"In Search of Queer Ancestors" on Lavender Godzilla

Periodically Queer

In the first episode of Periodically Queer, host and producer Umi Hsu unwinds the history and stories behind Lavender Godzilla, the newsletter and magazine published by GAPA, the GLBTQ+ Asian Pacific Alliance (formerly known as the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance). Umi interviews Dino Duazo, editor and co-founder, about what it was like to be a member of GAPA in the late 1980s and 1990s. Dino reflects on how Lavender Godzilla provided diverse perspectives on issues like sexuality, family, and immigration through the lens of the queer Asian experience.

Speaking with John Silva, a historian and contributing writer of Lavender Godzilla, Umi attempts to trace the ancestry of queer kinship, asking questions like “How can we find us?” John describes one path he found in a historical photograph of a gay ancestor from the Philippines in a rare book published in 1870.
Find the transcript for this episode along with magazine excerpts on onearchives.org/periodicallyqueer