Tales of the City

For Prospective Leap Folks

2010-03-18T23:27:00.000-07:00

It may be absolute vanity to think that there may be prospective LEAP folks who are actually reading this blog...but here goes nothing:

LEAP is an opportunity of a life time to really dig deep down into the Asian Pacific Islander community in Southern California, and to form strong relationships with mentors. I can't say enough how important LEAP has been for my development--professional and personally. If you have any questions (what's it like, etc.) feel free to get a hold of me.

2010 Applications for LEAP Out!

2010-01-18T22:18:00.000-08:00

The 2010 applications for the Leadership in Action Internship with LEAP, Inc. is out! For prospective applicants, feel free to contact me about questions you may have about the program.

ALSO...

The Capital Fellows Program consists of 4 programs, 2 in the Legislature, 1 with the Executive Branch, and 1 with the courts system.

Fellows in each program work for 11 months, receive health benefits and a monthly stipend of $1972 and are employees of Sacramento State. They work as full-time members of a legislative, executive, or judicial branch office, and are typically given assignments with a significant amount of responsibility and challenges. Fellows also enroll as graduate students at Sacramento State and receive graduate units from the Sacramento State Government Department or Public Policy and Administration Program. The enrollment fees are paid by the programs.

The selection process for the fellows programs starts in the late fall when the application period opens. Anyone with a bachelor's degree by September 1, 2010 and a demonstrated interest in state government and public service is eligible to apply. There are no preferred majors. Applicants must be 20 years of age by September 1, 2010. Graduate, postgraduate and mid-career applicants are welcome. Non-U.S. citizens must provide proof of appropriate immigration status. The Capital Fellows Programs do not meet the requirements for F-1 or J-1 visas.

Fellows are selected in the spring and start their programs in fall with an intensive orientation conducted by the program, after which they interview with various offices before being placed. They attend weekly graduate seminars conducted by their program's academic advisors.

If you have any questions about the Senate Fellowship, which I'm currently serving, please feel free to contact me as well.

Much needed update!

2009-08-27T11:50:00.000-07:00

So my blog is still linked to LEAP and I find it only appropriate to document, document, and document the different experiences I've had.

I left LEAP two weeks ago. Thanks to all the LEAP staff, we had a fabulous graduation ceremony with great food. Jury Candelario, an API Equaltiy - LA Steering Committee Member, and also Division Director of Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team (APAIT) represented API Equality and attended my graduation.

I've now stepped in as temporary staff here at API Equality - LA. The other interns like to joke that I'm now an "interim director" which, while as a nice ring to it, is completely untrue. I'm staffing the steering committee full time, making sure that operations are running smoothly, and chiming in when I need to raise concerns. But I have a long way in terms of work experience and education to actually be a director. BUT that day will come! Working here the last two weeks has already been a huge learning curve, and I'm glad I have the steering committe to be my mentors. Seriously, I could not wish for better bosses!

Professional Development

2009-08-07T09:55:00.001-07:00

So we have to some reflections for LEAP's Friday professional developments and it coerces you, and not in a friendly way either, to think about about the future--critically and deliberately. I stress those two things largely because we think about the future...briefly...but never really engage it. So off I go to engage critically.!

2009-08-04T11:49:00.000-07:00

Since yesterday, I've been staffing API Equality - LA as a staffer, and not just an intern. I appreciate the opportunity to work so closely with amazing steering committee members and to be able to really hone my skills and to work in such an environment that is positive.

My tasks lists continually grow, and I'm completely amazed at the amount of work our organization can do with so little resources. A lot of it comes from the heart and energy of our volunteers--2000 strong--to make sure we restore marriage equality to California.

2009-07-31T14:23:00.001-07:00

Immigration will be on the Obama agenda for later this year (theoretically). This is exactly tied into marriage equality.

This is from: http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/12300/immigration-equality-at-last-a-real-chance-for-reform-that-includes-samesex-couples

Julie Kruse is the Policy Director at Immigration Equality, a national org that is working to gain equal immigration rights for the LGBT and HIV-positive community. She has written this guest post for the Blend. (Photo of Kruse by Judy C. Rolfe)

There's a battle looming for LGBT families that we can win now - a battle to keep lesbians and gays from literally being torn from our same-sex partners. Discriminatory immigration laws are causing LGBT families needless suffering.
In April, Shirley Tan of Pacifica, Calif., as reported in a recent People magazine article, was facing deportation and forced separation from her partner Jaylynn, who is a U.S. citizen, and their two U.S. citizen children. Just days before her scheduled deportation, Sen. Diane Feinstein introduced a private bill on her behalf, which effectively delays the deportation for almost two years.
Gordon Stewart has moved to England to stay with his life partner Renato. Because of being abroad, he was not able to spend the time caring for a sister sick with cancer, as he had hoped to do.
Judy Rickard retired early to be with her partner, Karen, and move abroad, if necessary, to keep their family together.
In short, the 36,000 bi-national lesbian, gay and bisexual families in the U.S. face acute crises every day because discriminatory immigration laws prevent them from sponsoring their same-sex partners for residency in the U.S.
Finally, after years of struggle to fix this injustice, we have a shot at winning this fight, but it will require our community to take action.
CONGRESS AND THE White House are committed to moving forward with comprehensive immigration reform. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), chair of the subcommittee charged with overseeing immigration, recently said that he will have a bill ready for consideration by Labor Day. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has promised, once the Senate votes on its version, to bring a similar measure to a vote in her chamber, too.
The White House held a summit in June and formed an immigration working group to help move comprehensive immigration reform legislation forward. And President Obama has said he supports our inclusion in the bill.
Now, the LGBT community is at a significant tipping point to ensure inclusion of our families in this legislation.

=)

2009-07-29T00:27:00.000-07:00

API Equality - LA is asking me stay on after my internship as full time staff. WHEEEEEE!!

2009-07-23T20:53:00.001-07:00

yay it took me 30 min but I learned how to put the date on my blog. WOOT.

Lighter Material

2009-07-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

Its been HOT in LA the last few days. And so my blog has been hot and heavy with the latest news from various LGBTQ groups dealing with the 2010 v. 2012 AND with Dr. Thio Li-ann and her less than camp disposition, its time to lighten things up a bit.

So I have a recipe that I wanna share that I just created and tried out.

Ginger Lime Chicken

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts (about 1lb)
2 stalks of spring onion
1 shallot, minced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 whole lime
2-3 table spoons of abalone sauce
1 tsp of soy sauce
2 tsp of ginger, minced
4 tsp of brown rice wine (Shao xing rice wine)
1/2 tsp of white pepper
2 tsp of oil (canola oil is fine, olive ok)

Cut the chicken breast into small to medium cubes and place in ZipLock bag. Toss the minced shallot, garlic, and ginger into the bag. Put the white pepper in as well Put in your liquids of soy sauce, abalone sauce, brown rice wine, and the juice from 1 whole lime into the bag. Shake the bag. Seal it, and let it marinate. I prefer marinate it overnight as it really flavors the chicken breast. The liquid will also help keep the cubes moist.

After letting it marinate overnight (or for a few hours), just take out the bag. Heat a skillet or a wok, and let the oil heat up as well. The pour all the contents of the bag (there shouldn't be too much liquid anyway) into the skillet and wok and stir fry until done. Make sure that the heat is kept on high to reduce the liquid to a sauce that will coat the chicken, not drench it.

Before killing the heat, toss in the spring onions and stir fry for 10 seconds. Turn off heat and serve over white rice, fried rice, or noodles.

The chicken will have the strong punch of lime, but will have robust flavors from the giner and shallots, especially to balance out the tangyness of the lime.

Back to Thio Li-Ann

2009-07-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

I wrote a few weeks ago that covered Prof. Thio Li-Ann, who as a Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) of Singapore made some rather disparaging comments about LGBTQ folks, and demonstrated an unfortunate situation of hate. But, that being said, Prof. Thio apparently doesn't mind LGBTQ folks. And I personally thing she's a brilliant legal scholar, and her wit is insurmountable. In fact, I would've loved to have spent time with her, if anything to amass the ability to speak and defend so well.

So here's the update: The professor withdrew her acceptance to teach at NYU, citing an atmopshere of hostility.

But I wonder, what would she say that her class may have been an atmopshere of hostility to LGBT folks?

July 23.

2009-07-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” - Shel Silverstein

Prepare to Prevail Update

2009-07-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

So while groups like Love, Honor, Cherish continue to pound ahead, forgetting that a coalition means more than one organization, the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club joined API Equality - LA, Honor PAC, and Jordan/Rustin Coalition to hold off on 2010.

From: The San Francisco Chronicle (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?blogid=14&entry_id=43849#ixzz0M36OcDUO)
Posted By: Joe Garofoli (Email) | July 17 2009 at 05:59 PM

Another prominent LGBT group wants to wait on gay marriage vote until 2012

Seems to be a bit of momentum gathering among California's same sex marriage supporters to wait until 2012 on going back to the ballot to overturn Proposition 8. The other day we told you that a trio of LGBT coalitions of color suggested holding off until 2012. Now, they've got some company.

The Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club -- the nation's oldest LGBT Demo club -- thinks 2012 would be better, too. After hearing a presentation from San Francisco pollster Amy Simon this week, the club's board decided -- after much debate -- that there might not be enough time to right the wrongs of the last campaign.

"We believe that our ability to do the groundwork critical to success, and not our outrage over the passage of Prop. 8, should drive the decision," say the ABTers.

Going for it in 2010, "would require a rush that could possibly cause our community to take shortcuts, miss important messages and fail to make critical connections. If we set the vote for 2010, we essentially need to net 1,000 voters per day, a theoretically achievable but extraordinarily ambitious goal."

"In the end, we simply believe that 2012 offers the better strategic opportunity to pass a repeal of Prop 8."

However, Toklas Club co-chair Charles Sheehan told us that if a consensus of same sex marriage supporters wants to go for it in 2010, however, the organization "will be on the front lines."

Next week, same sex marriage supporters are gathering in San Bernadino to take their collective pulse about what their next step should be. Don't expect to see a consensus on 2010 v. 2012, but you should see some serious telltale signs.

Looks like LHC needs to go back to Community Building 101.

2009-07-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

More on the State Legislature providing an apology to Chinese Americans, via LA Times.

Article posted in full here:

California issues formal apology for past discrimination against Chinese

The wave of immigrants who worked dangerous jobs building railroads and early California infrastructure faced decades of discrimination, marriage restrictions and private injustices.

By Corina Knoll

July 23, 2009

The documents Chan Share clutched as he left China were forged. It was 1939 and Asians were not allowed to immigrate to the United States. So, like many others, Share claimed he was a "paper son" and had a California-born relative whose records were lost in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

After two months of interrogation at Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, Share was allowed into a country where Chinese laborers decades before him had toiled in the merciless sun to lay miles of railroad track that would connect the dots of America. Despite their hard work, he was told he could not vote, own property or even marry the person of his choice.

Seventy years later, the state of California has formally apologized to the thousands of Chinese immigrants who helped build the state. Many, including Share, are no longer alive, but their children and grandchildren had pushed for such an apology.

The state Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution expressing profound regret for the persecution of Chinese immigrants, who in the 1880s and 1890s performed the dangerous work of cobbling together California's nascent infrastructure. The Senate has adopted the same resolution.

The bill does not seek any financial compensation for Chinese who were mistreated or denied basic civil liberties, but its authors said they intend to ask Congress to adopt the same resolution.

The legislation was co-sponsored by Assemblymen Paul Fong (D-Cupertino) and Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles). For Fong it was personal; Chan Share was his grandfather.

"Racism still reverberates today and a lot of the discrimination laws -- those wounds are still open," Fong said Wednesday. "By apologizing, we'll hopefully close those wounds and close a sad chapter in our history."

That history included Chinese men recruited to work on the first transcontinental railroad being paid pitiful wages and treated as inferiors. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act suspended immigration and the men living here had little hope of bringing over the family members they had left behind. As they spread out to the agricultural and mining industries, their willingness to work cheaply was resented.

They were often forced to live impoverished lives in squalid Chinatowns, including the large community where L.A.'s Union Station now sits.

After racial barriers to immigration were amended, a new wave of Chinese immigrants arrived only to encounter discrimination from banks, landlords and retail establishments.

Raymond Fong, a 64-year-old wine merchant in San Francisco whose father was a "paper son," says recognizing racism in the country's history helps people understand the roots of an ethnic community.

"It's a catalyst for getting more of the story and opens the door so people can explain," said Raymond Fong, who is not related to the assemblyman.

"You can't believe the psychological impact it had on ABCs -- American Born Chinese. We're the generation whose parents learned to turn the other cheek because they didn't want to draw attention. We're the ones raised under the scars and seen as the good Asian Americans because we feared getting into trouble," said Raymond Fong.

The apology is part of a wave of formal regret offered by the government in recent years. In 1988, Congress apologized to Japanese Americans who during World War II were thrown into prison camps such as Manzanar. In 2008 the House passed a resolution apologizing for slavery, and the Senate followed suit last month.

corina.knoll@latimes.com

2009-07-22T16:01:00.000-07:00

Where is my time stamp going for these posts?! rawr. argh. ok time to go back to the HTML board.

California Apologizes to Chinese

2009-07-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to get an apology....from the state of California. Time Magazine has an article today, of which I've linked, and included portions below.

On July 17, the California legislature quietly approved a landmark bill to apologize to the state's Chinese-American community for racist laws enacted as far back as the mid–19th century Gold Rush, which attracted about 25,000 Chinese from 1849 to 1852. The laws, some of which were not repealed until the 1940s, barred Chinese from owning land or property, marrying whites, working in the public sector and testifying against whites in court. The new bill also recognizes the contributions Chinese immigrants have made to the state, particularly their work on the Transcontinental Railroad.

What's interesting is the analysis:

How times have changed. In the throes of huge budget cuts, California is wooing cash-flush mainland Chinese tourists to its sun-kissed coastline and world-famous theme parks. So far this year, the state's Travel and Tourism Commission has opened offices in three Chinese cities. In 2005, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger toured China on a six-day trade mission to peddle his state's produce, technology and raw materials. China is now California's fourth largest export market, after Mexico, Canada and Japan. In 2008 California exported $10.9 billion worth of goods to China, up 40% since 2005.

So the state apologized so it can get money?

NGLTF

2009-07-17T19:14:00.001-07:00

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force released a statement, joining
API Equality - LA, HONOR PAC, and Jordan Rustin Coalition's Prepare to
Prevail statement. YAY! =)

Side note, its been a bit crazy lately with LEAP's Annual Awards
Dinner last night, and the LEAP Board Luncheon. Both were fabulous
experiences to meet new people. Can't wait to be a board member one
day =)

Prepare to Prevail: Why We Must Wait in Order to Win

2009-07-13T22:21:00.000-07:00

Below is a statement released by API Equality - LA, HONOR PAC, and the Jordan Rustin Coalition. I stand by the statement, not as an intern at API Equality - LA or a LEAP intern, but as a personal belief.

Prepare to Prevail:

Why We Must Wait In Order to Win

A public statement on how to win back marriage equality in California

July 13, 2009

Issued by: API Equality-LA, HONOR PAC, Jordan Rustin Coalition

www.apiequalityla.org l www.honorpac.org l www.jordanrustincoalition.org

Unlike Proposition 8 in 2008, any upcoming electoral campaign for marriage equality would be one of choice, not one of necessity in fending off an attack from religious-right foes. Timing is ours to determine. Going back to the ballot to remove the voter-imposed ban on same-sex marriage from the state constitution in 2010 would be rushed and risky. We should proceed with a costly, demanding, and high-stakes electoral campaign of this sort only when we are confident we can win. We should choose to Prepare to Prevail.

We have much work to do before we proceed to the ballot. Many of us, which includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) organizations and progressive allies, have been doing critical educational and organizing work for years, intensified it during the Prop. 8 campaign in 2008, and have continued to communicate with key constituencies after the election. We vow to intensify our efforts until we win back marriage equality in California. We invite all groups and individual leaders to sign on to this statement and join us in building a solid battle plan for equality. We must step up our work, collectively and in concert, as soon as possible.

Prepare to Prevail requires making progress on the following beforeproceeding to the ballot:

1) Winning requires full LGBT community support and a broad coalition of allies. Only a few segments of the LGBT community have announced their intention to pursue a “vote-yes” campaign next year. Energy and passion are a necessary prerequisite for any effective campaign but are not a sufficient substitute for a broad coalition with a clear strategy backed by ample resources. For California to win back marriage equality, broad segments of the LGBT and progressive community including critically important people-of-color groups, LGBT families, and other allies need to pull together. We should proceed when we have a unified strategy and a massive coalition of progressive non-LGBT allies ready to act in unison. Anything short of a broad coalition of allies would place our campaign in a strategic disadvantage from the onset.

2) We need to build strong majority support before placing the issue before voters. Popular support for marriage equality for same-sex couples has not changed since the last election. Today, California voters’ opinions on a constitutional amendment to overturn the voter-imposed elimination of marriage equality remain evenly split, according to all recent polls. In order to seek major investments of time and money from key stakeholders and allies in an affirmative ballot-measure campaign seeking a “yes” vote from voters, seasoned campaign experts advise against proceeding to the ballot without evidence of a strong majority in favor of the measure. Failure to begin with a sizable majority puts sponsors in a more likely position to lose. More than two-thirds of all ballot initiatives fail to pass on2

Election Day. Moreover, polls can overstate actual public support for LGBT rights because respondents may be reluctant to reveal their bias to pollsters. In 2008, some polls indicated majority support for marriage equality and against Proposition 8, which was not the result on Election Day. This was also true for Proposition 22, when opponents of the measure thought there was more support for marriage equality than the final vote demonstrated. In Washington State in 1997, some gay-rights activists pushed forward with a pro-active ballot measure aimed at outlawing antigay discrimination in the state. Despite having public opinion narrowly on their side, they lost 60 to 40 at the polls on the measure. It took nine more years for LGBT rights supporters to secure passage of a nondiscrimination law by the Washington state legislature. Proceeding with campaigns seeking a “yes” vote without support from a strong majority of voters holds foreseeable danger.

3) Campaign donors will be constrained given the current unprecedented economic downturn. Over $81 million was raised and spent by both sides in the Proposition 8 campaign, more than in any previous anti-gay ballot initiative. Many of the LGBT nonprofit organizations doing critical work for our communities have suffered layoffs and cutbacks in services. The current economic downturn has also reduced the capacity of campaigns both educational and electoral to amass multi-million-dollar war chests from small, large, and institutional donors. The scope of anxiety and human need in California means that individual donors are making hard choices about charitable dollars. Major donors, including foundations that provided funding for critical educational campaigns, have endured hits to their portfolios, and many are exercising caution. Any successful “vote-yes” campaign will require generous support from pro-LGBT institutional donors. These donors give based on evidence of likely success, which for 2010 is filled with grave doubts. It is unlikely that we will be able to raise the necessary funds to undertake an effective electoral campaign until after 2010.

4) Educational, voter-ID (not electoral) campaigns with specific goals should begin immediately. To reach a threshold of support for marriage equality suitable to begin an electoral campaign, supporters need a voter-ID campaign aimed at moving an identifiable subset of California voters. Vote-no campaigns typically seek to plant doubts and promote confusion among voters about measures. Several arguments used to pass Proposition 8 have not been widely rebutted and thus retain their appeal as attack strategies with particular currency as part of a vote-no campaign. A campaign of changing hearts and minds of selected groups of voters requires time, diligent research, and targeting of specific communities. The worst time to attempt to educate voters is in the midst of a heated campaign, which makes it difficult to rebut lies and fear-mongering. The voter-ID campaign should precede the electoral campaign aimed at mobilizing support to remove from the state constitution the discriminatory language already approved by voters.

5) We need time to build a coordinated data infrastructure that can support a winning campaign. We need time to establish robust get-out-the-vote (GOTV) data systems and a statewide online voter contact database to make and measure contacts with California voters in a coordinated fashion with participation from the many pro-marriage stakeholder groups across the state. Unlike narrow special interests, our cause is a broad-based movement that will require coordinated data collection among multiple groups working in concert. Many individual groups have started this work, but winning will require buy-in and participation in a singular statewide and coordinated data system. Agreements and accountabilities need to be worked out and trust needs to be rebuilt. Time and true collaboration are vital to developing organizational partnerships and the data systems needed to tap and deploy our grassroots network and measure our progress toward specific voter-contacts goals. 3

6) Time and greater effort is needed to build trust and relationships in communities that represent the full diversity of California voters, including limited-English-speaking voters and voters of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. The 2008 campaign against Prop 8 did not adequately reach non-English-speaking voters and failed to engage or empower allied groups poised to communicate with millions of such voters. The Yes-on-8 campaign, in taking its victory laps, bragged about the many tongues into which it translated its materials and the diverse congregations whom it mobilized. This lapse must be overcome in a future campaign to win back marriage equality. We must learn from our mistakes made during the last campaign and not repeat them. Doing so will require deepened relationships with partner organizations and leaders who can reach diverse racial, ethnic, and non-English-speaking communities. It will require working to increase the ability of LGBT parents and caregivers with children across these communities to effectively communicate the impact of marriage equality on their children. We must establish the communications capacity needed to achieve cultural competency as well as fluency in persuading immigrant, people-of-color, and non-English-speaking communities to support marriage equality. Most of all, it requires time to build trust and relationships in targeted communities in order to succeed.

7) Labor, religious allies and communities of color are indispensable to winning. More time is needed to convert general support into full organizational backing to secure increased grassroots engagement, resources, and votes. Coordinated outreach with labor and religious institutions remains crucial to building a strong majority for marriage equality in California. Forging lasting collaboration with and among these organizations must be a top priority for both the education and electoral campaigns. In addition to traditional civil-rights and community groups, as well as entertainment and sports celebrities, the same labor and religious organizations already highlighted will be critical in mobilizing people of color voters to support marriage equality. Rather than simply asking for support from allies, a winning campaign must be prepared to welcome these entities to the planning table and demonstrate reciprocity with them in the course of the long campaign to regain marriage equality. Winning a majority of “yes” votes on a future ballot measure will not be easy. But it will be impossible if we work in isolation or avoid competent and fluent communication with California’s diverse voters.

8) More time means more “yes” votes for marriage equality. The demographics of opinion on marriage equality indicate that natural changes in the state electorate, with new and younger voters replacing older voters, contributes over time to increased support for marriage equality. In weighing the options of presenting a ballot measure on statewide ballots either next year, in 2010, or in a future year, the latterportends a much greater capacity by marriage equality supporters to leverage and benefit from the natural shift in voter opinion.

THE UNDERSIGNED COMMIT to PREPARE to PREVAIL. Evidence and data should guide political strategy. Running and winning a statewide ballot-measure for a “yes” vote on marriage equality depends not on haste, but on preparation. Expanding public support and developing the infrastructure to mobilize our communities should be our top priorities. We commit to continuing the hard work of identifying the partnerships, commitments, and resources to launch necessary public education campaigns and setting the foundation for a solid and winning campaign. We call on all interested organizations to join in a collective body to coordinate the critical educational work that we must do. When we go back to the ballot, we intend to be active players to ensure its success just as we have always participated in the fight for marriage equality. Please join us in winning back marriage equality in California. 4

WE CHOOSE to PREPARE to PREVAIL

ACLU of Northern California

ACLU of San Diego and Imperial County

ACLU of Southern California

API Equality-LA

API Equality-Northern California

Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team

Asian Pacific American Legal Center

Asian/Pacific Islander Queer Women/Transgender Activists (AQWA)

Ballot Initiative Strategy Center Foundation

Chinese Rainbow Association

Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)

Elections Committee of the County of Orange (ECCO-PAC)

Equality Action Project (Santa Cruz)

Gamba Adisa Quilombo

Gay-Straight Alliance Network

Harvey Milk Stonewall Democrats of Orange County

HONOR PAC

Imperial Court of Los Angeles and Hollywood

Inland Counties Stonewall Democrats

Jordan Rustin Coalition

Martin-Lyon Leadership Institute

Office & Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), AFL-CIO

Our Family Coalition

SATRANG, South Asian LGBT Organization

The Wall Las Memorias Project

Robert Chacanaca, President, Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO*

Kerry Chaplin, Interfaith Organizing Director, California Faith For Equality*

Rev. Dr. Jonipher Kwong, Interfaith Organizer, California Faith For Equality *

Jerry Sloan, President Emeritus, Lambda Community Fund, Sacramento*

-list in formation-

*affiliation listed for identification purposes only.

Q*POC LA Town Hall

2009-07-12T21:29:00.001-07:00

So I'm assisting with the Queer* People of Color LA Town Hall. This is the flier I made:

On the subject of equality.

2009-07-09T13:57:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have heard about Thio Li-Ann joining the faculty at New York University School of Law. If not, check out InsideHigherEd's article on her. The basic summary is that Thio Li Ann made comments during her time as Member of Parliament (MP) in Singapore's National Parliament regarding decriminalizing sex between two men. Among other things:

Thio said that gay sex is "contrary to biological design and immoral," argued that gay people can change their sexual orientation, said that anal sex is "like shoving a straw up your nose to drink," and rejected arguments based on a diversity of sexual orientations by saying that "diversity is not license for perversity."

While I stand with members of NYU's OUTLaw, the LGBTQ student group of NYU law students, about engaging Prof. Thio in dialog, and refraining from rescinding her academic appointment I came across the following letter quite wonderful. The letter is from Jim McCurley, a student at NYU Law:

An Open Letter to Dr. Thio Li-Ann
Posted by Jim McCurley, Class of 2010

I read your recent e-mail interview with Inside Higher Ed with some interest. It seems that you may be a little concerned about what awaits you at NYU this fall. As a gay person and a law student, I wanted to take the opportunity to reassure you and to welcome you to the university. I’m not sure if you’ve been to New York before, but I gather from your CV that you got a quite a fine education in the UK. Because of a few phrases you used in the interview, it occurred to me that you may not be familiar with some peculiarities of American English and I want to point out a few that may come in handy. First, we call chips “french fries” and crisps “chips.” Second, we generally call Members of Parliament “elites” and law students, well, “law students.” We don’t really use the word “diktat” a whole lot.
New York being New York, you may also find a few Yiddish words to be useful. Foremost among these is “chutzpah.” “Chutzpah” is hard to translate directly and its meaning is perhaps best illustrated by example. New Yorkers would say that a former NMP and graduate of Cambridge and Oxford who denounces gays in a rather vulgar manner on the floor of Parliament in a successful bid to enable their imprisonment calling the highlighting of her remarks by a few law students “ugly politicking” based on “their own prejudices, from whatever sources” has a lot of chutzpah.
Now, having grown up in a farming village in Kentucky and spent a number of years in the enlisted ranks of the Army, I share your distaste for both “ugly politicking” and “elite diktat.” As I’ve been called a “faggot” and been beaten up a few times, I don’t care much for “bullying” either, although I’m not sure having one of one’s own Parliamentary speeches circulated really qualifies as such. This may be yet another peculiarity of American English.
You are quite correct, however, that in the face of bullying, one must have courage. It also helps to have supportive gay friends. One of the nice things about gay folks is that we tend not to belong to either the “liberal camp” or “communitarian camp” which you described in your speech. We’re just into camp. Likewise, the gays at NYU don’t by any means have a problem with you, your right to your views, or academic freedom. We just don’t think that state power to imprison or discriminate against sexual, racial, or other minorities is a particularly “academic” question. Again, that’s American English for you.
Another generally appreciated feature of the gays is our sense of taste, which has been highlighted in television shows like “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” You are a bit mistaken if you think that the gays at NYU want to censor you. It’s just that, like mixing polka dots with plaid or having George Wallace teach a course on civil rights in the American South, we tend to think NYU’s hiring you to teach a class called “Human Rights in Asia” demonstrates a lack of taste.
Dr. Thio, if you’ll have me, I’d like to be your supportive gay friend. We can have lunch, dish about men and listen to music together. I know a great tapas place in Greenwich Village and, as an American, I’d like to disabuse you of the notion that I have any interest in “refus[ing] to engage with dissenting views” or directing “intolerant animosity” at you. There are also a few great American songs I’d love to introduce you to. One of my favorites is called “Cry Me a River.” It was written by Arthur Hamilton.
I must make one friendly request before I let you go, however. We American gays are doing fairly well post-Lawrence v. Texas. Unlike our Singaporean brethren, we can’t be arbitrarily thrown into prison and can generally defend ourselves under the law. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for our friends, the straw men. From “human right to sodomy” to “Americans … appropriating the rhetoric of human rights … [to] impose their views on a sovereign state,” you’ve spent a good deal of time knocking them down. Last I checked, they hadn’t done anything to you, so why not go a bit easier on them?
All the best,
Jim McCurley
NYU Law Class of 2010

To her credit, Prof. Thio responded graciously:

Dear Mr. Jim McCurley a Response to your open letter
Posted by Dr Li-ann Thio , Professor / Law on July 9, 2009 at 12:30pm EDT#

Dear Mr McCurley,

A faculty member forwarded me your Open Letter and I must say it's wittiness made me laugh out loud, especially your comment about being "camp." Touche. When I mentioned camps, I was thinking of Frankie goes to Hollywood's two tribes song and perhaps it was a little ill-advised on my part, but such are my sorry cultural referent points.

I am a little weary of some of the sad posts from certain of my countrypeople who love to misrepresent and distort the nature of my views or the context and issue they were directed at. Always sweeping, uncompelling and with the tired litany of insults and presumptions, but then, perhaps they read religiously from Schopenhauer's Die Kunst Recht zu Behalten but fail to see the irony.

It really is the last straw.

Contextualisation is key, I am sure you will agree.

I was sorry to read that you were beaten up - that is never justified; and being called "faggot" is as ugly as being called "homophobe" so perhaps we will leave the name-callers to their own devices and treat each other first and foremost as human beings with intrinsic dignity. (Is that a howl of protests I hear across the cyber-waves by the usual band of demonisers? C'est la vie.)

I find the internet not to be conducive to genuine communication as people will say what they will say and believe what they want to believe. Pot. Kettle. Black.

Anyway, please do come knock on my door or drop me an email and have a coffee with me when I reach your not so sunny shores (if you do caffeine, that is). I would welcome having a civilised conversation with you; you can ask me whatever questions you might have to understand where I am coming from and what my political convictions are - if you care to know the truth of things. I find face to face talks are very effective in disabusing falsehoods and clarifying misapprehension and well, heck, distortions, particularly those redolent with malicious intent.

Thank you for the letter,

All the very best,
Li-ann Thio.

On my own

2009-07-07T17:23:00.000-07:00

So I'm staffing the Public Education Committee alone as Kat is heading off to East LA, specifically Bienestar's East LA office, for a Queer People of Color meeting. I'm excited to be able to provide support for the Public Ed committee. Wanna come? Join us at the Village tonight at 7pm. If not, go to TUESDAY NIGHT CAFE in Little Tokyo!

Holiday? Not for us!

2009-07-03T08:47:00.000-07:00

LEAP interns are SO dedicated that we come into the LEAP office in Little Tokyo on a Federal holiday. In fact, we're assisting with the productivity of the American economy by observing the 4th on the 3rd by ensuring that all functions of our microcosm and economy continue to operate and provide services to America.

We're actually in today with little reluctance, ok maybe a little, but not much because I'm excited to listen to Vanna Novak for the professional development workshops we have on Fridays. Public speaking, no matter how many times I do it, always requires improvement.

A lot of work left to do...

2009-07-02T21:53:00.000-07:00

Its easy to some things for granted. Its easy to assume that organizations that provide services to the Asian American community, broadly defined, and with the aims of social justice in their mission statement, find it politically inexpedient to support a marriage equality group such as API Equality LA. Its unthinkable that theoretically like-minded folks would be concerned about their image. Mabel Teng, the San Francisco Assessor-Recorder who played an instrumental role in providing marriage certificates to couples when Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco decided to open up marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and transgender couples said it best in her Ameriasia piece on Marriage Equality: that for somethings, you must stand up for the rights of individuals, or you don't. I don't have the direct quote but that's the general jist.

It particular peeves me when people ask me why I take this so personally, and why don't I just see this as a political matter. And a friend said it best: It is personal because it affects me in every single way. Its personal because it says that I don't have a right to marry. Its personal because it says I cannot have my (future) relationship be recognized. Its personal because I do not receive the same rights--at the hospital, at the workplace when it comes to benefits, etc. So yes, its personal, and not "just political."

[apiequalityla] FROM: IGLHRC--India: Support Delhi Court's Decision to Decriminalize Same Sex Relations

2009-07-02T18:57:00.001-07:00

"Indian Constitutional law does not permit the statutory criminal law to be held captive by the popular misconceptions of who the LGBTs are."

-Chief Justice S. Muralidhar of the Delhi High Court

"The Issue

The High Court of Delhi has ruled in Naz Foundation (India) Trust v. Government of NCT Delhi and Others that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code is unconstitutional. The judgment, handed down on July 2, 2009, reinterprets the law that criminalized same sex relations. Section 377 carried a penalty of up to 10 years to life in prison and a fine. The Court declared that this law no longer applies to consensual sexual acts of adults because it violates Articles 21 (protection of life and personal liberty), 14 (equality before law) and 15 (prohibition of discrimination) of the Indian Constitution.

Enacted in the 1860s during British colonial rule to criminalize non-procreative sex, specifically sex between men, Section 377 has been used by police and other individuals to entrap, harass and blackmail those with non-conforming sexual orientations and gender identities and human rights defenders. This law has encouraged sexual and physical abuse of gay men and transgender people in police custody. While the text is silent on lesbianism, it has facilitated an environment where family violence against lesbians and bisexual women happens with impunity, leading to women's injury, death, and suicide. The Court's decision to change this law helps ease the environment of fear in which countless LGBT people live their lives in Delhi.

Although the judgment is limited to Delhi, it is widely anticipated by LGBT activists in India that similar challenges will be brought in other cities, hoping courts will favorably reference the Delhi decision. The Delhi High Court, along with the Mumbai (Bombay) and Chennai (Madras) High Courts, usually leads other High Courts in India when it comes to legal trends.

Click here to find out more about India's anti-sodomy law and how the Delhi decision affects LGBT people.

IGLHRC thoroughly congratulates the Lawyers Collective, Naz Foundation, and Voices Against 377 on their historic win for human rights. These human rights defenders worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the dangerous and damaging consequences of Section 377 and get it changed by the Court. The Delhi decision is a crucial step towards preserving human rights. IGLHRC calls on the Indian government to go further and repeal Section 377 nationally."

From: IGLHRC

__,_._,___

APALC Reception

2009-07-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

I went to the Asian Pacific American Legal Center's Reception today. APALC celebrated the opening of their new community room, funded by various community partners, included a donation by API Equality LA. It was a great opportunity to bring John Kobara's networking lessons to good use, and I met some really awesome people to begin talking to about some of the things I may want to do with my life. I took John's lesson about being a student to heart, where we could sort of ask anything from more established professionals because, "You can ask 'dumb' questions, you can be curious, you can talk to people at the highest levels. Later this type of power evaporates." I think my parents are coming around to their son doing public policy/public affairs. So I intend to have more of these informational meetings, so I can learn more about these accomplished leaders in the API community, and figure out where I want to go.

FYI, food at the reception was amazing. The bacon-wrapped dates were delicious. Oh bootsy, water is boiling. Time for the tortellini to go in the water!

Excitement

2009-07-01T11:37:00.001-07:00

As an intern, I get really excited when I'm included on conference
calls. Overeager? I prefer the term enthusiastic! I can't wait for my
first conference call here at APIELA. That being said, the materials
from that conversation will remain confidential. So my dear faith
reader of one (Reimar, are you actually reading this?) you shan't know
the details.

New RCLA Report: Leaders of Color Propose Strategies for Taking Back the Work

2009-06-30T16:08:00.001-07:00

Taking Back the Work:
A Cooperative Inquiry into Leaders of Color in Movement-Building Organizations

By Angie Chan and Linda Powell Pruitt with Will Allen,
Joyce Johnson, Ricardo Martinez, Reggie Moore, Richard Moore,
Ai-Jen Poo, and Cidra Sebastien, June 2009

Through the Leadership for a Changing World program, a group of leaders of color committed to social justice came together in six cities across the United States to reflect on the specific obstacles leaders of color face as they engage in movement building and to find ways to overcome these barriers.

The final report represents the culmination of eight months of reflection, action and exploration together around the question:

How do we build, strengthen and sustain movement-building organizations led by people of color?

In addition to the rigors of movement building, leaders of color must confront the relentless centrality of race in their work, as they perform a delicate balancing act between supporting a vision and sustaining an organization. The report notes:

     Leaders of movement-building organizations ... deal with keeping
     their organizations funded, their staff and community engaged, and
     the media honest and informed ... They work from a perspective that
     seeks systemic solutions, serves the common good, and fights for
     social justice. They strive against a tide of denial and complacency,
     seeing value where others see deficit. They seek to give voice to the
     experiences of those who have been silenced ...

     For leaders of color, racial issues exacerbate these challenges, and
     silence concerning race from other parts of society further complicates
     the nature of their movement-building work. In fact, race always
     remains a salient consideration for these leaders, and however
     differently it might manifest in various communities or difficult it might
     be to measure, it cannot be ignored … By extension, it is inevitably built
     into the issues on which their movement-building organizations work.
In response to these challenges, the group identified four strategies to help community-based leaders of color recognize the power and responsibility they hold and to engage in taking back the work:
     1. Critically and intentionally define the work, paying attention to the
          language that they and others use to define themselves and their work.
     2. Practice talking openly about racism to learn more about the
        political, historical and cultural dimensions of race.
     3. Build relationships at the personal, organizational and
        community levels that contribute to the growth, strength and
           sustainability of organizations and provide support to leaders of color.
     4. Build stronger organizational infrastructure to reflect community
          values and protect against funders' scrutiny and unwanted change.
The report includes detailed explanations and examples of specific strategies for each recommendation based on the organizations' successful work in communities.
Download the report here:http://www.wagner.nyu.edu/leadership/reports/files/TakingBacktheWork.pdf
Access more reports from the Leadership for a Changing World Research and Documentation program at RCLA:
http://wagner.nyu.edu/leadership/change/research_products.php

On the tribulations of data entry...

2009-06-30T14:22:00.001-07:00

Nothing is more entertaining then spending time doing data entry. And while it can be painstakingly, awfully, incredibly an arduous process, Katy Perry can be a marvelous assistant when it comes to these matters. I spent time today putting in evaluation numbers and comments. The awesome part, however, provided I analyze the data. Analyzing data with statistical methods is by far more interactive, and I'm glad I got a chance to put my statistical analytical skills to use.

Aside from my date with my statistics handbook, I spent some time working on several projects, including one possible collaboration with Mary Rose at Tuesday Night Cafe. So why not start there? We would like to have a Tuesday Night Cafe featuring queer & Asian performers (broadly defined), focusing a wide range of issues impacting our communities. We some GREAT spoken word artists, musicians, and performers out there and I think such an event will draw the spotlight to issues impacting the queer & Asian community.

Another project includes putting on a youth panel for the larger APIELA membership. The youth panel would provide the audience an opportunity to hear the current experiences of high school students, college students, and recent graduates in the workforce with what it means to be LGBTIQ/downe (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer, and downe).

I've chosen to work closely with the youth group, (broadly defined as below 25, inclusive of high school, college, and young professionals) because I fall under the recent college grad category. So I'm also working on putting a reception/workshop/gathering of sorts to bring together folks, probably at the Village. We'll see how it goes.

I think thats it for now. My first committee meeting is on Thursday, with the Outreach and Recruitment Committee at KIWA's headquarters in Koreatown. Its at 7pm.

Sustainable Development

2009-06-29T12:41:00.001-07:00

I woke up to a lovely LA morning, punctuated by the honking of cars on Santa Monica Blvd. I specifically woke up earlier today to walk to the West Hollywood Farmer's Market, where I had the sweetest peach, with its juice making a horrible mess. Classy.

So what on earth does a WeHo farmer's market, a juice-laced intern, and community have ANYTHING in common? Sustainability. So I don't profess an intimate knowledge of sustainable development. But theoretically it goes something like this when it relates to farmer's markets. The produce is grown locally, which means it doesn't travel very far to get to the consumer (me!). So in theory, the environmental impact of trucking the veggies, etc is reduced because instead of being flown in from Australia, trucked from Long Beach Port to a distributor, and then trucked to my Ralph's two blocks away, the veggies are just brought in from a skip and a jump in a way. Farmer's markets also attempt to practice environmentally friendly growing practices. All these things--shortening the distance, good practice on farm land--reduces the environmental degradation I have while chomping on my peach.

That's a long way to come around to what I'm trying to say. That building an organization and coalition requires some sort of "sustainable" way where burn out doesn't occur. And that's why I appreciate what I'm doing at API Equality LA. Its been clear that my age group, the below 25-er's must step up. That's NOT to say there aren't any people doing the job. But it does provide a perspective that motivates me to bring more of my fellow queers into the marriage equality movement. Something this important needs to be sustainable.

Lift as you climb.

2009-06-27T16:44:00.000-07:00

Retreat are always a hoot. From being whisked off to an isolated place, to living, and eating, and working, and sharing the same space with folks for a given period of time, a retreat often brings the participants together. And to say the least, LIA '09 retreat accomplished that. I walked away on Wednesday with a tremendous excited about the people, friends now, that I had just then met.

While on retreat in Lake Arrowhead, one of the team building exercises we accomplished (or tried to, at least) included making our way across this path with carpet tiles in tow. Half of team couldn't see (we closed our eyes) and the other half couldn't talk. So I went first (I couldn't see) and Jen led the way (she couldn't speak). As we made our way, constantly finding forms of communication, the conversation focused on getting me across. Step by step, heart beating--no, racing--as I tried to cross the path without stepping outside the tiles. Meanwhile, my team mates who could speak but couldn't see wondered about the status of my situation. To say the least, we moved two persons out of seven across.

During our debrief, Linda provided an important observation: despite constant communication between Jen and I, I forgot to stay in touch with the rest of the team awaiting their crossing. In some sense, this functions as a metaphor for the work which I set out to do. In serving my communities, I must "lift" as I "climb." In other words, while advancing and completing a project plays a vital role, I must remain aware of what I'm not bringing with me, a conscious effort to lift as you climb.