Happy QTAPI Pride!

May and June are special months for GAPA as we celebrate core facets of our identities. May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) month, recognizing the historical and cultural achievements of AAHNPI individuals and groups, while June, Pride month, pays tribute to those courageous and defiant Stonewall rioters who fought for queer and trans rights so that we can live our best lives.

Just for GAPA alone, the coming weeks will be packed. Here are some of the events we have planned:

  • QTAPI Week: GAPA proudly partners with the wider QTAPI Coalition to showcase a week of virtual and in-person events centering the QTAPI community, featuring a broad range of performances, convos, community building, networking, and more. For the full Calendar of Events, click here.

  • Hearts & Minds, June 4: A joint production from GAPA Theatre and GAPA Men's Chorus, this special program will feature original works that speak to the lived experience of LGBTQ APIs, written and performed by some of GAPA Theatre's intergenerational collective of storytellers. Read more.

  • GAPA Open Mike, June 8: Bringing together LGBTQ+ Asian & Pacific Islander performers, poets, vocalists, drag entertainers, storytellers, musicians, dancers, spoken word artists, and more, to share their talents to connect, to hold space, to build community, and to celebrate the power and pride in the diversity of our QTAPI communities. Read more.

  • Frameline Film Festival: In appreciation of GAPA’s work in the community as a respected organization, Frameline is bringing GAPA on as a community partner. Join GAPA at the Roxie Theatre for Coming to You, a years-long parallel look at two supportive Korean mothers alongside their queer youths, and Emergence: Out of the Shadows, a documentary that compassionately unpacks the cultural nuances of coming out in a South Asian household. Read more.

  • People’s March, June 27: GAPA will be at the People’s March, marching in solidarity to stand in protest of transgender and racial injustice, police violence and killings, unjust healthcare, the fight for gun control, reparations to Black People, and the right for people of color to have the right to vote without laws of intimidations.

Whatever you have planned in the weeks and months ahead, remember to celebrate the amazing and whole individual that you are. Recognize the progress we have made. Prepare for the work that is yet ahead of us. 

  

Make Pride Month, and Every Month, GAPA Month!

GAPA has always been an organization driven by its members and has changed over time to meet the demands of the moment. Especially now, we are looking to build upon our strong foundation to discover what a post-pandemic GAPA looks like.

GAPA is always looking for new ideas. We would love to have more member-led events; if you want to do something, let us know and we can help fund or plan it. We want our existing members to be active and tell us what they want, as well as attract new members looking for a community.

If you haven’t joined already, one action to take is join and get a paid membership. Membership is only $25 per year (~2/month). GAPA membership supports us in providing programming events that brings the community together, but it also pays for itself, including:

  • Exclusive access to free and discounted GAPA-sponsored events.

  • Membership t-shirt (~$12)

  • Steep discounts to events like Runway (~$10) and our GAPA Banquet.

Lastly, we don’t want money to be a barrier to joining GAPA. If members can’t pay, we hope they join by being volunteers at our events and we are also happy to subsidize the membership cost.

To join GAPA as a member, click here.

  

GAPA Partners with Frameline to Present Queer Asian Films

Founded in 1977, Frameline, the San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, is the longest-running, largest, and most widely recognized LGBTQ+ film exhibition event in the world. As a community event with an annual in-person attendance of 63,000 (and 89,000 including online streaming), the Festival is the most prominent and well-attended LGBTQ+ arts program in the Bay Area. This year’s Frameline46 is ramping up and will be back in-person to showcase diverse queer narratives to the Bay Area community. 

For the full calendar of films, visit: www.frameline.org

In appreciation of GAPA’s work in the community as a respected organization, Frameline is bringing GAPA on as a community partner and we are excited to sponsor the following films:

Coming to You

Offering a rare, years-long parallel look at two supportive mothers alongside their queer youths, Coming to You celebrates the bonds of its two small families, which endure even amid an often hostile cultural environment. As teenaged Hankyeol works through cycles of depression amid the process of transition, Yejoon navigates life as a newly out university student far from home. Together, these portraits form both an intimate version of the everyday and a remarkable showcase for the value of parental support.
https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline46/coming-to-you

Emergence: Out of the Shadows

Powerful and heartfelt, this documentary compassionately unpacks the cultural nuances of coming out in a South Asian household. Recounting three narratives told with confessional frankness and unwavering love, Emergence: Out of the Shadows thoughtfully follows the emotional journeys of its compelling subjects’ lives and the honest truth of their parents’ responses, all with optimism for a brighter future.

https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline46/emergence-out-of-the-shadows

 

Heart & Minds Showcases Queer and Trans API Stories

GAPA Theatre

GAPA Men’s Chorus

Hearts & Minds      

GAPA and Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC) present Hearts & Minds on Saturday, June 4, 2022 at Gunn Theater, Legion of Honor, 100 34th Avenue in San Francisco. Showcasing GAPA Theatre and GAPA Men’s Chorus, Hearts & Minds aims to give voice to the intersectionality of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and culture, while providing a spotlight on the power of Queer and Trans Asian and Pacific Islander (QTAPI) collaboration and performance to create change.

GAPA Theatre members will present individual stories and dramatic vignettes that speak to multi-generational QTAPI lived experiences, with featured performers providing a touchstone for audience members’ own self-awareness and personal lives. This production is signature to GAPA Theatre’s mission, to make sure QTAPI stories continue to be told as a way to honor our history, provide strength and resilience to our community in the present, and make our future better.

GAPA Men’s Chorus will additionally present a varied set of songs that reflect our lives within the QTAPI community. A significant cultural component of the organization, GAPA Men’s Chorus was formed in 1989 to provide a showcase for the vocal musical talents of Queer and Trans Asian Pacific men. In turn, the performance will celebrate the 33rd anniversary year of the GAPA Men’s Chorus and honor the group’s longevity and continued relevance in today’s political and social climate.

While focusing primarily on GAPA’s cultural programs, the program will also be multi-disciplinary, incorporating the talents of other community-based performers, including guest artist Brian Palac, providing a varied view of talents in the community. According to Dino Duazo, event co-producer, “We want to shake up expectations of what QTAPI artistic achievement is all about. You’ll see everything from dramatic spoken word pieces and Hawaiian chant, to poignant show tunes and campy musical numbers.”

GLBTQ+ Asian Pacific Alliance dedicates itself to furthering the interests of Queer and Trans Asians and Pacific Islanders by creating awareness, developing a positive identity and establishing a supportive community. Taken together, the evening’s eclectic musical and theatrical offerings promise to joyfully come together in support of spreading our inclusive cultural message.

Hearts & Minds is being presented with Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center as part of the 25th Annual United States of Asian America (USAA) Festival. The program is also being sponsored by Legion of Honor Museum and admission is free as part of their Free Saturdays initiative which creates a space where the museum’s Bay Area roots can merge with local communities through expression and creativity.

For more information, email: theatre@gapa.org

Spring Membership Meeting

On Saturday afternoon, April 23, after two long years, GAPA held its first post-pandemic membership meeting at the City Hope Community Center.

Members, old and new, reacquainted over scrumptious Vietnamese food from local favorite, Pho 2000.

The meeting featured an intimate conversation with Glenn Magpantay, past executive director of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA).

Discussions were focused on both the past and the future. Long-term members have made such a powerful impact for the queer and trans API community in the Bay Area, leaving behind a rich and storied legacy. Conversations led to a renewed focus on how GAPA can continue to be relevant and to create a space that supports queer and trans API communities of today.