From Chair

Dear Fellow Members:

It is my great pleasure and honor to serve as the new Chair of CRA for 2002.

To give you some background about my involvement with this organization, I moved from New York a little more than two years ago and CRA members have been there for me since the first day I arrived in Los Angeles. Some of you helped me settle in here, and through CRA I have made many lasting friends.

As Andre has decided to pursue “bigger” pastures elsewhere, and we are losing his leadership, it is with some reluctance that I’ve been roped in to fill this vacancy. Being a relative newcomer to this community with limited experience, I hope that you will support me as you have to my predecessors who have done a wonderful job in leading this organization.

As the incoming Chair, I ask three things of all of you.

First, work hard for the organization. Your collective energy, effort and teamwork are needed to keep this volunteer organization going.

Second, offer no surprises. We depend on each other to follow through and to act on our promises. Last minute surprises disappoint all of us.

Last and most importantly, have fun.

In the coming year, we will continue to have our relaxing and fun potluck socials that have become our “signature” events, and I hope that we will be adding other activities, too. It would be very unfortunate if we have to scale down our activities due to lack of volunteers or attendance.

As a volunteer organization, we are in critical need of your support, not just in the form of money (membership dues) but also able hands. Just like you, all of the Board members have our own jobs and other commitments. All activities take time, effort and money. So, besides paying your membership dues on time, your contributions in terms of effort and time are also important.

CRA exist for all of you and therefore, it is in your interest to tell us what you, as member, wants out of the association and we will try our very best to fulfill your needs.

Please do not hesitate to talk to your fellow members or any of the Board members about your ideas, suggestions and problems, or whenever you need someone to talk to. That is what CRA is for. We are the (rainbow) family. We are here to listen to you and accept you unconditionally and help you the best ways we can. This is what CRA meant to me and I hope all of you feel the same way too....

Have a happy and fulfilling year of the horse!

Respectfully,

Richard K.

NOTES FROM ANDRE

Happy new year, my fellow tongzhis:

I hope the new year finds you in good spirit and health. CRA has a new board, with Rich K as the chair. I am confident that the new board will work diligently to provide the kinds of activities we all like. We are always ready to listen to new ideas, constructive criticism, and helpful suggestions from any members. Please continue to ask friends to join our organization so we will keep on growing.

Our organization is now called the Chinese Rainbow Association in order to reflect the reality -- we are an association of gay Chinese/Chinese Americans. Our mission is the same as before, and we will continue to be inclusive and relevant. You can always count on us.

The Chinese new year dinner is being planned. Please be sure to show up and join our special dinner with the best atmosphere and Chinese food. The year of the horse is an important one, that brings forth leadership, strength, grace, loyalty, team spirit and stamina -- good qualities that are symbolic in the horse. According to the Chinese astrology, men born in the years of the horse are also articulate and cheerful. They are natural leaders, like a charging war horse in a battle -- brave and fearless and strong. Their ideal partners are the sheep, the dog, or the tiger. But they should stay clear of the rat.

I wish each and every one of you a healthy and successful year to come. I

will see you at the official and unofficial events that are being planned for you. Your presence at these events and support will give meaning to our organization.

Please be safe and take good care of yourselves!

Andre'

The Making of a Gay Asian Community:

An Oral History of Pre-AIDS Los Angeles

By Eric C. Wat

In this unique oral history, gay Asian Americans talk frankly about their struggle for self-determination and independence. For the first time, in their own words, pioneers in the Los Angeles movement discuss the gay scene in Southern California and the development of a distinctly Asian American identity. Despite its size, until recently the gay Asian American community in Los Angeles was fragmented and marginalized. Gay Asian men separated into their own ethnic cliques and preferred whites as sexual partners.

Eric C. Wat convincingly demonstrates that these patterns are legacies of both a racialized hierarchy of desire and racial exclusion from the mainstream gay community. Using a cultural studies lens to interpret the rich oral narratives he collected, Wat shows how a dominant sexual ideology can influence our desires and contradict our memories. He follows the development of "specialty" bars that at once reinforced this dominant ideology and highlighted its contradictions. By documenting the founding of the first gay Asian organization in Southern California (Asian/Pacific Lesbians and Gays [A/PLG]), the author powerfully portrays the ways gay Asian men confronted these contradictions publicly and struggled to reconcile them as they fashioned a coherent identity and community based on both their race and sexuality.

Wat's analysis returns gay Asian men to the center of their lives and celebrates the power of individuals working collectively to define their desires and to change what is unjust around them. As living history, their voices are valuable and overdue.

Eric C. Wat received his M.A. in American Studies at California State University, Fullerton. He lives and writes in Los Angeles.

-Table Of Contents -

Introduction

Before the Beginning

Caution and Abandonment on the L.A. Nightscape

A Fascism of Desire

The Call from Morris Kight

Old Scars on a New Body

The Next Generation

Afterwards

Paperback 2002 ISBN:

0-7425-1110-3 $24.95

Cloth 2002 ISBN:

0-7425-1106-X $70.00

To be continued in the next issue.