Internal Problems with Asian Lesbian Organizations

Sorry this is a little late.

In Trinity A. Ordona's "Asian Lesbians in San Francisco: Struggles to Create a Safe Space, 1790s-1780s, she explores the difficulties in creating an atmosphere for LGBTQ Asian women, especially due to turmoil within the groups themselves. Although there were many collective struggles of different groups to achieve civil rights, I was struck by how many of their issues seemed to be complicated by organizational difficulties. Ordona recounted various groups dissolved by conflicts from within from the AWG to Unbound Feet. Although her article achieves its purpose of demonstrating how difficult it was to create a safe atmosphere for Asian lesbians, it was certainly frustrating that many of their efforts seemed to be dissolved by internal issues. An interesting aspect to consider is how organizing into groups presented problems that would perhaps not be so prevalent in heterosexual organizations. Though not all of the issues were specified, one of them that was particularly interesting was how organizing led to dating and relationships that presented various problems. While creating organizations themselves was part of making safe havens for Asian Americans who were persecuted by others for their sexual orientation, it also dissolved them as it led to relationships that eventually had negative effects on the groups' initial goals.