Love Your Asian Body: AIDS Activism in Los Angeles 

(University of Washington Press, Jan 2022)

AIDS is not just a disease, but it is also a movement. At the epidemic's onset in the 1980s, there was a lot of mystery and misinformation surrounding the disease that was yet to be named. A group of Asian American gay men and lesbians in Los Angeles came together at that time and provided support for those who were sick and dying in their community. They became social workers, caregivers, nurses, researchers, and advocates for Asians living with HIV. They built a community infrastructure, without which many more people in the Asian American community would've been infected and died. They had to talk about sex in immigrant communities that were averse to its public discussion and reach those at-risk individuals that were too closeted to seek out health information. They were able to accomplish all this by building a network of allies, especially women as well as other LGBT communities of color. By pushing the envelope of public discourse about sex and sexuality, these early activists reframed a panethnic sexual identity at a time when most LGBT Asian Americans had trouble reconciling their racial and sexual selves. In the early years of the epidemic, when the disease bred so much stigma, fear, and even hatred in the public for those who were infected, these activists were able to forge a new vision of a thriving community. This is the paradox of AIDS as a disease and a movement. While it drove many to die alone in shame, AIDS also compelled many others to become political actors in our democracy, setting up the stage for broader social struggles for years to come.

This community memoir of the AIDS movement in the Asian American communities is based on interviews with over 35 activists and survivors. The oral history project is in collaboration with the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team, supported in part by a research fellowship at the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives.