Lavender Phoenix, formerly known as API Equality – Northern California is an American

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

advocacy

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

headquartered in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. Its mission is to build the power and self-determination and increase the visibility of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Asian Pacific Islander (LGBTQ API) community. The organization was founded in 2004 in response to a large rally against same-sex marriage organized by the Chinese Christian community in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. It organized the first ever contingent in support of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

to appear in San Francisco's Chinese New Year Parade and was a founding member of the campaign against California's anti-same-sex marriage ballot initiative,

Proposition 8 Proposition 8, known informally as Prop 8, was a California ballot proposition and a state constitutional amendment intended to ban same-sex marriage. It passed in the November 2008 California state elections and was later overturned by the ...

. Its current programming includes its LGBTQ API leadership development program and the Dragon Fruit Project.

History

On April 25, 2004, a largely Asian American and Christian crowd of more than 7,000, organized by Chinese Christian leaders, rallied in San Francisco to protest the legalization of same-sex marriage. Lavender Phoenix was founded in 2004 in response to this rally to provide a voice from the API community in support of

. At its inception, it was called Asian Pacific American Coalition for Equality (APACE), although soon changing its name to API Equality, then APIENC. Lavender Phoenix has since evolved into a multi-issue organization working for equality and justice in Northern California and in the state's API and LGBTQ communities. Lavender Phoenix is fiscally sponsored by

Chinese for Affirmative Action Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) is a San Francisco–based advocacy organization. Founded in 1969, its initial goals were equality of access to employment and the creation of job opportunities for Chinese Americans. The group broadened its mi ...

, an API civil rights organization based in Northern California that advances social justice for the Chinese and API communities. On April 27, 2022, the organization was renamed from API Equality - Northern California to Lavender Phoenix as an homage to Lavender Godzilla and Phoenix Rising, two LGBTQ API newsletters in the Bay Area in the 1980s.

Special projects

Up to Us

Up to Us was a study of the lived experiences of Bay Area trans and gender non-conforming Asian and Pacific Islanders (TGNC API) to understand the needs of this specific demographic. Furthermore, Lavender Phoenix staff provided peer counseling for TGNC API individuals. The study concluded that TGNC API individuals in the Bay Area are in need of stable housing, supportive workspaces and health care.

Dragon Fruit Museum

The Dragon Fruit Museum is a multigenerational oral history documentation of queer API individuals’ experiences, including the Dragon Fruit Podcast.

Queer Possibilities

Movie directed by one of Lavender Phoenix's leaders, Sammie Wills, and another trans and queer API activist, Vince Crisostomo, that illustrates their experiences as queer and trans API individuals and on queer and trans API activism.

Accomplishments

* 2005: Organized the first contingent in support of same-sex marriage in the San Francisco Chinese New Year parade, which is the largest Asian cultural event in North America and reaches millions of spectators in the San Francisco Bay Area and across the world. * 2007: With sister organizatio
API Equality – LA
spearheaded the development of an Asian American amicus brief signed by over 63 local, state, and national API organizations in support of the California same-sex marriage cases. * 2007: Was a founding member of both the Let California Ring and Equality for All/ No on Prop 8 Campaigns. * 2010: Launched ongoing intensive summer

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used to practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and g ...

program to develop the next generation of LGBTQ API social justice and cultural change leaders. * 2011: Organized the first queer and Asian

flash mob A flash mob (or flashmob) is a group of people that assembles suddenly in a public place, performs for a brief time, then quickly disperses, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, and/or artistic expression. Flash mobs may be organize ...

in the heart of San Francisco's Chinatown with over 100 participants. * 2012: Conducted first-of-its-kind qualitative research in Filipino communities on LGBTQ issues and people. * 2012 to Present: Launched Dragon Fruit Project with

Amy Sueyoshi Amy Sueyoshi is the provost of San Francisco State University. Sueyoshi is a trained historian specializing in sexuality, gender, and race. Her publications and lectures focus on issues regarding race and sexuality such as cross-dressing, porno ...

, Associate Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

. The Dragon Fruit Project is an intergenerational

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...

project that explores LGBTQ API people and their experiences with love and

activism Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from ...

in the 1960s-1990s. Interviews and documents from the Dragon Fruit Project have been on exhibit at the

GLBT History Museum The GLBT Historical Society (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society) (formerly Gay and Lesbian Historical Society of Northern California; San Francisco Bay Area Gay and Lesbian Historical Society) maintains an extensive collection ...

in San Francisco since 2014.

References

External links

* https://lavenderphoenix.org/ {{DEFAULTSORT:API Equality - Northern California Non-profit organizations based in San Francisco LGBTQ organizations based in the United States 2004 establishments in California