and organizations that have:

  • performed "substantive work in support of AAPI and/or LGBT communities"
  • are capable of drawing sponsors to the event
  • can commit to being present at the event

    • Nominees are accepted through online submission. Past awardees include:

    2012 Awardees

  • Rep. Mike Honda
  • The Asian American Justice Center
  • Urooj Arshad

    • 2013 Awardees

  • Esera Tuaolo
  • UNITE HERE! Local 5

    • 2014 Awardees

  • Andy Marra
  • Q-WAVE
  • Namita Chad

    • 2015 Awardees

    New York
  • Dennis Chin
  • Clara Yoon
  • GABRIELA-USA
    • Chicago
  • I Li Hsiao
  • Liz Thomson
  • Marsha and Tad Aizumi (parents of Aiden Aizumi
  • Freedom Inc.

    • 2016 Awardees

    New York
  • Conrad Ricamora
  • Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU
  • Faisal Alam
    • Boston
  • Amit Dixit
  • Past QAPA Steering Committee Members
    • Washington
  • Sapna Pandya
  • Hector Vargas
  • Sharon Wong

    • Yearly Reports

    NQAPIA releases yearly reports/news magazines detailing their activities, highlights of their national conference (if applicable), various features and articles, award information, financial statements.

    2016 Election Information

    For the American 2016 election, NQAPIA released a series of reports on the election, including voter guides in Chinese, Hindi, Korean, and Vietnamese; resources to understand the issues each candidate was campaigning on and to protect Asian American Pacific Islander voting rights; and information on how to vote.

    Current Events Information

    Various infographics, articles, letters, blog posts, and the like are posted on a variety of topics related to Asian American Pacific Islanders' issues, such as political events.

    References

    National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA