Pride Parade features Asian American grand marshals

The Transcendent cast are, from left, Bambiana, L.A., Xristina, Nya and Bionka.

THE CELEBRITY Grand Marshals of the Pride Parade in San Francisco will include the cast of Transcendent of the Fuse TV network. Two of the five cast members are Filipinas, Nya and L.A.

The Ladies of AsiaSF, who perform at the popular restaurant/nightclub AsiaSF, achieved stardom last year with the launch of Transcendent. The show, produced by World of Wonder, the people behind RuPaul’s Drag Race, documents the struggles and triumphs of the five performers as they navigate their professional and personal lives. The show introduces trans women to mainstream audiences and rises above stereotypes, showing the real-life joys, heartaches and daily lives of these women. 

Nya has been working at the club since she was 19 and L.A. is the youngest of the group and is just beginning her transition. 

The other cast members are Bambiana, Bionka and Xristina. 

“We are five transgender women who have had to overcome heartache and struggles, but we have transcended and we are who we are and we celebrate who we are,” said Nya. “We get to be our authentic selves every day, and we are loving it.”

The other celebrity Grand Marshals will include Chinese/American chef Melissa King, a finalist in the Top Chef TV competition, and actor Michael K. Williams.

The Pride Parade will be the culmination of a weekend of events. It starts Sunday, June 26, 10:30 a.m. along Market Street between the Ferry Building and the Civic Center where the celebration continues with a Festival starting at 11 a.m.

Pride weekend kicked off Friday when the S.F. Giants will host LGBTQ Night at AT&T Park; the Celebration starts at the Civic Center 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday.

"There's still a long way to go," Nya told NBC News. "You know, trans folks are in the media, not a lot, but a lot more than before. Being Asian — there's hardly any cisgendered actresses. Well, in the United States, at least. I think it's definitely groundbreaking."

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For more news about Asian/Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.

GLAAD Media awards will recognize Geena Rocero's 'Beautiful As I Want to Be'

International model Geena Rocero produced and hosted 'Beautiful As I Want to Be.'

LOGO TV's original series Beautiful As I Want to Be is receiving special recognition from the 27th GLAAD Media Awards, which will be held April 2 in Los Angeles.

Beautiful As I Want To Be paired young and dynamic trans people with mentors like Trace Lysette, Our Lady J, Jen Richards and Caitlyn Jenner, was produced and hosted by Filipina/American model Geena Rocero,  who came out when she gave a TED talk in 2014. Since then she has become active in trans advocacy founding an organization Gender Proud.

“Creating Beautiful As I Want To Be was and is about elevating visibility, most especially by allowing trans youth to define beauty for themselves,” says Rocero, who noted the record number of transgender subjects, actors, creators and producers being nominated this year.

“We’re so grateful Logo immediately saw and supported this vision and we’re grateful to be working alongside such supportive media makers.”

The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives.

It's a busy weekend for Geena. The next day (April 3), its the debut of ASPIREist, where she has been hired as one of news show's correspondents.

ASPIREist is created by Emmy award-winning producers including Solly Granatstein of 60 Minutes.

“I think there is a different way to present the news to the Millennials,” said Granatstein. “I don’t think they’re looking for this “objective,” Voice of God, kind of standard, anchor driven news. I think they’re looking for something more experiential, more interactive, they can get involve with that has more an activist bent to it.”

The hosts are not traditional news anchors. They are t20- and 30-something personalities who are themselves inspiring and passionate activists, environmentalists, social entrepreneurs and educators. And they all have one thing in common, they all have appeared in Ted Talks.

“Geena, from the very moment that we met her, we were absolutely charmed by her,” said Granatstein. “She has such an incredible charisma and it’s really grounded being a very real person.”

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For more news about Asian/Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.

Killing of transgender Filipina becomes an international incident

Selfies of Jennifer Laude.

THERE'S a lo-o-ng, but very interesting article on the Vice website about how the slaying of a transgender Filipina became an international incident affecting relations between the Philippines and the United States. The article, written by another transgender woman, Meredith Talusan, allows us a peek into a world most of us are never exposed to and the problems transgender community faces in the Philippines and the U.S.

"On October 11 of last year, the US Marines stationed aboard the USS Peleliu got their first night of liberty after their Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship docked in Subic Bay, on the Philippine island of Luzon, for joint military exercises. Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton, a 19-year-old former professional boxer from New Bedford, Massachusetts, eagerly disembarked with his battle buddies Bennett Dahl, Daniel Pulido, and Jairn Rose. They headed for the Harbor Point mall in nearby Olongapo, part of the former American Subic Bay naval base, which closed, in 1992, after a massive volcanic eruption that coincided with a wave of Philippine nationalist sentiment. The group ate a late lunch and shopped at the mall before heading for the narrow streets and looser rules of Magsaysay Drive, half a mile outside the former base.

"At Ambyanz Night Life, the men found what some of them had been looking for that night. The club was a frequent hangout for sex workers known as Pocahontases—a riff on pok-pok, a Tagalog term for slut, which also alludes to the former colonizers who often patronize them. The most dogged of these women—those who quickly latch on to the arms of the men pouring off the ships—are usually transgender, but the foreign soldiers rarely learn that. 'Filipinos are more used to us, so they can sometimes tell,' one trans Pocahontas told me. 'Sometimes they try to expose us to the foreign men. So we run.'"

Among the Pocahontases was Jennifer Laude. She didn't know that this was the last day of her life. Continue reading here.