NEW YORK – When Jason Tseng first met his boyfriend at a support group meeting for gay Asian and Pacific Islander men in New York, he never would have guessed that three years later he’d be contemplating marriage. With the end of DOMA, the federal ban on same-sex marriage, they now have that chance. But […]
For LGBT Asians, cultural barriers to marriage remain after DOMA
December 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
THE GREAT UNKNOWN AND THE UNKNOWN GREAT: The civil rights politics and complexities of Nikkei ‘coming out’ as LGBT
June 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment
This week’s entry represents the seventh annual column that I have produced for the Nichi Bei on the queer heritage of Japanese Americans. In past entries, I have explored such topics as the varieties of Issei sexuality, the turn to Western-style family models (and homophobia) within Japanese communities, and the community’s turn to support for […]
Older gay APIs bond over dinner
February 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The entryway of the Twin Peaks-area apartment is cluttered with various pairs of shoes. In the kitchen is a potluck collection of Asian-inspired dishes. Chairs are set up in the living room. Nametags are distributed. Conversations fill the home. On this Sunday night in early January roughly 20 gay Asian and Pacific Islander men have […]
One family’s take on ‘the civil rights issue of our time’
January 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
TWO SPIRITS, ONE HEART: A MOTHER, HER TRANSGENDER SON, AND THEIR JOURNEY TO LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE By Marsha Aizumi (Arcadia, Calif.: Peony Press: 290 pp., $16.95 hard cover) Marsha Aizumi’s book, “Two Spirits, One Heart,†is a memoir about her experience as the mother of a child who comes out as a lesbian, then transitioned […]
LGBT rights activist, Tak Yamamoto, dies
November 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment
LOS ANGELES — Long-time Manzanar Committee leader Takenori “Tak†Yamamoto, of Los Angeles, died on Nov. 9, 2012, the Los Angeles-based Manzanar Committee announced in a statement issued Nov. 16. Yamamoto, 74, died of natural causes, according to long-time partner Karl Fish. Yamamoto’s family was among the some 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry who were forcibly […]
Honda introduces bill to end immigration law discrimination
May 12, 2011 by Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — Rep. Mike Honda (D-San Jose) on May 5 introduced the Reuniting Families Act in the House of Representatives, which according to his office, would help “ensure that visas are allocated efficiently, while alleviating lengthy wait times that keep legal immigrants, and their loved ones overseas, separated for years.†The bill also eliminates discrimination […]
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