Powerful video campaign aims to tackle taboo on LGBT issues in Asian families
A group has released a series of powerful ads that attempt to tackle the stigma around LGBT issues in the Asian community.
For the month of June, the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance joined with the Asian Pride Project for, to release encouraging videos of parents and their LGBT children as Public Service Announcements throughout the US.
Featured on both Asian TV stations and YouTube, a total of nine videos – narrated and subtitled in varying languages and dialects – have been promoted for LGBT Pride Month.
From India, Vinay Chaudhry spoke in English on behalf of his genderqueer child, accompanied by Hindi subtitles.
The diverse range of ads features families from across the Asian continent, with both parents and children.
Focusing on the parents with their individual daughters and sons, they explain, “Family is still family and love is still love.”
Glenn D. Magpantay, executive director of the NQAPIA, told the Windy City Times: “Our campaign not only empowers immigrant parents, but also LGBT youth struggling to come out to their families. We are raising the visibility of supportive Asian parents and family members so they can act as catalysts for acceptance within their communities.”
The ads targeted families of a number of different ethnic groups, including Chinese, South Asian, Korean, Japanese, Southeast Asian and Filipino. It is expected to reach an audience of more than 13.9 million.
The message is simple: “Too often our children are shunned, ostracised and discriminated against in our community. I am proud of my child. I have always been proud of my child. It is time to take a stand to really support your children, my children, our children. Share your story of love and acceptance for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender children.”
Published in 19 different languages, “fact sheets” were also created for mothers and fathers with LGBT children to help eliminate misunderstandings about different sexualities.
So far, the videos released are as follows:
Mandarin with English subtitles – Deanna Cheng, a Chinese mother of a gay son
Cantonese with English subtitles – Rosetta Lai, a Chinese mother of a lesbian daughter
Hindi with English subtitles – Kamlesh and Harcharan Bagga, Indian parents of a gay son
English with Hindi subtitles – Vinay Chaudhry, an Indian father of a genderqueer child
English with Japanese subtitles – Marsha and Tad Aizumi, Japanese parents of a transgender son
Vietnamese with English subtitles – Ha Nguyen, a Vietnamese mother of a gay son
English with Lao subtitles – Phanida Phivilay, a Lao mother of a lesbian daughter
