Y'all I'm on the @fastcompany's #Queer50 list! My queerness is such an essential, sacred part of who I am and how I exist in this world. Without my queerness or my queer and trans chosen family, my political lens does not—cannot—exist. My political foundation was built on the labor and activism of queer and trans people of color through the generations, and I explore that lineage often in all of my work. At a recent talk I gave, I shared that growing up, I did not know many queer figures who looked like me. Hell, I barely even knew what it meant to be queer when I was living in Korea where there was virtually no discussion around LGBTQ+ issues in school nor any meaningful media representation. Fast forward to high school in the US, my first crush on a girl was confusing ~and awkward~ as hell, and I still wince thinking back to the many unsuccessful, cringey attempts at trying to *act gay* 🤣 🤦🏻‍♀️ (stories for another time... ones involving cargo shorts and a faux hawk). When I finally came out as queer/bi at the age of 16, my entire world changed—claiming my queerness was the beginning of my politicization. For over a decade, my activism arena focused primarily on empowering low income queer and trans youth of color, and nurturing youth leadership remains a paramount issue for me. Despite my coming out and years of activism work in the queer community, however, I often felt as though the intersection of my Asian identity and gender expression made my queerness illegible to many. As I wrote in my book, my whole life I’ve straddled the in-between spaces as neither here nor there, sandwiched between neither Black nor white, neither lesbian nor straight—being told I wasn’t gay enough in queer spaces and not woman enough in hetero spaces. The casual denigration and erasure of bi people, as well as the invisibility of other queer Asian women and femmes—despite their critical leadership as well as shared struggles—continue in myriad forms today, so this particular celebration of my queer identity feels special to me. [continued in comments; alt text also provided per image!]