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Last year my friend Miyuki Baker created the Asian, Gay and Proud website, a wonderful resource for LGBT/queer Asians in the US. One of the most exciting sections of the site is the “Out and Successful” series of interviews with inspiring queer Asian activists around the world. She also collects shorter coming out stories and is always looking for submissions.

Miyuki is not the only one out there gathering stories of queer Asian people. The I Will Survive blog and e-book collects stories of queer people in/from Singapore. While Asian, Gay and Proud focuses on the positive sides of the queer experience, many of the stories on I Will Survive, as the name suggests, can be heartbreaking. Both sites have extensive lists of resources for queer Asians in their respective countries. (The US being many times larger than Singapore, it’s understandable that the list at Asian, Gay and Proud is a tad longer than the list at I Will Survive.) Miyuki is also very knowledgeable about resources in Japan, Taiwan, and mainland China; I’m sure she’ll send you in the right direction if you send an e-mail to ask!

On this blog, I have a list of books by queer Asian diasporic authors and a review of gay Chinese Australian writer Benjamin Law’s memoir, The Family Law. Do you know of any other sites and projects collecting stories of queer Asians? Please let me know in the comments! Continue Reading →

Earlier today I came across a list of books by queer authors of color (“queer” and “of color” as used in progressive circles in the US). The author of the list admits that it skews Afro-American and Anglophone (and, I would add, North American) but there are a number of Asian and Pacific Islander diasporic authors on it:

Staceyann Chin, The Other Side of Paradise. Memoir about growing up poor, half-black and half-Chinese, and lesbian in Jamaica.

Christina Chiu, Troublemaker and Other Saints. Short stories.

Farzana Doctor, Stealing Nasreen. Muslim Gujarati lesbians in Canada.

Lê Thi Diem Thúy, The Gangster We Are All Looking For. Autobiographical novel about a Vietnamese immigrant family in the US.

Lani Ka’ahumanu, co-editor (with Loraine Hutchins), Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out.

Mary Anne Mohanraj, Bodies in Motion. Short stories about two linked Sri Lankan families.

Nina Revoyr, The Necessary Hunger and Southland (novels about Japanese-American and African-American communities in Los Angeles), The Age of Dreaming (novel about a Japanese-American silent film star).

Shyam Selvadurai, Funny Boy, Cinnamon Gardens, Swimming in the Monsoon Sea. Novels that feature gay Sri Lankan men.

Kenji Yoshino, Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights.

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The Plaid Bag Connection

Tag Archives: gay

Queer stories from Asia and the diaspora

Books by queer Asian diasporic authors

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