In today’s segment, we are celebrating #LGBTQIA+ community by having Tita Aida enlighten us on issues the communities are facing. She is a local personality from the Bay Area whose advocacy and activism revolves around HIV & AIDS in the A&PI LGBTQIA+ communities. She is also currently the Director of Programs and Community Engagement at the San Francisco Community Health Center, formerly known as API Wellness.
The personality “Tita Aida” (otherwise known as the “Auntie of Aunties”) started as a character who would give advice in the form of monologues, scripts and shows all over the US. This is in addition to writing advice columns for an Australian magazine. She wanted to make sure that through her work, current issues surrounding HIV and AIDS in the community are being discussed. Tita Aida’s work goes back from the early 90’s and she has been instrumental in creating innovative HIV prevention programs and had actively engaged in many social justice initiatives to advance trans rights.
Tita Aida takes us through the definition of terms and the acronym LGBTQIA+ “which didn’t happen just overnight” but mostly grew from generations of people who became aware of who they are. It has taken years and generations of LGBT history to arrive to where it is at. It would also mean that we need more time to really try to understand deeply what each letter stands for. In a nut shell the acronym stands for:
L- Lesbian
G- Gay
B- Bisexual
T- Transgender
Q-Queer
I- Intersex Agender/Asexual or Ally community
+- plus others that cannot identify with any of these terms but represents inclusivity.
We discussed some terms like “queer” which used to be a derogatory term but now it is defined as a non-conformist or fluid. Whereas asexual do not identify with any sexual orientation. Intersex on the other hand, is a medical condition or people who are born with ambiguous genitalia.
As a society we still have work to do so we asked Tita Aida about her thoughts on our progression and the difference between #PRIDE then and now. She strongly believes that we have evolved and we are still evolving around this concept of LGBTQIA+. In regards to Pride- Pride started out as a protest. It was defined by the community who wanted to say “This is WHO WE ARE” and “This is WHAT WE NEED”. Gays and Lesbians had an uproar against the laws that were implemented to discriminate them. The intention was to bring up the injustices that the LGBT community was experiencing in the past surrounding basic human rights and discrimination. She adds that “It was a form of visibility with a cause.”
However, Pride now has become this big chain of neighborhood block parties, yet true to its roots of history and how they came about, new generations have different ways of liberating themselves.
While she thinks there is a lot that still needs to be done, she would like to focus on continuing to educate communities especially the youth about diversity. She wishes for the next generation to urge the older generation to “unlearn what we have learned” in terms of compassion and social understanding.
For allies who would like to support the LGBTQIA+ community, she asks for everyone to always be mindful on how decisions are being made and how your vote would affect certain interests. We also should be making wise decisions on who we choose to lead our cities and state and country. She hopes that more spaces are provided for positions in LGBTQIA+ decision-making. “Be respectful, use the right pronouns when working with the trans community and keep an open mind.”
In closing, Tita Aida wants to send a message for everyone – The world and every nation is experiencing something that we weren’t ready for. This is the time to open our hearts and minds to start understand the disparities that are happening. As Asians and Pacific Islanders, we should be providing support to our Black siblings for they have been shunned in every aspect of life. Be aware that anti-Blackness prevails and we can stand next to them in solidarity to show them that black lives matter. Black trans lives matter! “
Just in the month of Pride, we have learned the loss of six black trans women mostly murdered for living their authentic lives. Try to incorporate cultural humility in our everyday principles. Recognizing the wrong and taking it sincerely how we can be part of the solution, ” Tita Aida says