Pronouns: They/Them
Jay Jun is a non-binary illustrator based in Redmond. They create digital art centering PoC. Jay Jun’s medium is Adobe Illustrator.
“13 Names: Sureshbhai Patel, Wangsheng Leng + 11”
In memory of Wangsheng Leng, a 66-year-old Issaquah man with Alzheimer’s who died in 2017 after an encounter with police officers in his own home.
In solidarity with Sureshbhai Patel and others who were injured or killed under similar circumstances.
What are your connections to the larger community?
In my personal experience, race usually takes precedence over LGBTQIA2S+ identity when it comes to how the larger Eastside community interacts with me. LGBTQIA2S+ identities are not always visible to the larger community. Racial identities, real or perceived, are often visible.
For LGBTQIA2S+ individuals who also happen to be disabled, unstably housed, immigrants, religious minorities or racial minorities, our LGBTQIA2S+ identity may not be the only factor (or even the main factor) impacting our quality of life.
Consider the percentage of hate crimes motivated by various factors:
According to the 2020 FBI national hate crime statistics, close to 60% of single-bias hate crimes targeted victims based on their race/ethnicity/ancestry,13.3% targeted victims for their religion, 2.7% targeted victims because of their gender identity and 20% targeted victims for their sexual orientation.
In Washington State, 66.9% of hate crimes were motivated by race/ethnicity/ancestry, 11.3% by religion, 4.9% by gender identity and 14.5% by sexual orientation.
Our rights as LGBTQIA2S+ people are connected to the rights of other minority groups. The Department of Justice recycled the legal arguments that it used to defend the travel ban targeting 6 predominantly Muslim countries to defend the 2017 order banning transgender military members. (See ‘Court ruling: … ban on transgender military service still on hold’, San Francisco Chronicle, July 18, 2018.) The transgender military ban went into effect in April 2019 and was overturned in January 2021.
It might not be a bad idea for our diverse communities to learn about one another and work together to ensure our common well being.
I appreciate the LGBTQIA2S+ and POC community members who recognize our intersectionality and work together to move all of us forward. I am happy to say that I found some good allies on the Eastside who have been a great support all these years. Thank you. You know who you are.