Critical Path and ACT UP Philadelphia co-founder Kiyoshi Kuromiya is someone who I think we should be especially proud of, both for his decades of activism and his complete rejection of respectability politics and cisheteronormativity. Kuromiya is seated at the table second from the left.Īs this list attests, we have a lot of queer ancestors to celebrate and learn from. Kiyoshi Kuromiya oral history via them Still from the video. Much of it it focused on the present moment - which is arguably still unfolding history - but some of the poets featured in the “Queer Check-Ins” draw connections to the past, including Kitty Tsui, a founding member of the Unbound Feet Collective and author of the first book published by a Chinese American lesbian. This digital exhibition by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center documents queer life in Asian American and Pacific Islander communities throughout the country. A Day in the Queer Life of Asian Pacific America > Check out the Archive of Queer Brown Feelings 7.

The South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) explores the history, memories, and lived experience of queer and trans South Asians through a collection of oral histories and forthcoming artifacts. > Watch Searching for Queer Asian Pacific America 6. Each film is about 6-7 minutes long and features a lot of surprisingly intimate interview footage with the people who lived through this history, making them engaging and, if you’re also a tenderhearted water sign, a little bit emotional to watch. Lee tells the stories behind specific moments in queer Asian American and Pacific Islander history. In this five-part documentary series, filmmaker Patrick G. Still from the first film in the series, “‘We’re Asians Gay & Proud’: The Story Behind the Photo.” Searching for Queer Asian Pacific America Written by Amy Sueyoshi and published in a 2016 National Parks Service study of LGBTQ history in America, “Breathing Fire” traces the lineage of Asian American queer activism, from same-sex intimacy in early Asian immigrant communities to Asian American AIDS activism in the 1980s and ‘90s to a younger generation of API queers organizing online today. Photo by Cathy Cade, courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley. “Breathing Fire: Remembering Asian Pacific Activism in Queer History” Asian/Pacific Lesbians marching in the 1989 San Francisco Pride parade. They also just launched a new podcast that is beautifully intergenerational and feels kind of like eavesdropping on a conversation between really smart and cool queer activist friends.

The Dragon Fruit Project uplifts the stories of queer and trans API leaders and activists through oral histories, zines, a timeline of LGBTQ Asian and Pacific Islander history, and more.

A Lesbian Photo Album by Cathy Cade