Justin

Justin Anantawan/


“Queer Asian PHAs, especially newcomers, face the additional barriers such as lack of access to resources in their native language and social isolation.”

READ THE STORY
Efendy

Efendy/

,


“I was shocked and in denial and scared. I started to think that no one would want to speak to me, that I would lose my job and that I would be completely rejected by society…I started thinking that I was better off dead.”

READ THE STORY
Kaleb

Kaleb A Tak/


“I try to be the strange I wanna see in this world. I feel I am very lucky to live in a time where I can be so authentically myself.”

READ THE STORY
Jelena Vermillion

Jelena Vermillion/


“We can experience ostracism, judgement, hatred violence, and contempt simply for being who we are or for the work we engage in.”

READ THE STORY
Emily Onizuka

Emily Onizuka/


“What was wrong with me? Was I some cold-hearted monster who couldn’t feel love?”

READ THE STORY
Skinny

Skinny/


“The Ballroom scene is a place where you can be free,free,free to be you spread your wind and fly high”

READ THE STORY
Komodo

Komodo/

,


“Queer Asian culture seems to only recently come out of the shadows, and its renaissance is now blossoming like a blooming lotus in muddy waters”

READ THE STORY
Isabella

Isabella Gamk/


“I knew since age 12 that I should have been born female and I finally got became one at age 59.”

READ THE STORY
Annastacia

Annastacia/


“My parental ‘hurdle’ to overcome was the feelings and internal biases regarding the perception of the process indicative of gender discovery.”

READ THE STORY
Vaughan

Vaughan/


“My wish is that one day Queer kids can share similar stories to mine and that our journeys become a normalized part of society.”

READ THE STORY
Naila

Naila/


“I celebrate the beauty of human beings through my work, honoring every individual’s uniqueness and spirit. I use makeup artistry and hair styling as a vehicle for spiritual expression and freedom.”

READ THE STORY
McKinley

McKinley/


“When our society’s politics and policies only reflect cisnormativity, we believe that is the norm.”

READ THE STORY
wlii-c-220406-Canada-Justin

Justin Anantawan/


“I challenge Christians who are attacking the LGBTQIA2S community to think about the harms you are committing and ask yourself if that is something an all loving God would want.”

READ THE STORY
Jazmine_Kris

Jazmine and Kristopher/


“Me and Kris like to remind the next generation that there is indeed someone out there who will look at you as the most beautiful/handsome person in the world, someone who will share with you all their friends and family, someone who will understand you and your past without holding it against you.”

READ THE STORY
SardarSingh

Sardar Singh/


“After being outed in 2013 all I heard was ‘if you want to be gay, go do it somewhere else.’ So, I did just that…”

READ THE STORY
Ryan Tran

Ryan Tran/


“Now it doesn’t matter if I am too Asian or too feminine. I am comforted to know that attraction is not rigid, but expansive.”

READ THE STORY
Sahira Q

Sahira Q/


“As an adult, I’ve come to the realization that I no longer have time to put on masks that make other people comfortable.”

READ THE STORY
Canada-Abby

Abby Schmetterling/


“Once my egg cracked (when I realized that I was trans), it hit me so hard that it was truly a matter of life and death, of transition or die.”

READ THE STORY
Canada-Jazmine

Jazmine Carter/

,


“It is important for me to thank the trans people that fought before my time so that young trans kids like me could live in a more inclusive world.”

READ THE STORY
Canada-NudePacifico

Nude Pacifico/


“Explain to me how the vanguard of the queer movement were black and brown, trans souls, yet we ended up with cis, white homosexual impositions of queer culture.”

READ THE STORY
Canada-Vernon

Vernon/LOLA/


“My birth name is Vernon, my performer name is LOLA, my birth city is Calgary, my home is Toronto, my heritage is Filipinx, my pronouns are they/them, for now I’m non-binary, and as for tomorrow, who knows and honestly, who cares?”

READ THE STORY
Sebastian Yue

Sebastian Yūe/

,


“I am no closer to understanding what gender actually is, or what it means, but I have realised that I don’t actually need to know what it is. I know who I am and that is enough for me.”

READ THE STORY
wlii-c-200629-Canada-GaryBeals

Gary Beals/


“In March, I released my 1st single in over 10 years “Me For Me” from my soon to be released album (video also now out). The video depicts the struggles that we the LGBTQ+ community face when it comes to self-acceptance.”

READ THE STORY
Kemi Lo

Kemi Lo/


“High school was a bit weird for me. I had my group of friends and I didn’t necessarily have a bad time, but of course I encountered problems, especially the first 2 years.”

READ THE STORY
Alphonso King Jr.

Alphonso King Jr., aka. Jade Elektra/


“When I was single in the city I had this diner I would take my dates to disclose. This place had a headshot of me as my drag persona, Jade Elektra. I would point out the photo first. If the guy was uncomfortable with me doing drag, he probably was going to have a problem with my status.”

READ THE STORY
Christian

Christian/


“My life journey as a cis-queer Asian settler living with HIV has been one like the lotus flower.”

READ THE STORY
Myles Sexton

Myles Sexton/


“I danced with death and it taught me that I would never know what the hope that lives in tomorrow would bring.”

READ THE STORY
Elle Wild

Elle Wild/


“I know very well what kind of love I will tolerate + what I will not. I may not always know what I want, but I do know what I don’t want + I will always keep striving for that light.”

READ THE STORY
Rolyn

Rolyn Chambers/


“In this last year my journey has awakened something that had always been within. I had always refused to believe I was different in any way from the mostly white gay men that surrounded me at many of the events I went to. Though they never said it, I was different. I was not like them.”

READ THE STORY
Abra

Abra/


“I am so happy, despite it taking me over 40 years, to have been able to transition and to feel happy and whole in my body.”

READ THE STORY
Leon Tsai

Leon Tsai/


“‘Blossom’ not ‘Bloom’: as blossoming refers to the whole glory of blooming and not just its peak.”

READ THE STORY
Farid

Faried/

,


“I want to say thank you. It was a long, tiring and arduous journey, but now I am on a safe land.”

READ THE STORY
JP Michaels

JP Michaels/


“On a warm August day in 1960, at the age of five my Devout, Irish, Catholic Mother, while teaching me how to sew on a button, told me I was gay.”

READ THE STORY
wlii-c-200129-Canada-Amber

Amber/


“Growing up I’ve always known I was very different and there were virtually no trans people in the media or in the fashion industry. This made it very difficult to discover my identity as there was no representation to relate to.”

READ THE STORY
Cameron

Cameron/


“I am exactly who I was always meant to be: A queer, bi-racial, HIV+ human.”

READ THE STORY
wlii-c-200122-Canada-JustinAnantawan

Justin Anantawan/


“In my life, I have had two rebirths – at age 21 when I came out of the closet and at age 29 when I was diagnosed with HIV.”

READ THE STORY
wlii-c-200107-Canada-SzeYang01

Sze-Yang Ade-Lam/


“Entering the dance world further amplified the racism, homophobia, transphobia, femmephobia, and body policing that I was already experiencing in the gay world. Who knew the dance world and Grindr would have so much in common?”

READ THE STORY
wlii-c-200106-CostaRica-Nude

Nude/

,


“I tried my best to have a more accurate representation of myself in that country by wearing makeup and unisex clothing….but that had consequences.”

READ THE STORY
wlii-c-191022-Canada-KemiLo

Kemi Lo/


“i don’t fit into the typical stereotypes of queer, i’m not super femm, i’m not butch, i’m not edgy or unique or anything like that”

READ THE STORY
wlii-c-191021-canada-Christian

Christian/


“As a child who was bullied in Hong Kong and later as an immigrant in the USA, my roots were immersed in experiences of homophobia and xenophobia.”

READ THE STORY