All Posts

  • how we win is with a love ethic. June 1, 2023how we win is with a love ethic.
    Hey there, Lavender Phoenix Community! 🌈 My name is bisma/phul; I’m LavNix’s Cultural Strategy Organizer, and writer of many newsletters that you may have received since June 2022.  I am coming to you live—soaking the warm sun while sitting on my ...
  • Introducing: 2023 Rise Up May 25, 2023
    We have an exciting announcement! In June 2023, we will temporarily pause accepting new members into our membership, as we prepare to welcome our first-ever cohort of new members. As our base, power, and responsibility grows, we need time to ...
  • From hopelessness to revolutionary optimism. February 15, 2023From hopelessness to revolutionary optimism.
    .stk-9a8b67c .stk-button{background:#5e5ee7 !important}.stk-9a8b67c .stk-button{border-radius:0px !important}.stk-9a8b67c .stk-button:before{box-shadow:none !important}.stk-9a8b67c .stk-button__inner-text{font-weight:bold !important;font-family:"Poppins",Sans-serif !important} Apply Today! I want to build a world where we are safe to be our fullest selves. Where we are liberated from the shame and guilt forced upon us by oppressive systems. ...
  • 2023 Summer Organizer Program – Apply by 2/28! February 1, 20232023 Summer Organizer Program – Apply by 2/28!
    Do you want to work with trans, non-binary, and queer Asian and Pasifika communities?Do you have a commitment to social justice, liberation, and collective transformation?Are you ready to learn concrete organizing skills and build movements for change? The APPLICATION for Lavender ...
  • What does hope make possible? December 20, 2022What does hope make possible?
    “To hope is dangerous, and yet it is the opposite of fear, for to live is to risk.” – Rebeca Solnit, Hope in the Dark Dear Lavender Phoenix Community, My heart split open when I first learned about Jaxon. Jaxon, a young gay ...
  • Welcome LavNix’s New Leaders! November 23, 2022Welcome LavNix’s New Leaders!
    Dear Lavender Phoenix Community, I’m excited to welcome two new staff leaders to Lavender Phoenix: eri oura (they/them) and Cynthia Fong (they/them)! eri, our new Development Manager, is an experienced fundraiser, educator, and builder of trans and queer BIPOC communities. Cynthia, ...
  • Trans Love Transcends Generations: A Zine Launch November 20, 2022Trans Love Transcends Generations: A Zine Launch
    Letters to Past and Future Selves is a collaborative zine created by the Lavender Phoenix community in honor of Trans Day of Remembrance 2022; through creative submissions including collage, illustration, poetry, playlists,  and other offerings, our community sat in vulnerability to ...
  • What LavNix Does Was Impossible November 4, 2022What LavNix Does Was Impossible
    On the eve of my 18th birthday, in the starting-to-become-summer month of May of 1980, I got to sleep in the arms of my boyfriend Danny. Having spent an overnight with him, in a friends spare bedroom, making love (before ...
  • We weave stories across generations August 25, 2022We weave stories across generations
    I grew up in a traditional Hmong household that practiced under a patriarchal system with gendered roles and a religious belief of Shamanism, the belief that spirits are intertwined with our physical reality. These traditions taught me that queer Hmong ...
  • I learned the power of being honest. August 25, 2022I learned the power of being honest.
    Growing up, I could not imagine anyone accepting me for my queer and trans identities. I viewed these parts of myself as a burden that I had to carry, something ugly and unlovable. Believing that I could never show my ...
  • 2022 LEX: Virtual Letters to the Future August 24, 2022
    https://www.youtube.com/embed/amY5PhvtxU8 Transcript Iris (she/they): Hello future LEX participant!  Elyse (they/chanh): Hi there! Ishita (ze/them): Hi!  Iris (she/they): I hope you’re ready for what’s to come. I can promise you it’s going to be amazing.  Elyse (they/chanh): Entering the space that has been so carefully and tenderly ...
  • Don’t make things harder for yourself. June 20, 2022Don’t make things harder for yourself.
    These were the words my mother responded with after I came out to her on a sunny day in our backyard. At the tender age of 19, I felt emboldened to be honest with my family, but hearing her words ...
  • Welcome LavNix’s New Cultural Strategy Organizer! June 13, 2022Welcome LavNix’s New Cultural Strategy Organizer!
    Dear Lavender Phoenix Community, We have exciting news: Bisma Farzansyed (they/them) has joined Lavender Phoenix as our Cultural Strategy Organizer! Bisma is an experienced organizer, a budding herbalist, and a medicine-maker. They’ve organized powerful digital campaigns and created heart-centered spaces for ...
  • Lavender Phoenix: Our New Name April 27, 2022Lavender Phoenix: Our New Name
    I’m excited and proud to announce that we are changing our name. From today onwards, we will be known as Lavender Phoenix.
  • What is Healing Justice? April 14, 2022What is Healing Justice?
    “What is healing?” is the question I have been asking APIENC’s Core Committee ever since we established Healing Justice as a key pillar of our new Theory of Change. In our movements, healing is all the buzz, yet what does ...
  • At APIENC, I learned to lead with love. February 16, 2022At APIENC, I learned to lead with love.
    Dear APIENC Community, I started organizing around my identity as a queer kānaka maoli from a place of great anger. I was angry that my lāhui lived in such dire poverty in our own homeland. I was angry that the university ...
  • 2022 Summer Organizer Program – Apply by March 1st! February 1, 20222022 Summer Organizer Program – Apply by March 1st!
    Do you want to work with trans, non-binary, and queer Asian and Pasifika communities?Do you have a commitment to social justice, liberation, and collective transformation?Are you ready to learn concrete organizing skills and build movements for change? The APPLICATION for APIENC’s ...
  • What time is it on the clock of APIENC? January 28, 2022What time is it on the clock of APIENC?
    Dear APIENC Community, “What time is it on the clock of the world?What time is it on the clock of APIENC?” When Michael—APIENC’s end-of-year Core Retreat facilitator—asked these questions inspired by Grace Lee and James Boggs, my breath softened. After a year ...
  • Welcome APIENC’s New Leadership Development Coordinator! January 26, 2022Welcome APIENC’s New Leadership Development Coordinator!
    Dear APIENC Community, We are thrilled to announce Shivani Chanillo (they/them) has joined APIENC as our new Leadership Development Coordinator! Shivani is an incredible educator and organizer who brings years of leadership development experience. They demonstrate a passion for building relationships, ...
  • Cultivating Growth and Leadership: Reflections on Sammie’s Time at APIENC December 15, 2021Cultivating Growth and Leadership: Reflections on Sammie's Time at APIENC
    I first met Sammie in 2015 when I chaired the Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women & Transgender Community (APIQWTC) scholarship committee, and we awarded Sammie one of the scholarships. On paper, Sammie already had an impressive track record of social ...