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ARTICLES:
Eurasian Experience
On
How Life Is... By Robert Tsu August 2002 "On how life is as a young, ethnically diverse, gay person." Gee, that's sort of a mouthful isn't it? It would be hard to put all that on a little white label. Usually, I could just simply say that I'm gay. But it's much more complicated than that with my ethnic background—especially when it comes to relationships and dating. Being ethnically mixed is most definitely an issue with hetero relationships as well, but this is my essay and I can only speak for myself. Once, I remember, a friend asked another if she "stuck to her kind". Her name was Natasha and was a beautiful Jamaican descendant. As crude as that question was, it was not taken as offensive since we were all friends. She replied, "No, it doesn't matter." Then it was my turn. "What about you?" "No", I replied, "I don't care either." I remember just thinking that the person was probably referring to Asians. As a child, I went to French Catholic schools where I was usually only one of the two or three "colored" students within the whole school. And I was the only Asian one. Therefore, I was the token Asian boy. Back then, I didn't even think about what "my kind" was. Did it consist of any people who were European/Asian mixed? Or did it mean only the ones that were French/Vietnamese mixed? How specific did I have to get to determine "my kind?" Did they have to be 1/4 French and 3/4 Vietnamese or did it matter? Did their skin tone have to match mine exactly? Or maybe "my kind" consists of either/or. That way, if I did say, "Yes, I stick to my kind," I'd at least have the advantage of picking from two ethnic pools. What a bonus! (catch the sarcasm?) Not only that, but I am also gay, which makes it a little more challenging to play the dating game since there are fewer places for gay people to meet and socialize then there are for straight people. What's that you say? 10% of the population is gay? Great! How much of that 10% do I get to choose from? It doesn't seem like there'd be much to choose from. Well it's a good thing I don't care then. Now, what if we looked at it from another point of view? What if I was dating someone who preferred Asians? Would I be considered to fit his likings? Or what if the person preferred French boys? I speak French quite fluently. I speak it everyday. But so do Asians living in France. What else? Well, my Grandma is French. Is that good enough? Phew! Those are a lot of questions. And I'm sorry I couldn't answer them all. Sometimes, some things just don't have definite ans....Oh no, Wait! I meant to write a personal essay. Does that mean that this is a questionnaire now? ... Well then, I won't even bother with a conclusion. Ok, ok, here it is. (darn English teachers!) Although I don't feel that I am any different from any other gay person, I sure am treated different. The gay community seems to have a hard time to look past appearances and to set classifications. Since I have Asian features, I'm Asian right? You guys sure are observant. But that's only part of me.
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