Vibrant colors come from the Asian/Pacific Lesbians and Gays (A/PLG) contingent at the 1982 Los Angeles Christopher Street West Pride parade. Photo: ONE Archives Foundation

Vibrant colors come from the Asian/Pacific Lesbians and Gays (A/PLG) contingent at the 1982 Los Angeles Christopher Street West Pride parade. Photo: ONE Archives Foundation

LGBTQ Asians and Pacific Islanders are a minority within a minority.

As a result, they often face discrimination and stereotypes both outside and inside the LGBTQ community.

As early as 1977, lesbians were organizing what would become the Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women and Transgender Coalition in the Bay Area. What would become the Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance was forming in Boston in 1979. Into the 1980s and 1990s, even more American groups of Asians and Pacific Islanders were created to educate, lobby and serve as support groups.

Today, the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance, with its network of organizations, projects that more than 400 people will attend its 2018 conference.