Out

April 2005
Your Letters

Imagine if someone called you a "dog eater." Or "egg salad." Or "rice and beans." These are just some of the expressions referenced in "How to Gab in Gaysian" and its list of "old school" and "new school" terms said to be used by LGBT Asian-Pacific Islanders to describe themselves. Some of the terms may be new, but the underlying anti-API sentiment is not. These are simply the same old stereotypes, recycled and repackaged.

While they may sometimes be intended as comic relief, words like these marginalize those who are already cast to the margins - and in this case, suggest that API people in our community are somehow more deserving of ridicule and less deserving of respect. As LGBT people we know that the phrase "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me" is simply untrue. For generations we've been subjected to homophobic and transphobic results, from "invert to "fairy" to "faggot." These are words designed to strike at the heart of who we are - to tell us that we're inferior, less-than.

Imagine if someone called you a "fudgepacker" or "pillow biter." Of course, many of us don't have to; we've heard these insults before, on the playground, on the field, in social settings. And even if we make a show of laughing them off, we know how angry they can make us feel. The words may change based on who they're singling out for shame and exclusion. Their absurdity may result in giggles. And they may elicit nervous laughter so as to not let the person using them know that they hurt. But they do. And whether they are aimed at some of us or at all of us, these words damage the unity that our community so desperately needs.

Andy Marra
Asian-Pacific Islander Media Fellow
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation