| National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance | |
| Founded Date: | 2007 |
| Area Served: | United States of America |
| Method: | Campaigning, advocacy, support groups, public speaking, education |
The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) is an American federation of Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian. and Pacific Islander LGBTQ organizations. NQAPIA was formed in 2007, as an outgrowth of the LGBT APA Roundtable working groups at the 2005 National Gay Lesbian Task Force Creating Change Conference in Oakland, California.[1] [2] NQAPIA seeks to build the capacity of local LGBT AAPI organizations, invigorate grassroots organizing, develop leadership, and challenge homophobia, racism, and anti-immigrant bias.[3] The organization "focuses on grass-roots organizing and leadership development."[4]
NQAPIA works with local LGBTQ AAPI groups to address a wide range of LGBTQ AAPI issues such as speaking out for immigration reform, partnering with the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force on a national survey of the needs and concerns of LGBTQ AAPIs, support convenings for queer women and South Asians, leading workshops on organizing LGBTQ AAPIs for social change, and hosting national trainings and issue briefings for leaders of LGBTQ AAPI organizations.
Thirty-four LGBTQ AAPI organizations from across the United States are members of NQAPIA. Two are national organizations. Most LGBTQ AAPI organizations are located in areas with large populations of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The largest population centers are in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Greater Los Angeles Area. Following these are the communities in New York City, the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area, and New England.[5]
Some LGBTQ AAPI organizations are organized by ethnicity or gender.
Every three years, NQAPIA coordinates national conferences for queer Asian Pacific Islander American Issues. Prior conferences were held in Seattle, Washington and Washington, D.C., in 2009 and 2012 respectively. In 2015, NQAPIA's conference was held in Chicago, Illinois, from August 6–9, 2015.[6]
NQAPIA strives for inclusion of LGBT minority groups in both macro and micro-scopic scales through the use of conferences and community outreach programs. By providing education, social networks of support, and organization of federations and members, it aims to "press a positive agenda" to integrate LGBT racial and ethnic minorities in their communities.[7]
The NQAPIA organizes a weekend long training and issues briefing for leaders of LGBTQ API organizations. Local leaders from across the nation convene to network, learn about current issues, share strategies, and build the infrastructure of their respective organizations. In 2013, the NQAPIA Summit was in Hawai’i. NQAPIA Summits alternate between West and East Coasts.[8]
The NQAPIA curates projects and campaigns which empower the queer Asian communities around the nation.
A campaign focused on immigration reform and upholding LGBT Asian American Pacific Islander immigrant rights by "educating local organizations and leaders", engaging in media in various forms and mediums, publicizing the stories of undocumented LGBT Asian American Pacific Islanders (as well as undocumented Latinos), and analyzing immigration reform legislation and the effect that legislation changes will have.[9]
A multilingual campaign focused on educating Asian and Pacific Islander parents of LGBT youth, aimed to guide them in supporting their child and maintaining strong family bonds. This is accomplished through videos translated into Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai, Khmer, Hmong, Lao, Hindi, Tagalog, Ilocano, Arabic, and other languages as well as multilingual leaflets, "family acceptance workshops", advertisements for LGBT pride month, and features on various news channels, such as MSNBC, NBC, and The Korea Times.[10]
DACA/DAPA are both programs targeted at undocumented immigrants, particularly families. DACA (deferred action for childhood arrivals) allows for individuals to remain in the United States and obtain work permits if they are qualified to do so; however, it is not a route to obtaining permanent residence or citizenship status. Due to "legal challenges", the expanded DACA and DAPA programs are currently unavailable, but the original 2012 DACA program is open to the public. DAPA (deferred action for parental accountability) is orchestrated by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in order to temporarily provide aid to undocumented immigrants who are parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents and provides "relief from deportation and work authorization" for three years, but is currently not accepting applications.[11]
"Uncovering Our Stories" was accomplished with the help of Mia Nakano, a director who worked on numerous other projects with similar themes. Its goal is to uncover the stories of immigrants who are "everyday" LGBT Asian American and Pacific Islanders, but whose stories rarely see coverage. The ultimate mission of this campaign is various levels of immigration reform, including greater family immigration rights and protections. It features Sapna Pandya, Erika Nunez, Tony Choi, Nebula Li, Rajat Dutta, Shweta Jumar, Maya Jafer, Dhaval Shah, John Sanchez, Chetam & Gaurav, Bupendra Ram, Sandy, Erwin de Leon, Alex Ong, Noel Bordador, Urooj Arshad, Linda & Lundy Khoy, and Sahar Shafqat.[12]
Through the use of printed postcards featuring various Asian American and Pacific Islanders, this campaign aims to "increase visibility of LGBT AAPIs". It features a variety of languages, from Korean to Thai to Bengali to Vietnamese, with a motif on front expressing support for same-sex marriage, immigrant rights, and queer/Asian pride.[13]
The NQAPIA Community Catalyst Awards are awarded to individual and organizations that have:[14]
Nominees are accepted through online submission. Past awardees include:[15]
NQAPIA releases yearly reports/news magazines detailing their activities, highlights of their national conference (if applicable), various features and articles, award information, financial statements.
For the American 2016 election, NQAPIA released a series of reports on the election, including voter guides in Chinese, Hindi, Korean, and Vietnamese; resources to understand the issues each candidate was campaigning on and to protect Asian American Pacific Islander voting rights; and information on how to vote.
Various infographics, articles, letters, blog posts, and the like are posted on a variety of topics related to Asian American Pacific Islanders' issues, such as political events.