I’m what people describe as “passable” but you never know if an area and the locals are accepting or very closed off.
My biggest concern is making sure they’re LGBTQ-friendly. What’s your biggest concern when you’re traveling to other countries? I’ve been to Latin America and Caribbean, where people would call me “chinito” or “el chino,” which means Chinese – I’m Thai and Laotian – adding to the misconception that all Asians are the same. I’m older now and I still get some of those insecurities but I have worked on overcoming them.įurthermore, when I visit countries that may not be well exposed to Asian people, I do hear Asian jokes. Even though this insecurity does stem from childhood, those insecurities pop back up if I visit a gay bar because I feel inadequate. Since I’m Asian (a dark Asian at that), I felt that I wasn’t good enough or that I measured up to what was the ideal of a successful man. My worth as a human being was always compared to what I saw in media as successful, good looking, and confident, which was mostly a white male.
I had very little exposure to what an Asian man was supposed to be like since we weren’t really featured in news or TV back then. Being a gay Asian man does tend to add another layer of insecurity when I travel. I tend to travel alone mostly since it’s for work, but when I get down time, I would be lying if I didn’t say I get nervous.
