This document discusses the struggles and identities of LGBT Asian Americans. It outlines how Asian and Pacific Islander LGBT individuals face invisibility and stereotypes. It then examines the experiences of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders within the Asian American community. For each group, it describes challenges with family expectations, gender norms, and mental health issues. The document concludes with statistics on transgender populations in some Asian countries and notes how family and culture can provide both challenges and support.

1. Gender Identities
of
LGBT Asian Americans
By: Raymond Peng

2. Outline
● Struggles
● Gay Men
● Lesbians
● Bisexuals
● Transgenders
● References

3. Struggles
● Invisibility
● Racialized stereotypes
● Genderized biases
– Nadal, K. L., & Corpus, M. H. (2012)

4. Struggles
● Asian and Pacific Islander gays, lesbians, and
transgender individuals share problems of
invisibility. Many of them are under-represented in
the media or the literature.
● To compound on this situation, racialized and
gendered stereotypes in hetero-centric communities
make representation of Asian/Pacific LGBT
communities even more difficult.

5. Gay Asian American Men
● For gay Filiipino Americans, religion acts as a major
hindrance to coming out.
● Many reported that their parents believe
homosexuality is morally wrong according to their
interpretation of the Catholic teachings.

6. ● Many also stated conflicting relationships with
religious family members
● Putting family first before their feelings

7. Gender Norms
● Males need to be masculine and dominant.
● Males reported families often reprimanded them for
gender variant mannerisms or style of dress. Male
members frequently talked about how their parents
corrected their body movement.

8. Gender Norms
● Straight acting vs Femme
● Asian men are emasculated as "asexual" or
"feminine"
● Althought stigmatized, Asian men are often
expected to continue acting feminine.

9. Gender Norms
● Gay Asian American men perceived as being
submissive and mostly viewed as "bottoms."
● Any displays of feminine mannerisms on television
by gay characters would be laughed at, as their roles
are generally comical and frivilous.

10. Femininity
● Asian American women with curvy bodies
associated more with white women than with Asian
American women.
● Asian American women's bodies are perceived as
non-shapely and less desirable.
● Many desire white femininity.

11. Asian Lesbian
● Chinese lesbians are called lalas – many of which
live "dual lives." They may be married to a man, but
are only attracted to women sexually.
● A woman in a same-sex relationship may not
identify as lesbian or aim for egalitarianism in
gender roles as commonly seen in Western lesbian
relationships (Wieringa et al., 2007).

12. Bisexuals
● Findings from the National Latino and Asian
American Survey (NLAAS) indicated that bisexual
men were more likely than heterosexual men to
report a recent suicide attempt.
● Among women, lesbian/bisexual women were more
likely than heterosexual women to evidence positive
1-year and lifetime histories of depressive disorders.

13. Transgender
● Many are comfortable with the label Gender Identity
Variant.
● Many Asian trans individuals begin cross-gender
presentation and physical transition around their
teens or even before.
– (Winter, 2009)

14. Statistics
● There are approximately 100,000 Malaysian
transwomen. (Jamaludin, 2001; Kaur, 2007)
● In India there are an estimated 500,000 Indian
transwomen (Nanda, 1990)
● In Thailand there are perhaps 300,000 transwomen
around 1:300; (Winter, 2002)

15. Adaptive factors
● Trans individuals living in Asia face are more
accepted than ones in Western cultures.
● Growing up in cultures of gender pluralism
● Traditions of transpeople performing highly valued
social roles (e.g. spirit mediums and healers)

16. ● Family of choice is a significant factor in their
transition.
● Many transpeople chooses to live in communities
where they can usually find a ready source of
emotional and social support, as well as practical
information (including on medical matters) to guide
them through their transition process.

17. References
● Nadal, K. L., & Corpus, M. H. (2012). “Tomboys” and “Baklas”:
Experiences of Lesbian and Gay Filipino Americans. Asian American
Journal Of Psychology.
● Jamaludin, F. (2001, January 21). Transsexuals: Declare us as women. The
Star. Retrieved November 29, 2012, from
http://ai.eees.umich.org/TS/MalaysianTS.html
● Kaur, J. (2007, June 15). Mak Nyah Cry for Compassion. Bernama.
Retrieved Oct 29, 2012, from http: / / sgbutterfly.org/ index.php?
Name=News&file=article&sid=218.
● Kim, H. (2006). Asianized Asians, Twinkies, and North Face Puffy Jackets:
Constructing Racialized Gender Identities among Second Generation Korean
American College Women. Conference Papers -- American Sociological
Association, 1.
● Nanda, S. (1990). Neither man nor woman: The Hijras of India. Belmont,
CA: Wadsworth.
● Winter, S. (2002). Counting kathoey. Retrieved September 7, 2005, from
http://web.hku.hk/∼sjwinter/TransgenderASIA/paper counting kathoey.htm
● Winter, S. (2006). Thai transgenders in focus: Demographics, transitions and
identities. International Journal of Transgenderism, 9(1), 15–27.