Resource by: Michaela Silvis
REPRESENTATION MATTERS: Stories and Expressions from Queer BIPoC
PART I
Being a second year Seminary student at a majority white institution, on all fronts, I find myself wishing and hoping for opportunities to learn from scholars, theologians, poets, and more, who might look a little more like me. I don’t often get this luxury, especially being biracial, but it is something I long for in academia. Representation matters.
Starting this project in a class called Queer Hermeneutics, my friends and peers had similar concerns. Would we engage with minoritized groups in an honoring and uplifting way? I believe that the work throughout this course introduced this work, but there is much more that can be done. The including of voices frequently ignored or forgotten is something that is vitally important in the academy, in discussions surrounding queer identities, and simply in life. Representation matters.
As I was reflecting on what I felt this website needed, I kept coming back to this idea that “representation matters.” While this course engages with different minoritized groups and concerns, especially highlighting Queer experiences, there is a lack of dialogue surrounding what identifying Queer Asians have to say about this. This perpetuates harmful understandings of the model minority, forgotten minority, and the invisible minority around Asians and Asian Americans. I wanted to combat this by showcasing the work of two unique and talented people who both identify as Queer and Asian. Representation matters.
Both individuals are people who I have come to deeply respect, and I find truly inspiring in the work that they are doing and pursuing. These people utilize their social location in profound and beautiful ways to inform, educate, inspire, provoke, and encourage those whom they can reach. It is an honor to know them and learn from them, and I hope all who encounter them can feel the same. Below are two very different pieces from these people, along with short bios of each. Please take the time to rest on the words they have both shared. Their pieces may not be explicitly about queer issues, which this class has been, but by showcasing these works we are uplifting Asian, queer voices for the betterment of all who can learn from them. Representation matters.
PART II
Gabes Torres (she/they) identifies as a currently able-bodied, pansexual, ciswoman of color. They are a first-generation Filipina, a migrant and a third culture kid. Being a first-gen Filipino has given Gabes the experience of being a part of the dominant culture/the majority in the Philippines, which she is grateful for. They reflected on how unlike her friends who are BIPoC, who were born and raised in the US, Gabes didn’t have to negotiate their identity so much and legitimize their experience as much as other BIPoC friends have. However, this does not diminish the fact that Gabes has struggled and been hurt by systemic and social oppression here in the US.
All these things and more have led Gabes to pursue higher education in pursuit of a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology in Washington State. Gabes is a psychotherapist in training, a speaker and researcher, and a singer/songwriter. They are currently seeing BIPoC, LGBTQIA+ clients and those who are in the intersection of both. To this, Gabes says “it is both my honor and privilege to be a support for them in a psychotherapeutic capacity.” It is Gabes’ hope to be a pioneer and researcher in writing and sustaining the clinical and theological literature for these folx.
When Gabes speaks about these concerns their passion is beautiful and inspiring. To end our discussion, Gabes said: “I don’t know what else to say other than I mostly work in the realms of justice because I feel like my story itself has an injustice I aim to expose and make right. So the personal is closely linked to the vocational, which I think is the case for all people.”
As an international student studying in the US, Gabes has been facing difficulties financially supporting her education. By the bounds of the law, she is not privileged to do any of the following:
Apply for and/or receive federal funding, student loans, etc.
Work off-campus
Exceed 20 hours/week working while school is in session
Exceed a $15 hourly student rate (which is barely enough for her monthly livelihood with rent, food, etc.)
Take a break from being a full-time student so that she can solely work and raise funds for tuition
These restrictions have led Gabes to need to raise $35,000 to cover outstanding balances and her final year’s tuition. Gabes is doing important and necessary work, so if you would like to know more and consider supporting her campaign you can visit her GoFundMe page. As of November 21, 2019 Gabes has raised $20,940 but still has a long way to go. Thank you for your consideration! Gabes' GoFundMe Link!
The piece Gabes has shared is a song she wrote entitled: To My Body. Below you can find the link to her SoundCloud, with other songs, and a short description Gabes wrote about what inspired her song.
This song is written about my body and to my body—the body of a Filipino woman that is oftentimes invisible and misunderstood.
As a minority in the United States, there have been countless moments when I intentionally assimilated in order to survive and to belong. This involved actively rejecting my body for approval and safety—which I wasn’t aware were a false sense of approval and safety.
The song is a letter of apology and gratitude to my body. I apologized for the times I participated in the process of being invisible through my assimilation. Here, I also thanked my body for being the home that continues to hold me. It is precisely the home that makes me resilient, and the home that has been holding my heart and keeping me alive.
In the end, I combined this track with a song by Sam Cooke to emphasize how my personal experience with this type of injustice is a collective experience that minorities suffer from.
You can read more from Gabes on their blog, gabestorres.com, including a writing piece from September, 2019, A letter to my descendants.
PART III
Jonah Venegas 李明恩 (he/him/his, but responds to all pronouns) identifies as gay/demisexual. Jonah, and his siblings, are Filipino-Chinese and first generation born in the US. Jonah reflects on this and believes that they are sort of a generation 1.5 because his parents came to the US when they were in high school. Therefore, he is technically the first generation but also a second generation since his parents were quite Americanized in some respects, but not in others.
Jonah is currently a mental health social worker working with kids and is one year out from graduating as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT). When sharing about one of his courses Jonah said, “we are studying culturally sensitive therapy this semester and I’m loving it because a lot of those things are things I’ve had to work on!” On that point, Jonah has been working on reintegrating who he is as an Asian person with also being queer. Jonah loves writing, blogging, and writing poetry, and is an avid runner! He ran a half marathon earlier this year and hopes to complete a full marathon soon.
In the future, Jonah would love to do a mix of having a private practice for therapy, teaching churches how to do better pastoral/lay care as a therapist, and teaching, particularly on self-integration of all your identities, whether that be sexual, cultural, or otherwise.
The piece that Jonah has shared is a 5-day devotional entitled: Everything is Holy: Spiritual Truths from Anime. Below you can find the link to Day 1 of the devotional (the rest is on the “Our Bible” App) and an introduction to the devotion from the author.
Everything is Holy: Spiritual Truths From Anime
This 5-day devotional explores the intermingling of the sacred and secular, reflecting on the spiritual lessons we can learn from art, specifically from the art form of anime as a storytelling medium. As Christians, we have often been conditioned to view certain stories and certain realms as spiritual and others as not. This devotional seeks to understand what it means to regard everything as holy and everything as a conduit for spiritual truth and grace, because the thin spaces where we commune with the Divine are abundant if only we would be open to stepping into them.
You can read more from Jonah on his blog, Jonah-Ven.com, including a piece from October, 2019, Not Here Nor There.