On February 13, AQWA marched with Vietnamese LGBT groups in the Tet parade in Little Saigon. This was a historic day since this was the first time an LGBT contingency participated in the annual new year’s parade. Read more here.

Thanks to all for participating in this year’s parade! It was the most amazing one yet!

Click the thumbnails below to enlarge photos.

As a part of our yearly Lunar New Year activities, API Equality LA participated in the San Gabriel Valley Lunar New Year Festival in Alhambra for a third year. Throughout the day, led by veteran volunteer Alan Chan who spent the whole day at the festival, a dozen volunteers talked to festival-goers about marriage equality and LGBT rights. With varying levels of Chinese-language ability and a willingness to “just do it!”, volunteers gamely approached hundreds of people to engage in friendly conversations in English, Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese (even Spanish on occasion) about this issue and shared New Year well-wishes and chocolate-stuffed Year of the Tiger Red envelopes.

Among the crowd, we met a long-time couple happy to chat about their experiences and their passion about this issue, a program coordinator of a San Gabriel Valley High School Youth Summit eager to increase LGBT representation and visibility and many, many supporters eager to sign our support pledges. We were most excited to have two high school students who came and did outreach with us – for one of them, this was her second year out there with us! The times are quickly changing and these young, courageous volunteers were emblematic of that.

Special thanks go out to Mimi Saidane for her thorough efforts to recruit volunteers (even after the rain-out a week earlier) and to Andre Ting, who provided the Chinese newspaper article that was very well-received by monolingual Chinese-speaking community members Alhambra. And did we mention Alan Chan spent the whole day volunteering; he made sure everyone had nourishment, some training and the necessary materials throughout the day? Thank you, Alan, you set a new standard. Finally, a shout out and big props to all the other volunteers who joined us that day or helped make it happen: Glenn, Michael, Robin, Wilson, Linda, Kat, Steven, Ericson, Genevieve, Greg and William!

To join this fabulous team, join us at the Thai New Year Festival Outreach or come to the next Outreach and Recruitment Committee meeting the first Thursday of each month at 7p at KIWA. Next one’s March 4 with a late cocktail hour! Contact us for more info!

Join us! This committee engages in planning our participation in parades as well our presence and outreach at community events, festivals, protests, demonstrations, etc. It is also responsible for reaching out to new community leaders, organizations, and celebrities. A light meal will be provided, so PLEASE RSVP!

When: Thursday, February 4, 2010, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Where: KIWA, 3465 W. 8th St., 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90005 [View on Google Maps]

Contact: Eileen Ma & Genevieve Tan | contact@apiequalityla.org | (323) 860-7348

We’re proud to present Steven as our February Activist of the Month!

What is one sound that characterizes you?
Crackle. He’s the good-hearted, fun and smartest of the three Rice Krispies characters (Snap, Crackle, and Pop!). I also think he’s the most handsome

Where are you right now?
Physically, I’m in my office. But my mind is on vacation on a white sandy beach with a bottomless pitcher of margarita.

What is one thing about you that surprises people?
I hate coffee. The smell of coffee nauseates me so much that I usually can’t be in a coffee shop for more than a few minutes before I start feeling queezy. But I finally had my first cup of joe last year when I traveled to Seattle and decided it was time for me to give it a shot. That was also my last cup of coffee.

What committee are you involved with in API Equality?
I am involved with (in no particular order) the Outreach and Recruitment, Fundraising, and Media/Website committee. It was too difficult for me to choose just one!

How did you get involved?
I first learned of API Equality-LA when I heard Marshall Wong speak at a town hall meeting hosted by the LA LGBT Center.

Why is it important to continue this fight for marriage equality?
Discrimination should never be accepted–especially institutionalized discrimination. Same-sex relationships are just as real and beautiful as opposite-sex relationships and should be recognized as such. Marriage equality is one of many steps towards equal treatment for the LGBT community.

Hometown?
Monterey Park, CA

Occupation?
Paralegal

Heritage?
I’m a Monterey Park Dude, but grandparents are from Shantou in southern China.

Facebook or Twitter?
I love both websites for changing the way people stay connected and share information. But if I had to choose one, I would choose Twitter since it’s a lot less incriminating than Facebook…

Coffee or tea?
Tea! I absolutely cannot stand coffee.