Tag Archives: Public Service Announcements

Asian Parents Break the Cycle of Silence by Voicing Their Unconditional Love for Their LGBT Children in New TV Ads (Videos)

In the first-ever media campaign of its kind, a series of multilingual Public Service Announcements ( PSAs ) will depict real-life Asian parents breaking a cycle of silence and shame to voice unconditional love for their LGBT children.

The series is scheduled for broadcast on Asian ethnic television stations throughout June to commemorate LGBT Pride Month. Airing in 8 Asian languages and dialects, the PSAs will reach over 13.9 million viewers in major Asian markets across the country.

The series was created by the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance ( NQAPIA ) and Asian Pride Project to promote acceptance of LGBT individuals in Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander ( AAPI ) communities.

NQAPIA Executive Director Glenn D. Magpantay states,

Our campaign not only empowers immigrant parents, but also LGBT youth struggling to come out to their families. We are raising the visibility of supportive Asian parents and family members so they can act as catalysts for acceptance within their communities.”

The parents in the PSAs share these messages: Our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender children have been shunned, ostracized and discriminated against in our own community for too long. So I am taking a stand, because family is still family and love is still love.

An accompanying leaflet entitled “Family Is Still Family, Love Is Still Love” addresses fundamental questions and misconceptions about sexual orientation and identity. The leaflet is available in nineteen ( 19 ) Asian languages and scripts — the greatest number of translations of a single LGBT document.

The campaign is particularly timely as the US Supreme Court weighs arguments surrounding marriage equality.

According to a 2012 Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund report only 37% of Asian Americans polled support same-sex marriage while nearly two thirds are opposed or undecided. The strongest opposition comes from those who are older and foreign-born with limited English proficiency — a common profile of Asian immigrant parents.