ESTHER KANG is a middle school science teacher in East Oakland. Originally from Chicago, Esther moved to the Bay Area in 2010, and found community in the LGBTQ API spaces that API Equality – Northern California provides. As a Korean American woman navigating a LGBTQ & Asian intersection, she believes that the two identities are
API Equality – Northern California Interns Reflect on NQAPIA Leadership Summit 2013 At this year’s National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance’s (NQAPIA) Leadership Summit in Honolulu, HI, we learned organizing skills and gained more perspective on Pacific Islander needs and issues. API Equality – Northern California was also able to share our own best practices
MIOI HANAOKA is an engineer for a tech company. Outside of her work, Mioi is a proud volunteer for LGBT causes and volunteers for annual events at her church. When she first attended the annual Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project (QWOCMAP) Film Festival two summers ago, she found community with queer women of color
PRIDE WEEKEND API Equality – Northern California staff had a busy PRIDE this past weekend! We kicked off this year’s PRIDE by celebrating Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality at the Castro “Day of Decision” Block Party and joined Transmarch in solidarity with trans and gender non-conforming people. On Saturday, our interns Sammie and Iris represented
In the beginning of my journey as an API Equality Intern, the first thing we were asked was to come up with future goals and projects we wanted to pursue. The first thing that popped into my head was hair. Crazy right? YES, hair! But why hair?
by Tracy Nguyen I ran into my aunt’s room and turned the old school boombox dial to 1500AM. I heard our voices reciting the Vietnamese script that we practiced for weeks and weeks. We did it! We’re on the radio!, I thought. Immediately, I turned the volume dial lower. My father was in another room
Dancing. It takes a bit to overcome the embarrassment but with enthusiastic teachers, good music and some goofy moves, you’ll get smiles, active participants and a whole lotta positive visibility. I have to admit, at first even I was reluctant to dance in the API Equality and NQAPIA board opening plenary flash mob. My floppy
