Ron G. -- D.J.

Ron G. is a D.J. in the Chicago area, having become a fixture at local clubs, retail venues and national festivals.

Grand Marshall Takei

George Takei, the veteran actor best known for playing Mr. Sulu on TV's Star Trek, flashed a sign to the crowd during the 42nd annual Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival Parade that took place Sunday, April 19 in San Francisco's Japantown, according to the Bay Area Reporter. Takei, who came out as gay several years ago, served as grand marshal of the parade and rode with his husband, Brad Altman. They were followed by the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance contingent. The parade also included drummers, dancers, the Japanese ambassador and San Francisco consul, politicians, and the grand finale of the mikoshi, large casks of saki carried on their shoulders by dozens of burly men. (Photo by Rick Gerharter)

Gay Asian Currently On TV … Good or Bad?

The recent posts about Asian stereotypes made me think about actor/comedian Alec Mapa’s character on the popular ABC show, “Ugly Betty.” The veteran out gay actor plays fashion journalist “Suzuki St. Clair.”

Need I say more?

Apparently I will. ;-) Mapa, who is Filipino-American, has delivered a character in full living color that has become a regular on the series (currently on a mid-season break). Few Asian actors have such a regular high-profile gig. (The only other Asian guy I can think of is Rex Lee, who plays Jeremy Piven’s gay assistant on HBO’s “Entourage.” But I don’t have HBO, so I don’t know if he’s still in that role.)

Mapa’s “Suzuki St. Clair,” not surprisingly, is flamboyant and gossipy, always looking for the dirt in the fashion industry. Mapa plays him with relish — all he’s missing is his feather boa.

To be fair, we all know people like Suzuki St. Clair in our community and we embrace them as the many colors in our rainbow-colored flag. But when we talk about breaking Asian gay stereotypes, Mapa’s dragon-lady-like performance doesn’t seem to break new ground.

When it comes to new views on gay images, I believe the gay characters on “Brothers and Sisters” raise the game with their portrayal of professional gay men trying to nurture a loving relationship in a dysfunctional family environment.

Mapa’s character on “Ugly Betty” doesn’t change any perceptions about gay Asian males. Ironically, in one storyline on the series we discovered that Suzuki St. Clair is actually a straight guy living in the suburbs with a wife and two kids. So he’s not even gay! And he plays gay just to be accepted in the fashion world. It’s a stereotype within a stereotype.

TV and movies continue to serve as the platform to both build or preserve stereotypes of gay Asian men in our society. Let’s hope that we see more variety and not more Suzuki St. Clairs.

Re-sexualizing the Asian Male

Here are some thoughts from then (1998) Harvard grad student Joan Kee about the Asian male in America:

Asian American male sexuality has long entailed a discourse of nothingness. The Asian or Asian American male is perhaps best known for his absence in the colonizer's sexual hierarchy. This strikes a sharp contrast to the colonizer's perception of the Asian female as an embodiment of excessive sexuality. Asian American males have been consigned to positions of inferiority within the hierarchy -- the Asian male as sexually impotent voyeur or pervert is a reoccuring icon, appearing throughout American cultural history and especially in film. Notable examples of this include Mickey Rooney in "yellowface" as the bucktoothed Japanese landlord who sneaks peeps at Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) or the pathetically asexual nerd Long Duk Dong in John Hughes' adolescent classic Sixteen Candles (1984).

Here are more of her thoughts on the themes involved in a work of art.


"Desexualized" is an apt term in this context as the colonizer has actively engaged in the process of emasculating or "demasculinizing" the Asian male. In Ken Chu's pastiche-like, mixed-media work I need some more hair products (1988), the artist denotes the yearning of the Asian male who applies hair spray in an attempt to become white. Transforming oneself into a white man is a prerequisite in securing a sexual partner, according to the arbitrary ideals of the colonizer, here represented as American mass media and popular culture.

Defining the Gay Asian

Many of the themes that frustrate the gay Asian in America are explored in this short video from Australia. It's interesting how one of the "answers" to self love is making love to another Asian man. While I'm not sure it's THE answer, it at least poses an interesting question.

Here's the link: Gay Asian Documentary

The Sit-in Site

On a business trip to Greensboro, N.C., I made my way to the Woolworth's where four African American students staged a "sit-in" in the 1960's to protest segregation. It's where the Civil Rights Movement started. While I can't own their fight, I personally share in the discussion about race in America.

What I do feel swept up in being a Filipino American is the larger need people of Asian-American descent have for making race a "non-issue." The need to "blend" into a mainstream America--one many of us perceive as a Caucasian America--is pervasive and compelling. As much as we rail against race as a factor in judging a person, we exercise it just as often.