Did June just pass by like a whirlwind? Did you Come Out and Play?
Are you still feeling the high from all the amazing and fun events that took place at ACAS during Pride Month?
Here is a re-cap of what happened this past month:
ACAS Crowns the first-ever Miss ACAS 2015!
For those who attended the Miss ACAS Pageant: A Pride CelebrAsian Fundraiser for Queer Asian Youth, you must remember what a fun and heart-warming event that was! We would like to congratulate our first-ever Miss ACAS 2015, Lara Bonita! 
Thanks to our 4 very talented contestants—Madame Sin, Jolin Starr, Nookie Galore, and Lara Benita—all the guests, community allies and donors laughed, screamed, and joined together to raise over $7,000 for the ACAS youth program, Queer Asian Youth (QAY), which had lost its funding from the City after 15 years of existence serving as a culturally-safe space for East and Southeast LGBTQ Asian youth.
We would like to thank our Volunteer Coordinator, Trisha Steinberg, for working so hard to put this event together, and to the team of volunteers who made the event possible. We would also like to extend our gratitude to all the attendees, donors and our co-sponsors, Dr. Robert Diaz, Assistant Professor of English and Gender Studies at OCAD University, OCAD’s Office of Diversity, Equality and Sustainability Initiative (ODESI), KAPATID Toronto, Gushi, Intercontinental Hotels, Holiday Inn Bloor-Yorkville, Moss Park PharmaCare, Win’s Flowers, Fresh.Beautiful (The Skin Studio), Andre Goh, Alan Li, Keith Wong, and Giovanni Temansja.
ACAS Celebrates Pride 2015
What a Pride Festival we had this year? For those who took part in this year’s festivity and celebration of LGBTQ diversity and inclusion, you must remember that it was a very WET Pride indeed! Though it poured and rained, the spirits of our ACAS community members were high!
The ACAS team marched in solidarity in the Trans* March the evening of Friday, June 26, 2015.
The ACAS ladies and womyn braved the heavy down pour on Saturday afternoon, June 27, at the Dyke March.
The ACAS and QAY contingent marched in style with some of the best choreography at this year’s Pride Parade on Pride Sunday, June 28!
We would like to thank each and everyone who marched with us. A special thank you to Ms. Lara Bonita, Miss ACAS and Manuel Ching, our Pride March Marshal for leading the ACAS Pride contingent at the Pride Parade!
Men’s Program Presents: Project Gelb & Blued
On Friday, June 12, the ACAS Men’s Program, in collaboration with CruiseLab, held a special community screening of Project Gelb: A Documentary by an Asian Guy about Asian Guys
to a full house at University College. The film, directed by Canadian-Filipino filmmaker Francis Luta, explores how Asian males are perceived by the media and within the gay culture.
On Thursday, June 25, 2015, the Men’s Program welcomed Mr. Geng Le, founder of Blued, the most popular gay app in the world, and his team, as surprised guests to the Men’s Program Pride Potluck. The Blued team shared with the ACAS Men’s Program participants about the innovative model Blued has taken to promote LGBTQ issues and HIV awareness in China. We would also like to thank the team at Rainbow Travels World for connecting the Blued team with ACAS!
QAY Keeps Our Youth Healthy and Active
Although QAY recently lost its core program funding, the QAY team nonetheless has been working hard to keep our group of East and Southeast LGBTQ youth healthy and active!
On June 7, 2015, QAY collaborated with the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention for an community acting workshop “We DO Belong: Asians Acting Together.” On June 13, 2015, QAY held a “QAY At Home Workout Workshop with Trainer Alvin Chen” at the 519 Church Street Community Centre. On June 16, 2015, Rice In Motion (RIM), held its first summer planning meeting to plan future sports and recreation events. On June 20, QAY held a “Healthy Relationship Workshop” just before the beginning of Pride week!
ACAS and OPA+ in the News!
Thank you OMNI Television for their many years of support as our community media partner and for hosting a special pre-Pride interview on June 19, 2015 during the OMNI Cantonese News segment with our Community Engagement Coordinator, Christian Hui. The interview focused on raising awareness around LGBTQ and HIV issues within the Asian Community. You can watch the interview here:
https://shar.es/1q3Ean
Thank you PositiveLite.com and writer Shazia Islam for the feature article on the Ontario Positive Asians Network (OPA+). OPA+ is an independent network for Asians living with HIV in Ontario that aims to provide a culturally safe space for persons living with HIV to strengthen the connections with one another, to identify issues and priorities that are most important to their well-being, and build capacities and self-efficacy for Asians living with HIV as a group. OPA+ has been generously supported by ACAS and ASAAP, and had its first-ever caucus for Asians living with HIV in Ontario on May 26. You can read the article on OPA+ here:
http://t.co/ZfmtmsEpWs
ACAS presents Straight Talk at the Guelph Sexuality Conference
ACAS was invited to present its Straight Talk pilot needs assessment project on heterosexual/straight Asian men who have sex with men at the Guelph Sexuality Conference for on June 18, 2015. The Guelph Sexuality Conference is renowned for being a leading conference in Canada on sexuality and sexual health issues, and we are very proud to be presenting our ground-breaking work on our work with straight Asian men who have sex with men.
ACAS welcomes Michael Hong, our Locker Room Project Summer Student!
You may have seen our newest team member, Michael Hoang, the Locker Room Project Summer Student at the office. Welcome, Michael!
Locker Room Project – Summer Student
Country of Origin: Canada
Language(s): English, French (working level)
How long you have worked at ACAS: Since June 2nd, 2015
In one sentence, briefly describe what you like about your role/job at ACAS:
It great to be able to work with people willing to work for a great cause whether it is appreciated by the masses or not.”
Three Likes (it can be anything that you like): Working out, Hunting/Fishing, Contact Sports
Comment to site visitor (brief sentence of anything you would like to say to the site visitor or service user):
If you want to do your part to help with the ACAS cause, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
(416) 963-4300 ∙ lockerroom@acas.org
Now that Pride is over and summer is officially here, stay safe and have lots of fun this July, especially with the Pan Am Games taking place in Toronto!
