LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — There's a growing push across the country to recognize the final days of May and first days of June as QTAPI, or Queer Transgender Asian Pacific Islander Week. Cities like San Francisco and San Diego have marked the occasion in recent years.
With May being Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and June being Pride Month, there's more attention now on the intersectionality of the two groups, and what it means to be both AAPI and LGBTQ+.
It's a unique experience that can come with distinct challenges, which Matthew Dang and Preston Tang know very well. Both are queer and Vietnamese.
"Even now, I'm still not fully out with all parts of my family," Matthew Dang said. He said there are a lot of misconceptions around being gay in the Vietnamese community. He said that's why he didn't come out to his parents about his sexuality until he was 21.
"The one issue in Asian cultures is we just don't talk about these things," Dang said.
Dang said many Asian immigrant parents are so focused on adjusting to life in America and providing for their kids, that they don't have the capacity to discuss things like emotional wellbeing and sexuality.
"In many aspects, it wasn't safe to have those types of conversations with my family members, or they couldn't understand or relate to the issues I was having, especially as first-time Americans here," Preston Tang said.
Tang added, some Asian languages don't even have the proper terminology to even start those conversations.
"There's no words, like in my Vietnamese culture, there's no word to translate for being gay," Tang said. He said the only word that comes close to gay, also represents mental illness, which can be traumatizing and isolating for AAPI LGBTQ+ youth.
Tang said when he finally came out to his parents, they didn't take it well, and in a lot of ways, they're still processing it.
Even outside the home, finding a sense of belonging can also prove challenging.
"In college, what I found a really safe haven is other folks who identify as AAPI and queer. I went to some of the queer, gay spaces and I didn't feel represented. It was a lot for me, and in the AAPI spaces, I was just like, 'okay, there's this other identity where I just don't know how you would react to," Dang said.
Both Dang and Tang said Vegas was lacking an avenue for AAPI and LGBTQ+ folks to connect and represent. That's why they helped found the Southern Nevada Asian Pacific Islander Queer Society, or SNAPIQS, in 2019.
"Myself and few other members, we came together because we saw a need in Las Vegas. We couldn't find an organization that can create safe spaces that can have open and frank conversations about issues that affects us within the AAPI LGBT community," Tang said.
It's all about being the AAPI LGBTQ+ representation they didn't have growing up and connecting folks with similar experiences.
"It's both sometimes overwhelming, but also at the same time, it's empowering for them, because they see other people like themselves in the same room who have that shared common experience, talk about things that scares them, and things from our older members, things they've overcome that can be a guidebook for our younger members, as well," Tang said.
"We've been really responsive to what the community needs. So if it means we need to build listening sessions, we do that. If it means, hey we haven't volunteered for this organization, let's do that. If it's like, hey, we're all kind of tired, we all miss each other, let's go hang out and make a social event, we'll do that," Dang said.
Dang and Tang are turning the isolation they've felt at the intersection of two historically marginalized identities into a sense of community, emphasizing that while their experience is unique, they certainly are not alone.
"Myself growing up, I didn't have these type of resources, and if I had these type of resources to tap into, I think i would've taken advantage of it," Tang said. "If I can change one life, it's all worth it for me in the end."
MORE FROM ANJALI PATEL:
