Brave Spaces

- Hey, I'm Lulu and I'm a filmmaker based in Toronto.

Do I have to say Queer filmmaker?

Oh my God, this is really hard.

A lot of times it's hard to find spaces for queer Asians, and so this episode is really important to me, and personal to me.

I'm going to be directing it.

Growing up as like a third culture kid, I never felt a sense of belonging, and I know a lot of other folks in my community don't feel that.

And I'm going to be taking Devin-Norelle to Chinatown to go check out all the cool Queer Asian things that we've got going on in Toronto.

- [Devin-Norelle] Lulu Wei is a co-founder of New Ho Queen alongside the Queens of Dim Sum, these collectives are leading the charge in creating cultural and Queer spaces in Toronto.

- I'm so excited to show you Chinatown.

Have you ever had dim sum before?

- I have had dim sum, and probably not like this.

(laughing) - [Lulu] Queens of Dim Sum takes over traditionally Asian cultural spaces and turns them queer, and New Ho Queen, we take those queer spaces and we bring in our cultural heritage into them.

- This is a story of reclamation, like carving spaces that seamlessly honors heritage while embracing queerness.

I'm Devin-Norelle, and this is Brave Spaces.

(traffic humming) - Toronto is the most multicultural city in the world.

In fact, folks of Asian descent make up a third of Toronto's entire population.

- [Devin-Norelle] Cultural communities like Chinatowns began forming in the 19th century, in response to anti-Asian policies and racism.

These self-reliant neighborhoods offer strength in numbers, job opportunities, and enrich our cities with diversity.

But today, their survival is in jeopardy.

- We have a lot of amazing, diverse cultural neighborhoods, but at the same time, those neighborhoods are at risk of being lost, and our Queer spaces are also facing the risk of being lost.

Gentrification is one of the biggest issues that we've been dealing with in Toronto.

Okay, Devin-Norelle, that's where we're going to be going for the drag dim sum: it's called Sky Dragon Restaurant.

Originally, the Chinatown started out in the East end of Toronto, and then it moved to where City Hall is.

City Hall ended up being needed to be built, so they were like, "You have to leave."

And so the Chinese community moved here to Spadina Street, and there's only two malls left, and I feel like a lot of it's not being used right now.

So I think there's a big risk of the malls getting redeveloped.

(flatware clinking) - Our restaurant is open since 1995, so now, changing now, the customer and even the people who is working down in the Chinatown, is more Canadian people, more young men.

- [Lulu] Traditionally, you go to dim sum with your family on maybe a Sunday, but now instead of just the carts of steaming food there's like, drag queens in sequins, and I just think that it's so special, because it's such a traditional space, of a dim sum restaurant, but now, we're reclaiming it for ourselves.

(crowd cheering) - Welcome to Queens of Dim Sum.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

- So when we even approached the owners and the staff about this event, we didn't even mention about drag, 'cause we didn't know how to explain it.

(everyone laughing) - Yeah, you know, some folks are going to come in, they're going to look a little different.

- [Ryan] They dress up, yeah.

So we said like, dancers or performances with music.

- [Devin-Norelle] Hm-mm.

- [Ryan] So on the day of the very first event-- - [Devin-Norelle] That is so vague.

(everyone laughing) - I know!

Surprise - They were so happy.

They were just, like, can't take their eyes off.

(everyone laughing) - Yeah.

- It was good, literally, they actually stopped working.

- [Devin-Norelle] Oh wow.

- So the boss is just, like, "Go back and cook the food."

(Devin-Norelle laughing) But once I started planning for this, I didn't realize how many Asian drag performers there were in Toronto, I was just like building up a list to see who could be performing, and it came up with like over 25.

- Oh wow.

- From what I gather, basically, they can't really do a lot of cultural performances in other places.

They're restricted, either by the the owner or the club.

And the reason why we have Queens of Dim Sum is also to empower them, to say, "You don't have to follow and copy others; just do you."

- I think this is one of the best way to let them be themselves, be proud, and just showcase themselves to people who they are, what they can do.

- My name is Minnie Wang.

What's yours?

(audience responds) I heard a Dorothy.

(upbeat music) Okay.

I think I've seen enough.

(audience cheering) The pressure to assimilate comes with a price.

Studies show that giving up your heritage can cause significant psychological stress.

On the other hand, communities that are able to integrate the multiple facets of their identity, from their heritage to their nationality and sexuality, are happier and healthier.

I'm Miss Nookie Galore.

I'm a Philippine-X non-binary hairy panda horror-storytelling drag queen ish.

- [Devin-Norelle] Yas.

Yas, quqeen.

- It's interesting to be like an Asian drag queen, and then to be really proud to be Asian, and to be able to talk about race and like the intersectionality of everything.

I think it offends a lot of people sometimes.

(audience cheering) - And just sometimes, it always feels like you have to be on your best behavior, or else you won't get booked in the city.

- There are definitely not as many of us.

So it's so important for us to be visible, to share the culture, share our history, and you know, show what Asian performers are really made of - Beauty and arts is actually very celebrated in Asian culture, and I think there is a very particular aesthetic that is catered to that.

And you kind of see it with all of us, which is incredible.

I think what's important, what makes New Ho Queen and Queens of Dim Sum so great is that we don't have to rely on other spaces to get us places.

We can do it ourselves.

(gentle, playful music) - You want an original Philippine-X love poem?

(audience laughing and cheering) - One thing that I noticed in my first experience with both New Ho Queen and Queens of Dim Sum was that I was shockingly comfortable being myself, and no one was staring at me.

And it was very nice to be around people who kind of experienced the same thing as me.

And seeing that I didn't have to hide what I was wearing or how I acted, because traditionally, I'm not like stereotypically what an Asian like girl would look like.

- Dim sum restaurants is kind of where I used to go with my family after church.

And I remember performing last year and thinking like, "Wow, imagine if my family could come to an event like this."

it probably would've been easier to have these sort of conversations and bring friends who are a little unsure of what it was like to be me behind closed doors.

- I have the nostalgia of an environment that I spent a lot of time in as a kid, but then without the need to overcompensate.

- It was harder to come out, because of how China was at that time.

Coming to Canada, it was kind of the first time that I figured out I can actually be Queer.

So it was kind of hard for me to make friends, as an immigrant.

It's not until I started coming to New Ho Queen and met all of you.

Usually when we just gather it's just us, partying, having fun, we don't really go into the deep and sad things, and nostalgic and family history stuff.

The sad part, what we call the sad part, the trauma part.

(crowds conversing) - Queerphobia is not an inherently Asian value.

For example, there were openly gay Chinese emperors, and transgender people and third genders were traditionally accepted in India.

Nowadays, 2/3 of all countries where homosexuality is illegal, were under some form of British control.

(trumpets playing) This isn't a coincidence.

(crown crashing) Colonialism has left a huge anti-gay legacy.

So much so, that even today, folks may have the impression that this value is an inherent part of Asian culture, but it's not.

- When the dancer go out, - We are very surprised.

(people laughing) - That's actually one worry I had, about that you wouldn't want us back, because it might affect your other customers, or that people will stop coming here because of drag queens and other gay people.

But I'm glad to hear that it's okay, that people come back.

- What some customer told me, "Your dancer is no good for the kids."

They say no good for the kids.

But what I noticed, it's a lot of parents, they bring the kids, come to see the party.

They don't care about that, no worry about that.

I think it's in their opinion, this is maybe, it's a new thing.

They never see that, they bring the kids, bring the friend to see that, and it's very good.

- [Lulu] I'm like, maybe we're internalizing it too much or maybe we have like, projected things.

And we actually didn't need to worry in a way.

But I was so shocked by what Charlie had said.

- And this was the first time I heard this from him.

And he said that, no, he stood up for us.

I was so touched by it.

- Wow.

- He said, "No, we're going to keep doing this.

This is good for us."

I think even though we're surprised by Charlie's reaction, and by the response from the regular customers, (audience cheering) I think it's been great to see.

And I think we do, I think we do need to have a benefit of a doubt, that these folks are actually more open to the Queer community.

There's maybe not as much exposure for them to see queerness like this, but once they see it, once they're exposed to it, it's like it's not harmful.

Like they see just how supported it is, how celebratory it is, and it's not putting anyone in danger, we're just being ourselves.

I mean it's just, drag is fun.

- It could've just been any regular drag brunch, but it is specifically dim sum.

- Dim sum in Chinese is like a little hard.

I grew up having dim sum every week with my family actually.

So to me it's a connection, the idea of like a family, to support each other, to me that is very meaningful.

It's difficult to find a singular space for Queer Asians, unless it's being created.

- For the ways that the performers integrated elements of their culture into their performances was really so refreshing to see.

And definitely not been nothing that I've seen in the past.

And I've been to so many drag shows.

So it almost felt like I was in my grandparents' home.

(upbeat music) (crowds talking) - When I moved to Toronto and found these Queer Asians who've become my chosen family, and it felt like I was returning home.

And we hope that other queer Asians out there can go and reclaim spaces and provide a platform for us to all experience Queer Asian joy.

I'm glad that you were able to come experience this and I'm glad I was able to share this amazing community with you.

- Oh, I had an absolute blast today.

Dim sum is great, (laughing) and I want some more already.

I'm full, but I I absolutely could eat that probably 20 times today.

And I thought that the performances were beautiful.

(gentle, uplifting music)