Event brings experiences of queer Asians to light

By Jany Kim
Daily Bruin Contributor

Gay and lesbian Asian American students participated Tuesday in
“subVerses: A Queer Asian Pacific Islander Literary
Performance” to “surface” their experience with
sexuality and ethnicity, especially after Sept. 11.

Participants shared narratives about being a racial and sexual
minority in a “time of war, increased patriotism and
xenophobia.”

“These aren’t stories about model minorities or
foreigners, but about their stories that are covered and
devalued,” said Jih-Fei Cheng, a second-year graduate student
in Asian American Studies and co-coordinator of the event.

SubVerses was originally planned to be a collection of voices,
much like last year’s Los Angeles Pilipina Poets, Cheng
said.

But since Sept. 11, the presentation’s focus shifted to
art as an outlet, since the surge of hatred has been targeted at
minorities, Cheng said.

“Asian Americans have had a history where they’ve
been singled out,” he said.

Issues of race and sexuality were raised by Alison De La Cruz,
who identifies herself as a Pinay lesbian. Her monologue,
“Sungka,” addressed the uncertainties raised by her
clashing culture and sexuality.

“Can I be white and pinay? Can I be “˜bi’ and
“˜bi?'” De La Cruz chanted to the accompanying
music.

De La Cruz’s performance, “Bi Bi Babae,” from
her show “Tales From the Hip,” dealt with her
acceptance of her sexuality by ignoring cultural pressures from
family, TV and stereotypes that larger lesbians are
“butch.”

Bene Ferrao, who co-coordinated the event, spoke of the sudden
awareness of South Asians from the Middle East as a “burden
to carry with your ethnicity.”

Ferrao added that he left the “race-conscious U.S.”
for the comfort and community he found in England after Sept.
11.

The event, sponsored by the Asian American Studies Graduate
Department, shows Asian Americans in terms of their sexuality.

It defines them in more depth as sexual, spiritual and literary
beings, said Russell Leong, an adjunct English professor and
co-sponsor of the event.

The multiracial aspect of the performers and audience members is
important because America is becoming a mixed nation in every
sense, Leong added.

World arts and cultures doctoral student Christine Marasigan was
pleased by the uniqueness of the event.

“It’s nice to have a forum where you have APA
talking about queer issues in this format,” Marasigan said.
“It’s not something you see often.”