Week 7 & 8 Reading Response 1

Han, who writes about an often forgotten about marginalized social group, Gay Asian Americans in his essay "Gay Asian-American Male Seeks Home", in this essay Han speaks mostly about how gay Asian men feel that they are outliers in not only one but two communities, both fighting stereotypes from within and outside of their own social circle. Citing several essays written by the group which he studies, most with first hand experiences, Han explains that there are almost diametrically opposed values and social requirements for gay Asian Americans which forces them into an even more uncomfortable position than either the average American homo-sexual or the Asian-American has to live up to, and that it's this constant struggle and balance that forces this sub group into even further isolation. While there a relative acceptance by both the community, and family, (In some instances) for homosexuals in America, Han states that due to traditional Asian (Confucian) values gay Asian Americans are forced out of their communities if their lifestyle choice becomes a public issue. This is doubly compounded by the gay communities' stereotype of Asian men as meek and a submissive group of people who don't have a true ownership to their own subset of their culture. This is mostly due to the gay community's view of the Gay Asian man as a meek and feminized object a sentiment that is apparently not shared throughout the gay Asian community.