Rising from the Crypt

Asians and Friends Chicago Board Pres. Angel Abcede takes a moment to emerge while on a tour of the architecturally historic Graceland Cemetary in Chicago.

Halloween Season Begins

Asians and Friends members joined Omar at his Halloween party this past Satuday in Elgin, Illinois. Several members won prizes that included a DVD player and an iPOD. But this is just the beginning of the Halloween season! More to come...

Political Activism

Chicago's i2i group, which stands for "Invisible to Invincible," is a politically active collective of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Asian-Pacific Americans. They're planning a big year of new activities. Here they are talking about their plans.

Openly Gay Candidate for Judge

An openly gay candidate for Cook County judge in Chicago explains how qualifications should be the primary criteria for selecting any political candidate, but that representation is also important. Linda Pauel is of Dutch, Jamaican and Chinese descent. She is addressing a gathering of gay and lesbian members of i2i, which stands for Invisible to Invincible--a social-activist group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Asian-Pacific Americans.

Who’s Up for a March?

This Sunday, hopefully thousands of Americans will march on Washington, D.C.’s Mall to raise awareness of the need for equal marriage rights for gay and lesbian men and women in the United States.

I’m sad to say that I won’t be there. I would have gone if I knew this was happening. I didn’t hear about it until two weeks ago. Two weeks? Is that enough time to book a flight and make arrangements to go to D.C. from the West Coast? Since my sister lives in D.C., I probably could have bunked out with her. But even before I knew this march was actually going to happen, I already committed to other plans for this Columbus Day weekend.

This is the problem with the organizing of what should be the National Equality March. I heard the proposal for the march last year when everyone was into marching the streets to protest Prop. 8. But then there were rumblings about when it should take place and who’s going to plan it. This grassroots effort was too grassroots, meaning it didn’t have any national structure to gather all the various LGBT efforts and then get the word out.

So who will show up this weekend? I know for sure the entire cast of Broadway’s “Hair” will be there, as I read in the New York Times that the producers will close the show for one day to let the actors participate in the march. I think that’s great, and it’s that spirit that will bring a positive feel to the march. There will probably be a lot of people on the East Coast who probably might drive down to D.C. for the march. But there will also be lots of people like myself, who will be there in spirit. Maybe the next march we’ll get more advanced notice.

Multi-Cultural Interviews in Windy City Times (Chicago)

Numerous interviews focusing on cultural experiences within Chicago's gay community were published online at Windy City Times this week. Here's one excerpt:

Phillip Ozaki, 22, Filipino and Japanese-American:

"As if I didn't have enough identity struggle being both Japanese and Filipino, and American, to add the gay identity to it is just a huge struggle."

"The Japanese perspective is one of practicality. It's like, 'Why would you marry a gay person? You can't have kids.' In Japanese culture you're supposed to be very socialized and very like everybody else. It's very taboo and unknown and invalid to be a homosexual.

"But Japanese Americans have this long history of struggle and internment camps and especially civil rights. So I feel like they're more tolerant of other cultures especially the gay community because they understand that American culture can take away the rights of minorities just for being a certain identity.

"The Filipino perspective is very different. Gay means super flamboyant. They're really Catholic. The majority of gay Filipinos I've met are closeted to their parents, and identify as bisexual as a leeway to act like they're straight. In Filipino-American culture I'd say it's the same way: very closeted, very Catholic, very not discussed.

"It's as if no one really gets me, I think. Because I'm ethnic and because I'm a minority it's like this double minority. It's like I'm double silenced. The way I like to say it is: The more of a struggle you have the more you have to fight for."

Houston Wins ifCON 2011

Congratulations to Houston for winning the honor of hosting ifCON 2011. Below are Houston organizers Bob and Sam accepting the honor. Chicago will be hosting next year in the form of a cruise to the Bahamas, while Denver won the honor for 2012.