5/18

Being queer is something that isn’t often talked about in the API community, let alone the South Asian community. Many queer folks living in South Asia have to hide their sexuality since their environment isn’t as accepting of the LGBT community as other environments such as The United States. As a result, many South Asians don’t feel safe talking about their queer identity or asking about safe sex and turn to online communities for support. Trikone was a safe space in which the users could comfortably talk to other South Asian queer folks. I find it slightly ironic that people always it’s not safe to talk to strangers on the internet but in this instance, the users of Trikone were more comfortable talking to online users rather than talking to people they know in real life in regards to sexuality. Being South Asian and queer is a form of resistance. Being South Asian, queer, AND actually living in South Asia is an even larger form of resistance. Many South Asians keep a close tie to traditional culture which includes find a partner of the opposite sex. After reading this article, I feel more thankful to live in a country that is somewhat accepting of queer folks. I am thankful that there are various resources on the UC Davis campus available to queer students, especially in the API community!
The video Kelly Loves Tony tied together many topics from articles we’ve read throughout the course. First, was similar to one of the previous readings regarding Laotian girls getting pregnant at a relatively young age due to lack of knowledge about safe sex. Kelly was at the top of her class and had her future planned out. She began dating Tony, who was known to be an ex-gang member and people saw him as being “bad”. After three months of dating Tony, Kelly was pregnant with their son. Her family pushed her into marrying Tony and becoming a domestic housewife. In the Laotian Girls article, it was revealed that many Laotians girls are forced to marry the person who got them pregnant in order to protect their image and their family’s image. In the video, Kelly also showed resistance. For example, according to Mien tradition, women are expected to only be a housewife but Kelly wanted to achieve a higher education by going to college while her son was still a baby.

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