Formation | 1980 |
---|---|
Founders |
|
Founded at | Los Angeles, California, USA |
Legal status | Nonprofit organization |
Headquarters | West Hollywood, California, USA |
President | Rummel Mor Bautista |
Vice President | Skip Ober Miller |
Award(s) | 2019 Rainbow Key Awards |
Website | https://www.apgf.org/ |
Formerly called | Asian/Pacific Lesbian and Gays (A/PLG) |
Asian/Pacific Gays and Friends (A/PGF) is a nonprofit social and cultural organization founded in late 1980. [1] Formerly known as Asian/Pacific Lesbians and Gays (A/PLG), the formation of the panethnic organization supported the nascent community of queer Asian American individuals and their allies in Los Angeles, California through monthly meetings, cultural workshops, and retreats. [2] While numerous similar groups convened after 1980, A/PGF played a pivotal role in the self-identification of a gay Asian-American community in Southern California. [2] As the oldest active organization of its kind, A/PGF continues to host monthly social programming including meals, screenings, and outings for its members. [3]
Prior to the establishment of A/PLG, the cultural invisibility of homosexuality among Asian-American immigrants made it difficult to bring forth solidarity and organization within the community. [4] [5] Reinforced by racial hierarchies of desire, where white-Asian coupling was deemed the relational archetype, intraracial dynamics between gay Asians were further strained by notions of sexual competition and rigid masculine-feminine binaries. [6] While "rice bars" lacked the social and political agency brought about by A/PLG, establishments such as Mugi's in East Hollywood and River Club in Los Feliz served as critical sites of assembly for gay Asians before formal organizations like A/PLG. [7] These bars, however, were not absent of the sexual hierarchies that rendered the self-identification of a panethnic gay community difficult: Frequented by rice queens who sought out Asians as sexual subjects, these sites of assembly reflected the broader struggle of Asian-Americans against reductive stereotypes and discriminatory body politics. Yet, the formation of A/PLG was accelerated through these collective spaces by the heightened visibility of gay Asian-American individuals to each other. [7]
Morris Kight, who is widely recognized a pioneer of the gay civil rights movement, convened the first meeting of Asian/Pacific Lesbian and Gays in his home. [6] The political activist was also motivated by personal reasons beyond his strong advocacy: Kight aimed to form an Asian community for his Japanese American partner, Roy. [6] Kight was instrumental to the establishment of A/PLG, [8] hosting the first formative meetings of the organization. [6]
As an alternative to bars, restaurants, and bathhouses, A/PLG provided an environment for gay and lesbian Asian-Americans to congregate and converse away from the appeals of cruising, smoking, and drinking. Paul Chen, a graduate student at UCLA, and June Lagmay were recruited by Kight to be the founding co-chairs of the organization. [9] After a few months, Paul Chen resigned from his position as co-chair, leaving the opportunity to create a formalized leadership board: Tak Yamamoto was elected as the organization's first president, Dean Goishi assumed the role of membership chair, and Doug Chin served as the treasurer. [10] As a major component of A/PLG's early outreach efforts, the monthly newsletter written by the organization's leadership engaged members with the broader Asian-American and gay communities, and informed the general body of current events on both national and global scales. [11]
The organization's first retreat in Big Bear was coordinated by Yamamoto in collaboration with Dr. Terry Gock, a postdoctorate psychology fellow at the University of Southern California. Gock was introduced to A/PLG through Paul Chen, and became invested in the idea of a retreat as the instigator of self-identification for gay Asian-Americans. For two and a half days, Gock led the first board of directors and other members in exercises centered around sexuality, coming out, and self-image. In response to the widespread subjugation of panethnic Asian identities within the dominant paradigm of American sexuality, Gock challenged the early members of A/PLG to reconcile with and confront their socialization as sexual subjects of the white male gaze. [10]
By the mid-1980s, the AIDS epidemic propelled A/PLG into political action in response to the widespread tragedies that were occurring throughout the community. [12] Whereas the organization held minimal political agency and served mainly as a space for meeting other gay Asians in its early years, A/PLG created an HIV/AIDS committee to care for HIV-positive gay Asians who lacked the support system due to the internalized and externalized stigma against the disease. In developing from a committee within A/PLG to a full-fledged agency, the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team received funding from grants and donors. Its benefactors included the California Community Foundation and Special Services for Groups. [12]
From the outset, non-Asian, white Americans actively participated in A/PLG. Although the presence of white Americans consisted mainly of rice queens and the partners of gay Asians who played a critical role in the organizing of A/PLG, their involvement in leadership was a contested issue as the organization continued to grow. [13]
Various groups split off from the Asian/Pacific Lesbians and Gays, such as the Los Angeles Asian/Pacific Islander Sisters (LAAPIS), which was formed by a group of women. [14] Before disbanding in 1999 due to a decline in participation, LAAPIS focused more on outreach within AAPI communities than in white gay spaces and provided a space for lesbian and bisexual AAPI women independent from established communities in West Hollywood. [15]
Formation | 1980 |
---|---|
Founders |
|
Founded at | Los Angeles, California, USA |
Legal status | Nonprofit organization |
Headquarters | West Hollywood, California, USA |
President | Rummel Mor Bautista |
Vice President | Skip Ober Miller |
Award(s) | 2019 Rainbow Key Awards |
Website | https://www.apgf.org/ |
Formerly called | Asian/Pacific Lesbian and Gays (A/PLG) |
Asian/Pacific Gays and Friends (A/PGF) is a nonprofit social and cultural organization founded in late 1980. [1] Formerly known as Asian/Pacific Lesbians and Gays (A/PLG), the formation of the panethnic organization supported the nascent community of queer Asian American individuals and their allies in Los Angeles, California through monthly meetings, cultural workshops, and retreats. [2] While numerous similar groups convened after 1980, A/PGF played a pivotal role in the self-identification of a gay Asian-American community in Southern California. [2] As the oldest active organization of its kind, A/PGF continues to host monthly social programming including meals, screenings, and outings for its members. [3]
Prior to the establishment of A/PLG, the cultural invisibility of homosexuality among Asian-American immigrants made it difficult to bring forth solidarity and organization within the community. [4] [5] Reinforced by racial hierarchies of desire, where white-Asian coupling was deemed the relational archetype, intraracial dynamics between gay Asians were further strained by notions of sexual competition and rigid masculine-feminine binaries. [6] While "rice bars" lacked the social and political agency brought about by A/PLG, establishments such as Mugi's in East Hollywood and River Club in Los Feliz served as critical sites of assembly for gay Asians before formal organizations like A/PLG. [7] These bars, however, were not absent of the sexual hierarchies that rendered the self-identification of a panethnic gay community difficult: Frequented by rice queens who sought out Asians as sexual subjects, these sites of assembly reflected the broader struggle of Asian-Americans against reductive stereotypes and discriminatory body politics. Yet, the formation of A/PLG was accelerated through these collective spaces by the heightened visibility of gay Asian-American individuals to each other. [7]
Morris Kight, who is widely recognized a pioneer of the gay civil rights movement, convened the first meeting of Asian/Pacific Lesbian and Gays in his home. [6] The political activist was also motivated by personal reasons beyond his strong advocacy: Kight aimed to form an Asian community for his Japanese American partner, Roy. [6] Kight was instrumental to the establishment of A/PLG, [8] hosting the first formative meetings of the organization. [6]
As an alternative to bars, restaurants, and bathhouses, A/PLG provided an environment for gay and lesbian Asian-Americans to congregate and converse away from the appeals of cruising, smoking, and drinking. Paul Chen, a graduate student at UCLA, and June Lagmay were recruited by Kight to be the founding co-chairs of the organization. [9] After a few months, Paul Chen resigned from his position as co-chair, leaving the opportunity to create a formalized leadership board: Tak Yamamoto was elected as the organization's first president, Dean Goishi assumed the role of membership chair, and Doug Chin served as the treasurer. [10] As a major component of A/PLG's early outreach efforts, the monthly newsletter written by the organization's leadership engaged members with the broader Asian-American and gay communities, and informed the general body of current events on both national and global scales. [11]
The organization's first retreat in Big Bear was coordinated by Yamamoto in collaboration with Dr. Terry Gock, a postdoctorate psychology fellow at the University of Southern California. Gock was introduced to A/PLG through Paul Chen, and became invested in the idea of a retreat as the instigator of self-identification for gay Asian-Americans. For two and a half days, Gock led the first board of directors and other members in exercises centered around sexuality, coming out, and self-image. In response to the widespread subjugation of panethnic Asian identities within the dominant paradigm of American sexuality, Gock challenged the early members of A/PLG to reconcile with and confront their socialization as sexual subjects of the white male gaze. [10]
By the mid-1980s, the AIDS epidemic propelled A/PLG into political action in response to the widespread tragedies that were occurring throughout the community. [12] Whereas the organization held minimal political agency and served mainly as a space for meeting other gay Asians in its early years, A/PLG created an HIV/AIDS committee to care for HIV-positive gay Asians who lacked the support system due to the internalized and externalized stigma against the disease. In developing from a committee within A/PLG to a full-fledged agency, the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team received funding from grants and donors. Its benefactors included the California Community Foundation and Special Services for Groups. [12]
From the outset, non-Asian, white Americans actively participated in A/PLG. Although the presence of white Americans consisted mainly of rice queens and the partners of gay Asians who played a critical role in the organizing of A/PLG, their involvement in leadership was a contested issue as the organization continued to grow. [13]
Various groups split off from the Asian/Pacific Lesbians and Gays, such as the Los Angeles Asian/Pacific Islander Sisters (LAAPIS), which was formed by a group of women. [14] Before disbanding in 1999 due to a decline in participation, LAAPIS focused more on outreach within AAPI communities than in white gay spaces and provided a space for lesbian and bisexual AAPI women independent from established communities in West Hollywood. [15]