OU AASA Magazine - September 2022 (Volume 1)

A Glimpse Inside The A Glimpse Inside The A

Inside The Queer Asian American Queer Asian American Queer Asian American Experience Experience Experience

What does the word " queer " mean to What does the word " queer " mean to you? What is it like existing in the you? What is it like existing in the intersection between being Asian intersection between being Asian American and being queer? American and being queer?

Name: Zarine Cabral

Pronouns: She/her

Major: Biology and Anthropology, Pre-Med

My favorite DC hero is Jinx and my favorite Marvel hero is Storm

Zarine and Brandon Zarine and Brandon

organized by Bella Pham organized by Bella Pham

I remember learning about the word "queer," when I was first learning English in elementary school. I initially learned it as a word to help expand my vocabulary to describe things that were ‘different.' Little Zarine was so confused when she started to hear the word be used for homophobic remarks. Eventually, I completely omitted the word from my vocabulary because of the hate associated with it. But now as we reclaimed the word, it’s become more of a beacon of comfort than one of cringe for me, because of how validating it is for my identity (which is one thing I feel like I used to struggle with heavily). Personally, I find it to be so beautiful how things like love and empowerment can manifest from hate in this way.

It’s undeniable that there is blatant homophobia embedded in Asian culture. I feel like every AAPI student can relate to their family forcing their traditional ways onto you, but it feels even more shocking when it comes from your friends in the Asian community. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m straight-passing or some people can be ignorant to their own words, but it’s interesting to hear how comfortable people are when saying homophobic remarks. Sadly it’s often brushed off to be because of a ‘traditional Asian mindset.' We’re all familiar with the pain that careless remarks to one’s identity can cause, so it’s interesting to me when people perpetuate that antipathy in the same way older generations have done before us. However, with compassion and communication, I do believe we can be better and outgrow the cycle of negativity that our culture has taught us.

Hello my name is Brandon Ha, my pronouns are he, she, they, and I am a graduate student getting my Master’s Degree in Adult and Higher Education with an emphasis on Student Affairs. Many people know me as Brandon but I feel like a lot of people know me for my drag persona, Yakisoba Michaels. I started drag when I was a freshman in college so that would be, ooooooooof, 7 years ago in 2015!

The word "queer" to me means something that is different - not bad different or good differentbut just different. When we are having conversations about disrupting the societal systems that we interact with, we often talk about disturbing or disrupting it but we usually never talk about queering the conversation. In my perception of it, by adding the queering of things, it both disrupts something but breaks any heteronormative stereotypes, beliefs, or practices in it that would still normalize or ground the conversations.

There are so many conversations about queerness and being Asian-American. There are many facets of the Asian-American identity that is surrounded by religion and the grounding of tradition and culture to religion, and we must understand those connections when navigating around our queerness. Around the Asian community, there are the main facets of Catholicism, Christianity, and Buddhism that creates problems for queerness to be accepted. I believe that the conversations are beginning to become easier in the queer Asian-American conversations, because parents and generations are understanding the necessity of identity in their children’s lives. But we must go further. By having representation like "Rupaul's Drag Race" and AAPI queerness on TV, it continues the conversation, but I believe we need more representation including in politics and communities that will change the conversations to normalize the identity. This is why when I am in drag or out of drag, I am proudly queer but also proudly Vietnamese-American!