Thank you Kevin Kawakami, for the Corporate Giving!
My friends and family who live outside LA will sometimes say, "It must be so great to be gay living in LA!" I appreciate what Los Angeles presents in terms of an overall more friendly climate towards the LGBTQIA+ community when compared with many other cities in the United States, so I often nod in agreement. Yet, it's often been in LGBTQIA+ spaces where I've felt ostracized because of my race and ethnicity. Oppositely, in other JA spaces, I've experienced oppression because of my queer identity. These both present a particularly painful brand of exclusion to experience... to be an outsider amongst the outsiders, to be wavering between communities, feeling welcome in neither.
Okaeri, for me, exists as a beautiful "between space" for my Japanese-American and queer identities. In a world that tries so hard to label us and place us in confined boxes to understand us, I don't take for granted opportunities to honor multiple aspects of myself. Volunteering at Okaeri Matsuri last year and watching as guests came through the entrance, I observed expressions of relief, elation, and confidence as they greeted faces, both new and unfamiliar, both chosen family and biological family.
I donate to Okaeri because, as our sociopolitical climate steers down a darker path, particularly for our trans siblings, it's never been more important for community, for spaces in-person or virtual, for education, for joy to continue to be a light that guides our most vulnerable to safety and that ignites our allies to action."
Thank you to Kevin and his employer Universal Studios for the Corporate Giving.