Ad campaign aims to help LGBTQ Asian Americans come out to their families

CHICAGO — “I struggled a lot, really distanced myself, did a lot of self harm, and was suicidal as well. It was more of an internal struggle. I really just started talking to my parents about my sexual identity only this year, and I’ve known since I was very little.”

This is the story of Kristina Tendilla, a member of the LGBTQ community.

In Chicago, the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance, or NQAPIA, launched its family acceptance multilingual campaign last week, which that includes TV ads entitled “Family is Still Family”.

 

The ads are scheduled to run 113 times on Crossings TV Chicago, until February 28, with Tagalog, Chinese, and Hindi subtitles. To watch the ads online, visit the campaign’s YouTube channel here.

“I am hoping that this initiative would help other families feel more comfortable in addressing their own family as human beings,” says member Ryan Viloria.

The Chicago-based campaign has already reached San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York.

NQAPIA’s goal is to expand to the growing Asian American and Pacific Islander population in the Midwest, and to reach out to the parents of the LGBTQ children.

“We honor them, we love them, but we also want them to know that we are who we are,” says Magpantay. “We are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender Filipinos.”

For more information, please visit nqapia.org.