Malinda Lo

Last week I got an email from Pamela in Hong Kong. She wrote: “If i may make a suggestion to you on other things to explore: what about Asian American LGB identities, either seen in public life or mainstream media (or not)?”

Thanks for your email, Pamela! I haven’t written about this subject recently, but I’ve definitely written about it in the past. In 2006, I wrote a feature for Curve about queer Asian-American women, and you can download the PDF of the article right here.

This is also a great opportunity for me to highlight a few other articles that I’ve linked to on my Articles page (you can always access my archive of favorite articles by going to Writing and then selecting Articles). It’s been somewhat difficult for me to write about queer Asian cultures consistently, not only because I live in the United States, but because the only Asian language I speak is Chinese, and my Chinese has deteriorated significantly since graduate school. (Plus, there are hardly any queer Asian American celebrities!)

Nevertheless, here are a few China- and Asian American-related articles from my archives:

• 05.08 Zero Chou — I spoke to the Taiwanese lesbian filmmaker through a translator to make sure I got the details right. (My Chinese isn’t as good as I wish it was!)
• 06.05 Joan Chen (Download PDF) — Remember her from Twin Peaks? How about Wild Side with Anne Heche?
• 03.08 Beauty and Margaret Cho — The queer comedian’s latest tour, Beautiful, is blunt, explicit and important.
• 02.06 China’s Super Girl Li Yuchun — The pop star’s rise to stardom marks a turning point in in queer identity in Mainland China.

Hope you enjoy these! If you read any of them, come back and tell me what you think.