‘Coming Out: Telling Our Stories’ in San Jose

SAN JOSE — As part of LGBT History Month, Tadaima is hosting a special panel discussion featuring Nikkei Bay Area community leaders and their coming-out stories on Saturday, Oct. 17, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at Wesley United Methodist Church, 566 N. 5th St. in San Jose Japantown.

The event will be followed by time for community building and networking. Food will be available for purchase from Akita Sushi & Catering Food Truck after the panel.

Following are profiles of the speakers.

Kris Hayashi has been active in social, racial, and economic justice organizing for over 20 years. For the last ten years, he served as executive director/co-director of the Audre Lorde Project, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, two spirit, trans and gender non-conforming people of color organizing center based in New York City. Previously, he served as a trainer/organizer at Western States Center in Portland, Ore. and as executive director of Youth United for Community Action, a youth organizing group in California, led by young people of color organizing for social and environmental justice.

Amy Sueyoshi is associate dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University. She began teaching at SFSU in 2002 as an assistant professor hired jointly in Race and Resistance Studies and Sexuality Studies. Most of her responsibilities are now administrative, assisting the five units in the College of Ethnic Studies with curriculum and faculty development. She continues to teach one course a year on a volunteer basis for either Race and Resistance Studies or Sexuality Studies.

Sueyoshi is a historian by training specializing in sexuality, gender, and race. She holds a B.A. from Barnard College and a Ph.D. from UCLA. She is the author of “Queer Compulsions: Race, Nation, and Sexuality in the Affairs of Yone Noguchi” (2012) and has a second book manuscript titled “Sex Acts: Race, Leisure, and Power in Turn-of-the-Century San Francisco” under review at University Colorado Press. She has published and lectured on a number of race and sexuality issues such as cross-dressing, pornography, and marriage equality.

Bonnie Sugiyama is the founding director of the San Jose State University PRIDE Center and Gender Equity Center. She has worked in higher education for over 10 years serving students of multiple identities through various capacities. She currently serves as vice president of the Board of Directors for Adolescent Counseling Services (ACS), the parent organization of Outlet; and is a board member of the Bay Area Municipal Elections Committee (BAYMEC), an LGBT political action committee. She has also served on the national board of the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals as co-chair of the People of Color group.

Sugiyama is the former director of the Center for Culture, Gender, and Sexuality at Sonoma State University and a founder of the PRIDE Center at California State University, Sacramento. She holds a BS in management information systems and an MA in educational technology from CSUS.

To RSVP, go to www.tadaimabayarea.org/events/.

Tadaima meaning “I’m home” in Japanese, is a collection of events hosted across Northern California to provide support, resources, education, and connections to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQQ) individuals, families, and allies. A series of events is taking place from fall 2015 through spring 2016, culminating in a one-day gathering in San Jose during the month of April.