Despite the hardly audible trivia host, Team QAPA had a great time! We had a great turnout this time with more than a full team; there was tons of shared food, laughs, and appreciation of the fine dance music at Club Cafe. Sure, we may not have placed, but can you list all the Olympic years with their respective cities? Did you know that Michael Bolton was sued for plagarism? Or even that Apple surpassed Exxon Mobile as most valuable company recently?

If so, we need YOU to come play trivia with us next time!

Dear MTPC Supporter, I am writing you with important news. Lawmakers are expected to vote on the Transgender Equal Rights bill TODAY or TOMORROW. Please take a moment NOW to contact your state lawmakers to ask for their support of this bill.   Your request for support from state lawmakers is vital. Opponents of the bill have been swamping the inboxes of lawmakers. Lawmakers need to know that the public and their constituents support this bill! Over the next 24 hours, it is critical that lawmakers hear from bill supporters!   MassEquality will be phonebanking in support of the bill all day tomorrow. And we need volunteers! During phone banks, we talk to constituents and transfer supporters of the bill directly to their lawmakers’ voicemail boxes so they can leave messages in support of the bill. Call Justin at 617.878.2344 to sign up or send him an email! In the days ahead, you may hear confusing things about this bill.  To be clear, this bill provides vital protections in employment, education, housing, credit, and hate crimes which transgender residents of the Commonwealth desperately need.  The bill is not perfect as it does not include public accommodations protections, but it is a solid civil rights bill that represents an historic step forward in supporting full civil rights protections for the transgender community. Please contact lawmakers today and ask them to vote in favor of this bill. Sincerely Gunner Scott, MTPC Executive Director

For more information, go to http://www.masstpc.org/.

Kathy does Pride

Our resident social butterfly, Kathy, has relocated and has therefore stepped down from the QAPA Steering Committee. We are sad to see her go, but share her joy as she embarks on the next chapter of her life. During her tenure with us, she spearheaded the QAPA Connect series and brought QAPA’s presence to the national arena by representing us at the NQAPIA Summit, the LGBT Immigration Forum, and the National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change.

We appreciate her dedication and contribution. Good luck and bon voyage, Kathy!

The rumors are true, QAPA is phasing out its Yahoo! Group listserv and going to the shiny, minty fresh, Web 2.0-ey Meetup.com. Despite there now being some overhead costs (annual fee) associated with Meetup, we thought it was the best move to make because it shifts the focus to QAPA’s next upcoming event while still allowing members to talk among themselves (discussion boards). Also it makes it easy as Sunday morning to view and RSVP to events. One of the coolest features introduced is that now members can suggest their own events. As soon as 3 others mark that they are interested, it becomes a full fledged event. Power to the people!

We encourage our members to start switching over to the Meetup as there are already events posted that are just waiting for you to RSVP to Come to one of our events or stay and chat a little on our Discussion Board (there’s not much there right now, but we’re looking to our members to get the ball rolling!) If you like the new system, please let us know, and if you really like the system or just want to show your support, you can donate any amount by clicking the link on the left under “Recommended Donation.”

So here’s the big ol’ link to the new location, it’ll be circulated on the Yahoo! Group several times before the Group is turned off for good:

http://www.meetup.com/qapa-org/

FYI,the new Meetup is just replacing the old clunky Yahoo! listserv. This blog remains alive and well, just like our Facebook group and Twitter Account.

See ya at the next Meetup!
- QAPA Steering

The weather was terrible, we were all wet from the rain (one of our marchers decided to go barefoot), but we marched on and showed everyone our Asian Pride!

This year QAPA marched as an independent organization, we fundraised and hit our target of paying for our pride registration and making other purchase to help make our presence fabulous and memorable. We did it, on our own, and thanks to YOU, our members – whether you came and helped us build our signs, marched with us in the rain, or stood by us in the audience. This coming year QAPA is working hard to bring you a new line up of events, and we have, and will continue to build our community.

And that means we need you to join us! Not that you don’t already…but just a little more this year…so we know that our efforts are paying off and we see more old and new faces at our events.

Great job everyone, and thank you!!!

QAPA Steering Committee

For more pics – join our facebook page!

Planning Gang

Also, we did some custom stuff. We got our new logo printed out on a big banner which we planned to carry at the head of our marching section, and we made QAPA t-shirts for our contingent to show our unity.

Banners

All in all, a very productive pride planning party with food and friends.

Grill Master Max and Cedrick

Our fundraising BBQ for Pride was a success and we ended up making back about 75% of our Pride costs. Thanks to everyone who attended, and a special thanks to those who donated money in addition to their ticket cost. I (Mimi) would also like to express my appreciation for everyone on the QAPA steering committee for essentially donation food/dish ware/etc, allowing QAPA to keep most of the proceeds raised by ticket sales and cash contributions.

Big shout out to our man, Max the grill master, and chief contributor of all things meat.

We got to meet a few new people, even some out of towners, and most importantly, we got to spend time with our members. Looking forward to the next event — hopefully it’ll be a little warmer!

Keeping Warm

BBQ Lovers

We had about 15 people attend, and our selection ranged from thousand year old eggs, to pickled cabbages, to eclairs, and much more! As folks know, we’re a volunteer driven organization so finding space for events is always a challenge. The event could not have happened without Tao Kai’s generosity and to all of our members who came out, supported QAPA, and had a feast while we’re at it!

We are hosting this BBQ in an effort to raise $500 for Pride. Your contribution will help us cover the cost of food, Pride registration, and materials used for marching. The BBQ will take place at the sprawling 13-acre Arsenal Park in Watertown. There will be ribs, steak, wings, hot dogs, vegetarian fare, and drinks. If you want to bring a special dish, please do, it is welcome but not required. Feel free to bring frisbees, balls, water guns, cards, board games — we might even play a little capture the flag. Bring a partner, bring a friend, bring an ally, bring your mom — everyone is welcome!

Please reserve your ticket ahead of time, $20 online / $25 at the door.
Register online now for our Pride BBQ Fundraiser!

For this month’s QAPA Speak Out! event we will hear from Chai Jindasurat from the Network/La Red (TNLR), and Qingjian Shi and Dahvy Tran from the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence (ATASK), about partner abuse in LGBTQ communities. We will discuss the definition of abuse, myths and facts about LGBTQ domestic violence, root causes, resources and ways to support survivors. Domestic violence is a community issue, we are all responsible for ending partner abuse.

The event will take place on Wednesday, April 27, 2011 from 6-8PM at MAP for Health, 322 Tremont St., Boston, MA 02116.