Lo, Q

Interviewer

Rheros Iliad Kagoni

Files

Description

Q Lo is a 45 year old transgender man, the son of two Chinese immigrants who grew up in New York. Q discusses growing up as a queer person of color, how his gender and sexual identity was impacted by the lack of representation he saw around him, how his upbringing in Chinatown influenced his view of the world, and how his immigrant parents influenced his relationship with school, work and creativity. Q talks about attending college, dropping out of college, and his experiences going to MECA in Portland Maine while grappling with the classism and privilege he was experiencing from other students. Q reflects on the Michigan Women’s Festival, a festival controversial for its decision to bar transgender women from participating, and how he still reflects fondly on that time despite the controversy. Additionally, Q also talks about his current employment, and the various ways that performative actions have directly impacted his life, both in queer spaces and outside of them.

Please cite as: Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer+ Collection, Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine, University of Southern Maine Libraries. For more information about the Querying the Past: Maine LGBTQ Oral History Project, please contact Dr. Wendy Chapkis.

Publication Date

11-26-2022

Publisher

University of Southern Maine Special Collections

City

Portland

Keywords

Queerness in the Workplace, Gender Identity, Sexuality, Immigration, First Generation Immigrant, Queerness without Representation, Michigan Women’s Festival, Transphobia, Transmisgyony, Portland Housing Authority, Performative Allyship, Performative Allyship in Queer Spaces, White Privilege, Classism, Racism, Colorism, Creativity, Fine Art, Curiousity, Misinformation, Camp Trans, Going back to School, Model Minority Myth, Model Minority, Lack of resources, Gay Lesbian Center, New York, Race and Ethnicity, Systematic Racism. Immigrant Status, Family Structure, Coming Out, Chosen Family, Biological Family, Lesbian, Transgender, Trans Men, Trans Women

Disciplines

History of Gender | Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies | Oral History | Women's Studies

Recommended Citation

Kagoni, Rheros Iliad, "Lo, Q" (2022). Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection. 92.
https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/querying_ohproject/92

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.