Happy Pride!

It's June, and that means there are a ton of LGBTQ events going on this month in celebration. I attended Queens Pride last Sunday in Jackson Heights, and that was lots of fun. I've been going to it on and off for a while now and love its crowd and vibe. Being there just feels like home in so many ways. For this past week's, I watched some of the performances and walked around a bit, and eventually ended up grabbing some food alone at the nearby UFC chicken. Luckily, I was already sitting there with my food and a beer by the time that sudden downpour came towards the early evening. It had been a while since I'd been to that UFC, too, so being there at that moment with dry socks and fried stuff as I parched my thirst with a cold one felt pretty damn good. The restaurant isn't that big, and a family of four ended up sitting next to me after I'd had already gotten my food. It was a mom, dad, young son, and grandma. From the moment that the father and son first came in ahead to get a table, they brought this burst of energy that moved me. I basically began to eavesdrop immediately and didn't stop until I left. The dad seemed really outgoing and had this loud voice that was especially nice to hear because he was so sweet to his son. I'm guessing the kid was around 9 years old, and the dad was totally making jokes with him and the workers. I appreciated that. When the mom and grandma came in afterwards, the four of them together just made total sense to me. They just seemed like a real family, and their love for each other was so apparent. And what had me was the fact that each one of them was engaging in multiple conversations with one another. Stories about other family members that related to something learned were discussed as a group, and then there would be these separate criss-crossing back and forths among the four of them. Their dynamic just pulled me in. They talked about a lot of different things, and the mom even complimented the waiter on his haircut, which he reacted to with gratitude and surprise. The grandma also talked about how she'd made her kids clean the house with her and their father when they were younger. This was so they could use the $100 they saved by doing it themselves to eat together as a family at a restaurant afterwards. There was even a moment when I got to interact with them, which totally made my day. I knew they were super hungry because the topic of their excitement for the food came up after their order was taking a while. When they saw the server bring another dish of mine I had ordered, they ravenously asked about what it was and mentioned how good it looked. When their food eventually did come, it was a few dozen wings in this sauce, a few dozen wings in another sauce, and more fried chicken upon plates and plates of food. It's like, this family really knows how to enjoy themselves and go out to eat, and I loved seeing every minute of it. After I finished my beers and fried chicken, I wished them a great evening as I got up from my table to leave. It was sunny again by the time I stepped out onto the street to head back home on the subway. I don't think I could've asked for a better start to Pride month.

Dear friends,

Please check out a story I wrote for Condé Nast's LGBTQ magazine called them.

My story is titled: This Trans Woman is Changing the Face of Queer Nightlife in Korea

It was Seoul Gay Pride this past weekend, and I was so happy to go check out the festivities.

When I got off the subway at the City Hall stop, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was elated to see people within the station with pride flags painted on their faces and other visible signs of support for the cause. But I have to be honest in saying that I was also surprised by the number of protesters I saw as soon as I surfaced above ground.

There was a large counter demonstration across the street from where the festival was being held. They also had a huge screen set up to broadcast whoever was speaking on the stage, and that made it both pretty visible and audible from the side where I was standing. At that moment I arrived, there was such anger and vitriol in that specific speaker's voice. I was truly taken aback by it. He was an older gentleman, angrily screaming at the top of his lungs as it echoed everywhere. I could hear the graininess that seemed to come from losing his voice as a result of yelling so loudly. Then on the side of the street where the festival was being held, all I saw was a wall of police officers standing on the sidewalk to keep other protestors from getting too close to passersby as they made their way towards the entrance. I could feel my blood boiling as I had to walk by them and listen to their furious shrieks and protests. They waved their big signs in the air and howled with passion while preaching about how LGBTQ people are less than. They showed so much rage, but everyone who had to endure their hatred did not. Most people simply ignored them or walked by with smiles and excitement for what the day meant.

When I finally made my way into the festival, the vibe was completely different from what was going on outside. There was nothing but love, happiness, and celebration. There were so many people, with a large presence of foreigners as well. Being within the space instantly made me forgot about all the mess that was happening outside, and I happily walked around alone to soak it all in.

The actual parade took place outside of the festival area on a main street of Seoul. And I was fortunate to have perfect timing to witness the entire thing. I can't tell you how moved I was in seeing the thousands of people marching. Young. Old. Straight. LGBT. Korean. Non-Koreans. The diversity in everyone amazed me. All I thought was, where are all these people living and going out to? I didn't realize there was such diversity here, especially among the LGBTQ community. There were way more people actually marching in the parade than watching it as a spectator, which only made me think that people didn't just want to watch it, but they instead wanted to be a part of the movement. Seeing it all almost moved me to tears. It was very emotional and heart-warming. It was parade float after parade float that was filled with swarms of joyful people in between.

Towards the end of the day, the feelings I had from seeing all of the protestors were overcome by the warmth and love I felt from all of the supporters. I have to say that the Seoul Police Department did an excellent job in maintaining order and keeping angry protestors from getting too close to festival goers. I was extremely grateful for that. Overall, it was a memorable Pride. Korean society still has a ways to go in regards to accepting LGBTQ people, but they're definitely on their way there. And the amount of love, support, and LGBTQ allies from the weekend truly did show that.