Historical Context

Intro

In America, the issue of suicide among Asian American LGBTQ+ individuals has long persisted, yet it had taken until the 21st-century for American society to start paying attention to it. Suicide among LGBTQ+ Asian Americans did not become a recognized social issue until the 2010s. To understand the publicity of APIDA LGBTQ+ suicide issues in the 2010s, we need to return to the silent era in the last century.

Asican American LGBTQ History

Late 20 century

Starting from the late 20 century, Asian America LGBTQ+ suicide links closely with social exclusion. Asian cultures focus on family honor, collectivism, and obedience, which didn’t tolerate gender diversity. Many gay bars are suppressed by police and had violent conflicts with officers. As immigrants, Asian American LGBTQ+ people couldn’t find their identity in two different cultures that neither belong to them. Most of them were marginalized by society.

Apart from their interior culture conflict, their Asian identity brought racial stigma and immigration hardship. Difficulties such as language barriers, economic instability, and the pressure to assimilate, left many Asian American LGBTQ+ individuals feeling isolated and excluded both within their communities and in the broader American society. This double, triple or even quadruple difficulties add huge burdens on people’s shoulders. Therefore, many decided to hide themselves and lived a seemingly “normal” life externally, while internally their despair-weighted heartstrings found themselves near breaking point or suicide. However, those tragedies didn’t deepen the public's understanding about the pain caused by the separation of the mind and the body for LGBTQ groups. In the late last century, only some magazines and organizations served as cornerstones for publishing information regarding LGBTQ+ Asian American issues . The hardship of APIDA LGBTQ+ was mostly ignored.

2000s

In 21st century, a new generation of LGBTQ+ Asian Americans became increasingly aware of their identities and mores studys were done for mental health. The U.S. Department of State began reporting abuses against LGBTQ+ people in its annual human rights reports in 2005. Violence receded, and persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity had become an internationally recognized human rights issue. Also, college campuses formed student groups and some young LGBTQ+ Asian Americans started finding one another online, exploring their identities unencumbered by cultural expectations.

These acts helped the public to see more struggles of Asian American LGBTQ+ people. However, these efforts didn’t stop the suicide rate from increasing. The literary output grew as quickly as the rate of suicide attempts did. An increasing number of academic articles and books mentioned the mental health of LGBTQ+ Asian youth, with data showing that suicide attempt rates for Asians were significantly higher than other racial groups. The “It Gets Better” movement was a watershed moment for APIDA LGBTQ+, where thousands posted videos online documenting their own journeys toward self-acceptance despite family rejection and cultural alienation. Although the APIDA LGBTQ+ had become visible to the public, their struggles continue to exist.

2020s

In 2020, during the global pandemic, the suicide rate of APIDA LGBTQ+ skyrocketed. In 2021, 36.79% of the LGBTQ people who died by suicide were Asian Americans, higher than the rate for White Americans (33.98%), African Americans (23.26%), and other ethnic groups. In the isolated situation of pandemic, despair was a common feeling for many. For the transgender community, however, the situation was much worse. The pandemic caused gender-affirming surgeries and other treatments to be canceled, meaning that many transgender Asian Americans could not access the critical medical care they needed, with devastating impacts on their mental health.

In 2021, 52% of transgender and nonbinary youth said they had been delayed or canceled from accessing gender-affirming medical care due to COVID-19. The National LGBTQ+ COVID-19 Needs Assessment stated that over 80% of transgender individuals experienced significant delays in receiving healthcare, many of them reporting adverse effects on their mental health due to the delays. Young lives were destroyed by these obstacles.

Important Moments for LGBTQ

Wanda Sykes Takes Us Through the History of LGBTQ+ — Now You Know

The Stonewall Rebellion 1969

In the early morning hours on June 28, 1969, police performed a raid of the Stonewall Inn, a New York City gay bar — and the customers and their supporters took a stand. The event turned into a violent protest and led to a days-long series of riots. Those “Stonewall riots” are largely considered the start of the LGBTQ civil rights movement in the United States.

Homosexuality is no longer a mental illness.

1973- After years of studies, analysis, and changing cultural attitudes, the American Psychiatric Association’s board of directors removed homosexuality from the offial list of mental illnesses, known as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a move that was upheld with a vote by the association’s membership.

The Great March

October 14, 1979 - The first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights takes place. It draws an estimated 75,000 to 125,000 individuals marching for LGBTQ rights

First marriage

May 17, 2004 - The first legal same-sex marriage in the United States takes place in Massachusetts.

2015: Love wins.

June 26 The Supreme Court finally and officially declared same-sex marriage a Constitutional right nationwide, meaning all states must allow Americans to get married, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation.

Want to Learn more: https://lgbtqhistory.org/lgbt-rights-timeline-in-american-history/

Important Art

1906

Potentially the first openly gay American novel with a happy ending, Imre, was published

1919

The first gay film, Different From the Others, is released, in which Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld appears and funds the film.

Paris is buring

Important Film for queer art, won numerous awards, very important in LGBTQ culture

Recommended movie:

Boy Erased

A boy was forced to participate in a church supported gay correction program to "cure" homosexuality, otherwise he would have to pay the price of losing loved ones, friends, and religious beliefs.

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