Why Lavender Phoenix?
Our new name, Lavender Phoenix, is a commitment to our past and to our future. It is an homage to Lavender Godzilla and Phoenix Rising, the first newsletters created by-and-for our trans, queer, lesbian, and gay API elders in the 1980s here in the Bay Area. In them, our elders challenged isolation, connected and celebrated each other, and kept each other safe. They offered spaces to build real relationships; they organized potlucks to gather over home-cooked food; and they grieved community members and chosen family lost to the government’s neglect at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis. They committed to each other and our community’s future, even when it seemed impossible. We are proud to call ourselves Lavender Phoenix because it reminds us of the generations of trans and queer APIs who fought for us to thrive, and the generations we are fighting for too.
Organizing as Lavender Phoenix will mean so much more than just the words we call ourselves. Choosing Lavender Phoenix means an everyday commitment to remember our history, and all those who dreamt and fought to make our lives possible. It means that every decision we make should reflect the abundance, interdependence, and safety we want to see in our world. For us, Lavender Phoenix is a name, it is a prayer, and it is a promise.
What Were Your Past Names?
Our organization has gone by many names. When we were founded in 2004, we called ourselves APACE: the Asian Pacific American Coalition for Equity. Under this name, we helped secure marriage equality and challenged conservative forces in our own API communities who attacked trans and queer people. Over the next eighteen years, APACE grew into API Equality—Northern California, or APIENC. We led grassroots projects to heal from the impacts of queerphobia and white supremacy that went beyond any one law. We documented countless experiences in the Dragon Fruit Project, trained young trans and queer API leaders through our Summer Organizer Program, and so much more.
Why a New Name?
In these years, our work has transformed. We’ve shifted from responsive advocacy to revolutionary grassroots organizing. We’ve grown from a small team of volunteers to a member-led organization with five full-time staff members. We’ve emphasized the leadership of young trans people, built powerful networks of grassroots fundraising, and rooted ourselves in abolition and healing justice. We no longer see “equality” as our direction: instead, we are building a future with justice, liberation, and our evergreen values of abundance, interdependence, and vulnerability as our North Star.
In 2018, our Core volunteer leaders realized that our name no longer reflected our values, our purpose, and our direction. We immediately embarked on a years-long journey with our friends at Resource Media to choose a new name. We chose Lavender Phoenix after a two-year process that involved over 200 original ideas and a community-wide vote.
How Can I Learn More?
To help us honor this new name, our elders who founded Lavender Godzilla and Phoenix Rising joined us in a video podcast! You can hear reflections from Doreena, Lori, Vince, Dino, and Gisele in conversation with our Director Yuan and our community organizer Leo on Youtube and Instagram.
As Lavender Phoenix, we will continue to fight for true community safety, create real solutions to our healing needs, and grow generations of trans and queer API leaders guided by strong values. We will need your support. This is a critical juncture for transgender, API, and all communities. Our actions now will impact generations to come.
