Events for March 2021

QTAY Presents: Peer Leader Manual Launch! 💖 ⭐️ REGISTRATION LINK: https://forms.gle/LHkriPcUMtXmLWae7 ⭐️ Sunday, February 28, 2021 1:00 - 3:00 PM Zoom (virtual) QTAY is releasing its very first Peer Leader Manual to accompany present and future QTAY Peer Educators on their journey of becoming a community leader! A lot of the skills, experiences, and resources shared in this manual can also speak to LGBTQ+ youth who are navigating community work and are looking for ways to create safer spaces and mobilize. This booklet touches upon boundaries, group facilitation, navigating emotional triggers, peer support, HIV/AIDS awareness, and other important topics that many of the past and present QTAY peer educators, coordinators and volunteers have found helpful in their community work. This booklet is a labour of love from Gabriel Bacani, Joy Wong, and Psalm Tesalona. It has been informed by 4 years worth of experiences and feedback from many other QTAY youth! Please join us on February 28 to listen to, engage with, and celebrate the stories of our QTAY Peer Educators and find some “gems” in our very first manual!

This is a monthly group for East & Southeast Asian transmasculine and non-binary people. This includes all transmasculine-identifying folks or folks who may be questioning. We welcome people at any point of their transition. This monthly group is a safe space of support where we can share and learn from each other's common experiences as Asian transmasc folks. This group will be facilitated by an Asian transman. Date: Tuesday, March 2 Time: 7pm - 8:30pm EST If this will be your first time attending please register through this form (https://forms.gle/8W3VzpkbsRQ3iY3H9) and the facilitator will email you with the Zoom link. If you are part of the Asian trans masc Facebook group or email newsletter, you will automatically receive the Zoom link there. Who can join? ACAS primarily serves those who identify as East and/or Southeast Asian living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. However, we know spaces for East & Southeast Asian transmasc folks are very few and we are happy to open this event to those living outside of Toronto. Please note that resources will be focused on Toronto due to our knowledge of local services and resources. East & Southeast Asian includes those from multiple generations of immigrants (1st generation, 2nd generation, and so on..) and members of the diaspora from East & Southeast countries like China, Hong Kong, Philippines, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, etc. This can also include people with mixed backgrounds from at least one of those countries. This may also include those who might not identify ethnically by blood, but have a substantial heritage or up-bringing living in those countries.

Your Friday nights at home just got a little better! Looking to meet new friends during the pandemic? This is a monthly online games night for Asian gay, bi, queer, cis and trans guys. We’ll start with introductions, teach you how to play, and then play the game. Do you miss the casual chats of playing cards at the table with your friends? For this month we'll be playing easy-to-learn card games like Big Two or Texas Hold'em Poker. Date: Friday March 12 Feel free to drop in and out between 8pm – 9:30pm EST To receive the Zoom link, register by clicking here How to play: Big Two Big Two (Choh Dai Di) is an Asian card game in which the central goal is being the first player to get rid of all your cards in hand. A hand has 13 cards. As the name suggests, twos are the highest ranking card in Big Two. Cards may be played in the following ways: Single cards Pairs Three of a Kind Poker Hands (five card hands like a Straight, Flush, or Full House) For more detailed rules check out: gamerules.com/rules/big-two-card-game/  Or check out this Youtube video for the basics: https://youtu.be/LvzHxg8PZV8

Join us on March 13, 2pm - 3pm EST We'll meet on Zoom, then transfer to the Discord Server. Please register for the Zoom link that will be sent closer to the event time.   Description: Have you been feeling isolated this quarantine? We get it--times are hard right now. Recently, ACAS started its own Discord server in hopes of connecting community members to each other! It's exciting, but we understand that some people may find it complicated to access this digital space. That's why we're hosting a "How to Use Discord" Workshop! If you're looking for a space to chill with the ACAS community but don't know how to use Discord, join us so we can create your account together, bring you into the space, and teach you some tips and tricks to interacting on this platform. We hope to see you there! This event is made possible thanks to the support of United Way GTA #LocalLove Funded by the Government of Canada.

Saturday, March 20, 6pm-7:30pm EST Zoom link will be sent closer to the event time. CW: Racism, sexism, sexual violence, mental health/burnout Description: Join us Saturday evening with Ezra Li, an independent film maker, for a microcinema workshop! We will be debunking misconceptions about film making, diving into the film making process, and exploring resources and ways you can start your own journey into film making! About Ezra: Ezra Li (Citizen Li) is a video artist. As a genderqueer Chinese artist and Canadian immigrant, his work surrounds themes of identity politics, value dynamics, digital chauvinism, and globalization. He is heavily interdisciplinary; studied in filmmaking, he works in both digital and traditional animation, live action video, as well as in analogue paper traditions, zine, collage, and writing, and the effects of pastiche to critique capitalism. He has a committed passion for community building, dissemination of diasporic narratives, and marginalized perspectives. This event is made possible thanks to the support of United Way GTA #LocalLove Funded by the Government of Canada.

QTAY Presents: When You're Ready CYCLE 3 Peer Leaders: Angela, Min and Vale! DATES: Mar 27, Apr 3, 10, 17, 24, May 1, 8, 15 TIME: 1-3:30 PM for all sessions LOCATION: Zoom WHAT IS THE WYR PROGRAM? When You're Ready (WYR) is an 8-week program where East and Southeast Asian youth (ages 18-29) come together to discuss topics relating to their identity, with an emphasis on the whole idea of coming into your identity. What does it mean to be a queer and/or trans Asian youth? Did you recognize your queer-ness or Asian-ness first? What does it mean to be bi-cultural, biracial? Do you ever feel NOT Asian or queer enough? Is coming out part of the gay white agenda? These are just some of the questions we will be exploring as a group. Also, some topics we will touch upon are: anti-oppression, intersectionality, chosen family, shadeism, mindfulness and SO much more! STRUCTURE OF WYR We will be capping CYCLE 3 at 10 participants to facilitate an intimate environment where youth can explore and discuss these topics more in-depth. Please RSVP as soon as you can!We will be meeting once a week, every Saturday afternoon starting March 27 to May 15, 2021 (Mar 27, Apr 3, 10, 17, 24, May 1, 8, 15) from 1-3:30PM online. We encourage participants to attend all 8 sessions, but alas, the gig economy is real, school stress is very real and life in general is too real! So, please try to make at least 6/8 sessions! If you already know this is going to be tough to do, please refrain from signing up so that we can prioritize folks who can attend as many sessions as possible. If drop-in casual events are more your thing, keep an eye out for different digital events […]

Under Pressure: Negotiating Safer Sex Among Gaysian Men This workshop is for Asian gay, bi, queer, cis and trans men. Humpday is an evening for queer Asian guys to get together over a topic or theme related to our queer identities. Date: Wednesday, March 31 Time: 7:00pm - 8:30pm EST To join us on Zoom, register at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkc--hrzojHt1q-Wr_o-0RdlVRN7BH1Uom Have you ever worried he won’t hook up with you if you don’t want to bareback? Do you sometimes feel pressured to not use a condom, even if it's subtle? With special guest Dr. Shayna Skakoon-Sparling from the Condom Negotiation Project, we’ll dig into how power dynamics and other factors affect how gay Asian men use (or don’t use) condoms. We’ll look at successful strategies gay men use to insist on using condoms, but also on typical tactics guys use to give pressure into doing it raw. Let’s hear from you! We’ll also have time to share and learn from each other’s personal experiences. Photos by Khoa Võ and by Emiliano Arano from Pexels