Week 8 Richard Nguyen A02

    The theme for this week’s readings are the taboo topics in the Asian American community: faith, sexuality, and mental health. I have definitely observed some subtle, but strong biases against homosexuality from my father. He practices Catholicism with other Vietnamese Americans at a church 15 minutes away from home. I am pretty sure that in this community, anything that is not heterosexual is shunned. At one point in time, news regarding gay marriage laws was shown on TV, with footage of two men in tuxedos kissing. My father shook his head and muttered, “that’s not right”, in response to the news.

In Boyung Lee’s article, she notes that when an Asian American child comes out, their parents pretend it never happened, and try to hide their child’s sexuality from friends and extended family. This is problematic, as the following graph from 2012 shows that non-heterosexual Asian Americans are on the higher end of the spectrum compared to other ethnic groups.

Boyung Lee also discusses how those in the Asian American community treat their non-heterosexual peers as the Other. To go back on a personal note, my mother’s brother identifies as a homosexual male. This is kept secret from his parents, but my mother and her siblings are aware of his sexuality. My mother is indifferent towards his sexuality (thank goodness), but my father always has some choice words to say to me when my uncle comes up in conversation. He masks his disapproval of his sexuality by saying things such as “middle-aged man with no family of his own”, and “his life is going to be hell if he keeps doing what he is doing”. Because sexuality is not something that comes up in our conversations, I think my father believes that I am ignorant about the meaning behind his words and take it face-value.

Bringing up these personal examples leaves me with the following question: how do I confront my father about these problematic views? Heteronormative sexuality is already a topic I never talk about with him, so how would I approach an even more sensitive topic? I don’t want my father to bring these views with him to the grave.

Bibliography

Gates, Gary J. “Special Report: 3.4% of U.S. Adults Identify as LGBT.” Gallup.com, Gallop Inc., 18 Oct. 2012, news.gallup.com/poll/158066/special-report-adults-identify-lgbt.aspx.