NQAPIA — Free LGBTQ+ Asian Pacific Islander Community
NQAPIA — the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance — is a national organization empowering LGBTQ+ Asians, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders and the communities they call home. Founded in 2005, NQAPIA builds the capacity of local, grassroots, and affinity-based LGBTQ+ AANHPI groups across the country; convenes community leaders; and creates intergenerational space for queer AANHPI folks and their families to come together — including through peer leadership gatherings, family acceptance dialogues, and ongoing community programming.
What to Expect
NQAPIA’s work spans peer community-building, leadership development, and intergenerational family engagement. Programs include leadership development cohorts for emerging queer AANHPI advocates, family acceptance workshops that bring together LGBTQ+ AANHPI folks and parents/family for intergenerational conversation, regional and national convenings, partner support for local grassroots LGBTQ+ AANHPI groups, and ongoing campaigns and storytelling that build collective identity. NQAPIA also supports the broader AANHPI advocacy landscape — partnering with NCTE, TransLatin@ Coalition, BTAC, and others on research, policy, and community work.
Who This Group Is For
NQAPIA serves queer Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander people across the U.S. — including East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian, Central Asian, Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian, mixed-heritage, and adoptee queer AANHPI folks of all gender identities. Members include people connecting with queer AANHPI community for the first time, longtime activists and organizers, intergenerational family members navigating acceptance and integration, and grassroots groups looking for capacity support and peer connection.
Why Peer Support Works
For queer AANHPI folks, being in a space where both queerness and AANHPI identity are the norm — rather than something to be explained or compartmentalized — is often profoundly meaningful. NQAPIA creates that consistently. The family engagement work in particular addresses a common pain point: navigating coming out and identity with AANHPI family members where direct conversation around queerness can be complicated by cultural and linguistic context. NQAPIA’s intergenerational programming gives families a structure for that conversation.
How to Join
NQAPIA programming is free. Visit nqapia.org to learn about programs, register for upcoming events, sign up for the email list, and connect with the network. The organization works with local grassroots LGBTQ+ AANHPI groups across the U.S., so members can also find or be referred to peer community in their region through NQAPIA’s network.