AAPIP recognizes that building greater democracy in philanthropy and in our communities requires a gender and equity framework that includes a sexuality lens, providing an opportunity to explore LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) AAPI issues.
AAPIP has a history of supporting LGBTQ AAPI communities. In 2009, as an outgrowth of the National Gender & Equity Campaign, AAPIP began a concerted effort to learn, research, and listen to LGBTQ AAPI groups and leaders to determine how to better partner and support this community that has various assets, challenges, and needs. Our research finds that the capacity and the infrastructure of LGBTQ AAPI groups varies widely with the level of engagement with their membership, their leadership and volunteer development, and program work. The majority of LGBTQ AAPI community organizations are all-volunteer led with a handful that have paid staff and they provide important cultural, social, and educational support and offer opportunities for political organizing, community building, and leadership development.
As a response to the continued lack of funding for LGBTQ AAPI communities and lack of support for AAPI community organizations to integrate a sexuality lens and LGBTQ issues into their social justice work, AAPIP identified a need to address these funding disparities and to develop efforts to inform and educate the philanthropic field through the development of the Queer Justice Fund.