LATEST

LATEST2022-10-31T08:35:03-04:00

If you wanted to know about the latest goings on at ACAS you’ve come to the right place.

If you are interested in a particular topic use our categories selecting function to see updates related to that topic! Here we like to share news, event info, past events and our impact on the community!

Only the Lonely

By Ryan Tran It can sometimes feel like a lonely world out there for a gay Asian man, even long before a pandemic kept us apart.   Like many queer folks, I struggled coming to terms with my sexual orientation in middle school and throughout high school. It was hard seeing my classmates pair up on dates, while giving excuses like “I didn't have time” or “that pretty girl wasn’t my type”. But all I really wanted was to have that first kiss, hold hands, and go on cute walks in the park with a handsome guy. I desperately craved having that first relationship with someone and to shower them with all my pent up love. I laid in bed imagining what it felt like to cuddle with a warm body as I fell asleep. It seemed so easy for my straight peers to find someone to date, but as queer folks we felt largely invisible. The beginnings of loneliness started in adolescence, but it didn’t end there. A lot of queer folks come out of the closet and expect to be welcomed with open arms when they finally venture into the LGBTQ community. I expected the same too, but instead I would find more hurdles and fences. We see people divided into tribes, cliques, and groups that force us into boxes and labels. For someone who is still grappling with who they are, how are they supposed to know what tribe they should be a part of? After feeling like an outsider growing up, we tend to assume that we’ll finally feel like we belong when we first step into the LGBTQ community. Where you first step into can really impact how you meet new people and who you meet   [...]

By |March 14th, 2022|Categories: BLOG|

EduAsian

EducAsian is a series of workshops hosted by ACAS that aims to equip and empower East and Southeast Asian LGBTQ+ youth with basic knowledge and skills to deal with Anti-Asian racism in their daily lives and connect them to the community. We are offering six free Expressive Arts Therapy sessions on Mondays from January 24th to Feb 28th, 6PM-8PM EST. The Expressive Arts Therapy sessions will allow LGBTQ+ Asian youth to work with professionally trained expressive art therapists to creatively self-express, reconnect their body, mind and spirit, create a safe space to explore feelings, and provide a channel for healing. Participants will attend all 6 sessions together with the same cohort of peers, and will receive a FREE art kit to participate in the creative activities! More information in the registration form; go to our linktree in the QTAY Instagram bio, or the ACAS website, or DM us for the link. Please email Angela at community@acas.org if you have any questions or concerns. We hope to see you soon!

By |January 18th, 2022|Categories: Uncategorized|

The EducAsian workshop

EducAsian is a series of workshops hosted by ACAS that aims to equip and empower East and Southeast Asian LGBTQ+ youth with basic knowledge and skills to deal with Anti-Asian racism in their daily lives and connect them to the community. We are offering four free digital workshops in December, and six free Expressive Arts Therapy sessions from January 2022 to March 2022. ➡ Sunday Dec 12th, 6PM-8PM: Missing from the History Textbooks: Understanding Asian LGBTQ+ and Anti-Asian Histories in Toronto, led by Angela W. ➡ Wednesday Dec 15th, 6PM-8PM: Roundtable Dinner: A Discussion on how Anti-Asian Racism Intersects with Sexism, Homophobia and Transphobia (Special Guests TBA!) ➡ Saturday Dec 18th, 1PM-3PM: Microaggressions, Racial Biases and How to Deal with Them, led by Sezen T. ➡ Wednesday Dec 22nd, 6PM-8PM: Do You Really See Me? Moving Past the Model Minority Myth as Asian LGBTQ+, led by Cho ➡ Jan 2022- Mar 2022: Expressive Arts Therapy session (Dates + Times TBD) Please find more information in the registration form; you can go to the ACAS website, the ACAS/QTAY Instagram, or email us for a link. Please email Angela at community@acas.org if you have any questions or concerns. We hope to see you soon!

By |December 7th, 2021|Categories: Uncategorized|

Seed25+ Community Forum

Dear Supporters, Allies, and community members, You are cordially invited to our ACAS Seed25+ community forum: Real talk from aging PLHIV and the impact from COVID19 and beyond. HIV has been around for more than 35 years, many PLHIV are aging and facing health challenges such as opportunistic infections. We have been living in the pandemic for more than 20 months which creates a huge impact on their Psycho/social life. In this forum you will hear from three PLHIV speakers from different ethnic communities, sharing their journey on aging and how Covid 19 has truly changed their physical, mental and emotional health. By listening to the honest real talk from the speakers, we hope to create a healthy dialogue to find ways to support peers, organizations will have a better understanding of how to improve the quality of life for their service users. Come and join us virtually on this special forum on Wednesday, December 8, 2021, at 7 p.m. sharp for this interactive and meaningful engagement. Please R.S.V.P. to Mr. Alex Ma support@acas.org no later by Monday, December 6. A zoom link will be sent to you via email once registered. ACAS seed25+ community forum is proudly sponsored by ViiV Health Care Canada

By |December 2nd, 2021|Categories: Uncategorized|

NoTimeToWait2021

REGISTER & MORE INFORMATION at: https://nttw.letsstopaids.org/ We're super excited to help promote NoTimeToWait2021, a youth HIV leadership conference taking place THIS WEEKEND on November 20th-21st! Hosted by @letsstopaids, this opportunity provides young Canadians with an opportunity to further their knowledge on HIV-related issues and develop the advocacy skills necessary to carry out sustainable initiatives. Interested? Use discount code D3Z4T when you register to get $5 off of your registration ($10 instead of $15)! We'll be there, and we hope to see you there, too! [Image Description: On a pink background, red and yellow decals surround the words, "Join ACAS at NoTimeToWait. Information in the description. Link in Hosted by LetsStopAIDS."]

By |November 18th, 2021|Categories: Uncategorized|
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