DC-VA

Christine Choi (she/her) is a 2nd generation queer Korean American who initially got involved in the KQT community after a series of happenstance events. First, she attended a Creating Change conference where she stumbled upon a workshop regarding an upcoming queer & trans pan-Asian conference (NQAPIA). This was her first time hearing about this conference but immediately knew she needed to attend! At the NQAPIA national conference, she was surprised not only to see hundreds of queer & trans Asians, but specifically overwhelmed (in the best way) to be welcomed by queer & trans Koreans and allies from all across the U.S. She hopes to help be a part of making KQT spaces and the feeling of overwhelming welcoming more accessible for queer & trans Koreans everywhere.

DC-VA

​

Oakland, CA

John is a queer 2nd-generation Korean American cis man who lives in Oakland, California. For over 25 years, John has been an activist, advocate, facilitator, and leader in communities and movements addressing LGBTQ rights, racial justice, immigrant organizing, and HIV/AIDS/community health. Beginning in the 1990s, he worked in HIV/AIDS prevention for youth through peer education, activism, and direct action with ACT UP/NY. He was a member of early Korean LGBTQ groups in New York in the 1990s and 2000s including Chingusai and Iban/Queer Koreans of New York. In 2004, he co-founded the Dari Project which published the first bilingual stories by Korean LGBTs and their families. He currently serves in leadership of KQTx National Network which began with the 2018 KQTcon national conference which took place in New York City.  He has served on multiple Boards of Directors, including The Audre Lorde Project, CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, and Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT). Professionally, John co-leads an innovation program focused on promoting financial inclusion for low-income people in emerging markets for a global design firm. 

Queens, NY

​

Chicago, IL

Mira Kim (she/her) resides in Chicago, IL, and is a 2nd-generation Queer Korean American trans woman. She is currently part of the core leadership of Samcha Chicago, and became involved with the national network after meeting other organizers at the NQAPIA conference in 2019. Mira is deeply invested in creating spaces of radical welcome and acceptance and spends her time to helping organize Queer and PoC communities while while working in tech for a global PR firm.

Seoul, Korea

Patrick G. Lee (he/they) is a queer Korean American documentary filmmaker, writer, and community organizer. He’s interested in building collaborative, community-based approaches to filmmaking that reject traditional hierarchies of authority and that equip queer and trans people of color with media-making skills. Patrick has made films about Asian American coming out stories, LGBTQ self-representation, and queer Asian history. His writing has appeared in Mother Jones, The Nation, ProPublica, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and more. In 2018, Patrick helped organize KQTcon, the first national Korean queer and trans conference in the US. His favorite snack is kongjang (soy-braised black beans).

Queens, NY

Sandy Hong (he/they) is a 2nd gen Korean American person of Queer and Transgender experience based in Queens, NYC. Sandy first came into KQT organizing as a facilitator serving the core organizing team of KQTcon 2018. Sandy was also a presenter at KQTcon, moderating a conversation on the intersections of spirituality and social justice, where topics such as the Donghak Peasant Rebellion and Minjung Theology were discussed to illuminate the roots and relevance of Koreans struggling and mobilizing towards emancipation. Prior to serving in leadership with KQTx National Network, Sandy served as the co-founder and director of New Women Space, a community-based event space in Brooklyn, NY where 100% of programming is created by and for women, transgender, gender non-conforming individuals. Sandy believes in movement building as an ever-emergent process of relationship-making, moving at the speed of our trust, our well-being, and our connectedness to heart.