May 22, 2009
By Sarath Suong – Men’s Health Coordinator, MAP for Health May is Asian and Pacific
American (APA) Heritage Month.
While this crucial milestone in APA and American history occurred less than 20 years ago, it is an important reminder for us to recognize the experience and diversity of APAs as integral to the development and contribution to this country. Today, APAs remain a strong and growing community of over 15 million people. It is also one of the most at-risk populations for contracting Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), including HIV.
MAP was founded a year after the passage of the APA Heritage Month, and to date, MAP remains one of the only organizations in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts dedicated to offering an integrated response to the growing HIV/AIDS crises among the APAs.
One of its programs, Asian Impact,a peer-support program,provides community
building spaces and educational workshops for APA gay and men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM). Asian Impact recognizes the importance of creating safe spaces where young APA MSMs can become friends, support one another, and engage in conversation about safe sex and healthy lifestyles.
Asian Impact participant, Sophan, is a 22 year old Cambodian immigrant who recently immigrated to Lynn, Massachusetts from Cambodia two years ago. Sophan became intimate with other men at the young age of 18 and had never told his father. The last of his family to come to the U.S., Sophan quit college and left his partner in Cambodia to escape genocide.
He reunited with his mother and three brothers in the US, working hard to be the dutiful son to his mother and contribute as much as he could to his family’s livelihood.
For two years, Sophan struggled with culture shock and language barriers, while balancing two jobs and adjusting to his estranged family. He was already isolated from the general public as a refugee, and from his family who did not know him.
After he found MAP and joined the Asian Impact weekly gathering, Sophan now has a group of Asian mentors and support networks to help him navigate the challenges of being a newcomer, Asian, and gay.
Sophan is just one example of the young gay and bisexual men that participate in MAP’s programs. He, and many like him, are in real need of someone to talk to - someone who can relate to their struggle of being both APA and homosexual. Safe spaces, such as MAP’s A-SPOT, offers reprieve to young people like Sophan.
In a brief interview, he recounts his thoughts prior to joining MAP. “I just didn’t know what to do any more. I just didn’t have anyone to talk to. Here, I have been able to make friends who really understand where I am coming from. I used to feel that I had to tell my family,” he explains. “That pressure made me feel really horrible.”
He has since become part of a community that understands the challenges Asians face and provides encouragement to be brave and resilient.
As an organization dedicated to the health and wellbeing of the APAs, MAP runs programs, hosts events, and advocates for the community every day.
For more information and its next large event that will take place in Chinatown, during the August Moon Festival, visit MAP’s website www.mapforhealth.org
Gay and Asian: Fighting Stigma in Our Communities
By Sarath Suong – Men’s Health Coordinator, MAP for Health May is Asian and Pacific
American (APA) Heritage Month.
While this crucial milestone in APA and American history occurred less than 20 years ago, it is an important reminder for us to recognize the experience and diversity of APAs as integral to the development and contribution to this country. Today, APAs remain a strong and growing community of over 15 million people. It is also one of the most at-risk populations for contracting Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), including HIV.
MAP was founded a year after the passage of the APA Heritage Month, and to date, MAP remains one of the only organizations in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts dedicated to offering an integrated response to the growing HIV/AIDS crises among the APAs.
One of its programs, Asian Impact,a peer-support program,provides community
building spaces and educational workshops for APA gay and men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM). Asian Impact recognizes the importance of creating safe spaces where young APA MSMs can become friends, support one another, and engage in conversation about safe sex and healthy lifestyles.
Asian Impact participant, Sophan, is a 22 year old Cambodian immigrant who recently immigrated to Lynn, Massachusetts from Cambodia two years ago. Sophan became intimate with other men at the young age of 18 and had never told his father. The last of his family to come to the U.S., Sophan quit college and left his partner in Cambodia to escape genocide.
He reunited with his mother and three brothers in the US, working hard to be the dutiful son to his mother and contribute as much as he could to his family’s livelihood.
For two years, Sophan struggled with culture shock and language barriers, while balancing two jobs and adjusting to his estranged family. He was already isolated from the general public as a refugee, and from his family who did not know him.
After he found MAP and joined the Asian Impact weekly gathering, Sophan now has a group of Asian mentors and support networks to help him navigate the challenges of being a newcomer, Asian, and gay.
Sophan is just one example of the young gay and bisexual men that participate in MAP’s programs. He, and many like him, are in real need of someone to talk to - someone who can relate to their struggle of being both APA and homosexual. Safe spaces, such as MAP’s A-SPOT, offers reprieve to young people like Sophan.
In a brief interview, he recounts his thoughts prior to joining MAP. “I just didn’t know what to do any more. I just didn’t have anyone to talk to. Here, I have been able to make friends who really understand where I am coming from. I used to feel that I had to tell my family,” he explains. “That pressure made me feel really horrible.”
He has since become part of a community that understands the challenges Asians face and provides encouragement to be brave and resilient.
As an organization dedicated to the health and wellbeing of the APAs, MAP runs programs, hosts events, and advocates for the community every day.
For more information and its next large event that will take place in Chinatown, during the August Moon Festival, visit MAP’s website www.mapforhealth.org
Gay and Asian: Fighting Stigma in Our Communities
Article Reference: http://www.sampan.org/show_article.php?display=1979
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