Sitting and watching slides in Hector Carrillos' lecture on Sexual Tourism, while reflecting on the lecture on Sexual Migration from the previous day I thought 3 things to myself:

1. I wonder if anyone is doing research on LGBTQ youth of color leaving their neighborhoods to engage in sex/ "their community", and if so what that looks like. 

2. Sexual Migration IS research! It seems so common sense, how did I not realize that?

and

3. How have I been here so long and not had sex? 

When I knew that I was coming to San Francisco I established that I would begin to decide or more accurately begin fleshing out how I/my ideas could be a part of academia. I was going to ask questions about how my classmates got into grad school, how they chose their programs, what their fields of study have to do with sex/sexuality or gender, discuss my work experience in relation to academia and maybe point out a flaw or two because of it. Despite, all of these noble intentions both in my head (and yes, in my heart) I still knew that I wanted to be having sex. Listening to Carrillo speak about Sexual Tourism in such a way, gave it a sense of liberating normalcy that moved that want from the sides of my mind more to the forefront right behind homework and bonding with classmates, so I set out renewed of this additional intention. To get it. 

Transmarch: adorable queermo's everywhere, public drinking and smoking (wtf,...

When I was home in the DC area for winter break, I met up with a good friend who had recently moved there from Indiana.  The first thing he told me was that a professor in his department had been murdered.  "Whoa, that's crazy!" I said, not sure what else to say, and then turning back to look at the books in the "lesbian interest" section of the queer bookstore we were browsing.  I had no idea how tragic the story really was, nor that it would quickly become national (to some degree, even international) news.  On December 28th, Indiana University Professor Don Belton was stabbed to death by Michael J. Griffin.  Griffin used a 10-inch-long knife to stab Belton five to six times, later telling police that he had done so because Belton had sexually assaulted him twice and showed no remorse.  Belton's department, IU Department of English, has expressed their

By the time the supposed Black vs. gay war had been (re)launched following California's passage of 2008 Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marrage in the state, I was well aware of oppression within oppressed groups (I ranted back in Feburary about the problematic expression, "gay is the new black.")  In this post, I want to challenge the notion that being a minority automatically makes one empathetic toward other minority groups, and, further, that being a minority makes one immune to oppressing others.

As a young biracial gay feminist aspiring-vegetarian activist, I understood the experience of a minority to include empathy for other minorities and explicit efforts to challenge all forms of oppression.  In my case, being of color and gay meant being a feminist and actively challenging sexist oppression, as well as other forms of prejudice and discrimination.  This mindset continued into college, particularly when I shifted toward a queer identity.  I suppose it only took moving to Indiana and beginning...

I sit next to my attorney silently, facing the immigration judge. I am told my case (aka my life, aspirations and my body) is under his jurisdiction. I am dressed as professionally as possible to aptly represent my "Alien of Extraordinary Ability" status. I nervously look around the room. My dark eyes catch another attorney behind us signaling me to take off my hat. Promptly I take off my favorite accessory (my only sign of faggotry) to show my compliance with the US judicial practices. The judge begins his inquiry, to which my attorney reveals my HIV status, and my inability to adjust my status even though my petition for permanent residency to the US was granted on the basis of my claim as an "Alien of Extraordinary Ability" in February 2002.

The pain of hiding underground, days of unemployment, hunger, fear of accessing treatment leading me to near death flashes across my mind. Where would I turn for the wasted seven years of my life? Will this judge be able to understand the lost wages, aspirations, depression and most of all the psychological violence of being separated from my beloved parents? It is clear my journey to justice is only beginning.

This blog post is my first public step in ending isolation, silence, fear and their antecedent dysfunctions that the HIV ban on immigration and travel has wrought upon my life. It has disrupted my educational, work and all major life aspirations. I have silently watched my friends getting married, accessing green card,...

Now 42 years ago, the United States Supreme Court struck down any remaining anti-miscegenation laws in the case Loving vs. Virginia, Mildred and Richard Loving’s challenge to the state of Virginia’s ban on the marriage between people of different races.  But, a recent Justice of the Peace’s denial of a Louisiana couple’s application for a marriage license indicates that the debates over interracial marriage are hardly over.

Keith Bardwell, a Louisiana justice of the peace, denied Beth Humphrey and Terence McKay, an interracial couple, a marriage license citing concerns for their children.  The couple does not currently have children, so the justice is operating under the assumption that, once married, the couple would seek to have children, presumably through conception rather than adoption. ...

In our graduate seminars, we talk a lot about race and color, including how whiteness is cherished and celebrated in and outside the United States.

These class discussions and other conversations with my fellow students and friends made me think about the various fairness products that are marketed and sold back home. (In no way am I trying to be the voice of my nation. These are just MY views on such 'beauty' products.)

Here's a fine example of what I'm talking about:

So clearly, once you're beautiful (i.e. fair, white) you can achieve anything! Name, fame, money and power! You can realize your inner dreams and talents 'cos opportunities are endless!

So what happens if you're not fair? Well, basically then you're nobody! You're boring, unwanted and invisible. Your life sucks! (and not in a pleasurable way!)

(Originally posted on wiqaable.com)

One of the few things I can't handle is people's injury stories. People talk about their injuries and scars as if they would make them more brave or honorable or whatever, but frankly, I think it's disrespectful to talk about painful stories in front of a person who just can't handle it. Is it about masculinity? Do you need to talk about your scars to prove how "dangerous" or "strong" you are? Well, I don't care. So next time you see me, please don't talk about breaking your bones.

This is because I've never had any big injury since I was born. I've never broken my bones, I've never gotten into car accidents, and I've never fallen down the stairs. I've been so fortunate that I don't know how painful it would be to get your bones broken, and I would imagine the most extreme pain possible right before I pass out. That's a painful imagination.

I've never been really sick either, except for occasional skin problems I always had growing up. I've never gotten a flu, I've never had food poisoning, and I've never been hospitalized. I'm not saying that I've always been healthy, but if health is determined, simplistically, by the absence of disease or injury, I've always enjoyed my health.

Perhaps this is part of the reason why I don't like going to a hospital. I'm so unfamiliar with that super clean and slightly sorrowful atmosphere inside the...

What does it mean to have a gay Korean American man as today's best-known face of so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" controversy?

In my narrow mind, rainbow flags don't match military camouflage patterns, and Korean blood doesn't mix well with American coca-cola. In front of my face, in a picture, Dan Choi (pronounced like che) wears a smile in a built body in front of a rainbow flag, out and proud and patriotic. I guess.

I have avoided talking, writing, or even thinking about him until now because I knew that if I had been to question him, I would have had to talk intensely to myself as an anti-militaristic Queer Korean man. Am I ready yet? Probably not. But I just couldn't ignore my inner questioning self.

In case you haven't noticed, I believe that everyone should be discouraged to join military, whether Queer or not-yet-Queer-minded. I also believe that everyone should be encouraged to develop critical thinking and anti-oppression ideology. If one is to call "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy oppressive, one shall also point out the oppressive nature of militarism. Therefore, my brain refuses to accept any ideas but "Don't Serve, Don't Kill." And of course, I'm particularly against U.S. (and Japanese) military because of its past and ongoing wrongdoings in various world regions like East Asia, Pacific, and Southwestern Asia (aka Middle...

From our friends at Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice:

Have you ever wondered how communities of color can be more deeply engaged in the fight for comprehensive sexuality education?

Have you been interested in how a reproductive justice approach to sexuality education justice can broaden the movement for comprehensive sexuality education?

Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice (ACRJ) is excited to release our brand new toolkit:  Transforming API Communities: Tools for Sexuality Education.  While numerous toolkits provide the nuts and bolts of developing and implementing local comprehensive sexuality education campaigns, what’s lacking are resources aimed at getting parents and caregivers in communities of color and immigrant communities to a place where they feel inspired and prepared to engage in campaigns.  In our work at ACRJ, we’ve found that API parents are especially in need of useful and concrete tools to transform their beliefs about the benefits of comprehensive sexuality education into action for change.  By meeting API parents where...