Shades of yellow.When Phia Xiong came out to his family at a young age, he was disowned dis·own tr.v. dis·owned, dis·own·ing, dis·owns To refuse to acknowledge or accept as one's own; repudiate. , accused of recruiting straight people, and told there was no such thing as gay. "They asked me if I was crazy," Xiong, now 33, recalls. Xiong is part of the Hmong community, a conservative Asian ethnic group from mountainous regions of southern China and parts of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, region of Asia (1990 est. pop. 442,500,000), c.1,740,000 sq mi (4,506,600 sq km), bounded roughly by the Indian subcontinent on the west, China on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the east. . According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Xiong, Hmongs are a close-knit minority who have been slow to assimilate into contemporary culture--there's not even a word for gay in Hmong. To help others ostracized from their communities, Xiong founded Shades of Noun 1. shades of - something that reminds you of someone or something; "aren't there shades of 1948 here?" reminder - an experience that causes you to remember something Yellow, a support group for young gay and lesbian Hmongs around Minneapolis and St. Paul. 'These people allow you to be who you are," says Chong Lor, a 21-year-old college student and SOY member. "They are my family away from my family." Xiong found other LGBT LGBT Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Hmongs in bars and on Web sites when he started SOY three years ago. The group now boasts 40 members and on January 21 held its first public event for the Hmong New Year. |
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