Queer Asian Museum

06/12/2026

Ten years ago today, 49 lives were taken at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.
They walked in that night to dance, to celebrate, to simply be themselves.
At QAM, we exist because q***r lives deserve to be seen, celebrated, and preserved. Today we remember that visibility is not just joy — it is also grief, and courage, and defiance.
We were here.
We are still here.
We will not be forgotten. 🌸🏳️‍🌈
***rAsianMuseum ***rAsian

Today is the tenth anniversary of the the Pulse Nightclub shooting on June 12, 2016. We remember the victims and honor them with action. 💔

Akyra Monet Murray, 18 years old
Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 years old
Amanda Alvear, 25 years old
Angel L. Candelario-Padró, 28 years old
Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, 25 years old
Antonio Davon Brown, 29 years old
Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49 years old
Christopher “Drew” Andrew Leinonen, 32 years old
Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24 years old
Cory James Connell, 21 years old
Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 years old
Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 years old
Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 years old
Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 years old
Enrique L. Rios, Jr., 25 years old
Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36 years old
Frank Hernandez, 27 years old
Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velázquez, 50 years old
Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25 years old
Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25 years old
Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 years old
Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40 years old
Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, 27 years old
Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35 years old
Jerald “Jerry” Arthur Wright, 31 years old
Joel Rayón Paniagua, 32 years old
Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24 years old
Juan Chavez Martinez, 25 years old
Juan P. Rivera Velázquez, 37 years old
Juan Ramón Guerrero, 22 years old
KJ Morris, 37 years old
Leroy Valentin Fernández, 25 years old
Luis Daniel Conde, 39 years old
Luis Daniel Lestat Wilson-Leon, 37 years old
Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20 years old
Luis S. Vielma, 22 years old
Martin Benitez Torres, 33 years old
Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 years old
Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 years old
Oscar Aracena-Montero, 26 years old
Paul Terrell Henry, 41 years old
Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 years old
Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 years old
Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 years old
Simón Adrián Carrillo Fernández, 31 years old
Stanley Almodovar III, 23 years old
Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25 years old
Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35 years old
Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24 years old

06/11/2026

In[Di]visible Bodies. 🌸
Seven languages. One truth. Bodies that cannot be divided.
This signed poster is a piece of living history in our collection — from a performance bringing together q***r Asian voices across cultures and borders.
Korean. Japanese. Simplified Chinese. Traditional Chinese. Cantonese. Filipino. Indonesian. Spanish.
Every signature a witness. Every language a home. 🏳️‍🌈
***rAsianMuseum ***rAsian ***rHistory

06/09/2026

A post from our founder, Leo Andersen:
"I have a new Chinese name 安得厦 — An-De-Xia.
Sounds like Andersen, the one writing fairy tales.
Read it literally: "where do we find a great building?" That's the question I've been living inside.
Our Q***r Asian Museum has been open for months in St. Pete, FL — a physical home for our histories, our art, our community. But the space is limited. We rotate exhibits, we tour other cities, we squeeze events and future support groups into what we have.
"Oh, to have a thousand grand rooms — shelter enough for every lonely soul under heaven." — Du Fu (761 AD)
This name isn't a coincidence. It's a compass.
Watch we grow. We're writing this fu***ng fairy tale." 🌸🏳️‍🌈

06/06/2026

Today, Leo and Don visited Q***r Britain Museum — the UK's National LGBTQ+ Museum — with friends from Pinksingers London. 🏳️‍🌈
Walking through these galleries feels like breathing history. From the Black Le***an and Gay Centre's radical organizing in Haringey, to Justin Fashanu's courage on the pitch, to the glorious chaos of Club Kali — every room reminds us: we were here, and we built something beautiful.
They also picked up Desi Q***rs — a powerful exploration of LGBTQ+ South Asian identity and cultural belonging in Britain. "Desi" is the ethnic identity claimed by people from India and Pakistan — two nations whose borders were drawn by the British during the Partition of 1947. That history doesn't disappear. It lives inside every q***r South Asian navigating belonging on multiple fronts at once.
And Inherent Vice, a q***r heritage zine with a simple truth on its cover: Q***r history is everyone's history.
This is why museums matter. This is why preservation matters. 🗂️✊
***rbritain
Hashtags: ***rBritain ***rHistory ***rs ***rAsianMuseum ***rHeritage

06/06/2026

"The space that was there in 2023. Is not.
That accelerating disappearance is not an accident.
Fast solutions are required."
— Leo Andersen, IIIF Annual Conference, Netherlands, June 2026
This is why QAM exists. 🌸🏳️‍🌈

06/05/2026

A piece of persistence. 🌸
革命尚未成功，同志仍需努力
This artifact carries a phrase Chinese people use to express personal goals and the drive to keep going — but with a beautiful twist.
同志 (tóngzhì) means both "comrade" AND is the most widely used word for q***r/gay in Chinese. The community made these words their own:
"The work is not yet done — q***rs must still strive forward."
Some things don't need translation. 🏳️‍🌈
***rAsianMuseum ***rAsian ***rHistory

06/04/2026

The stage. The slide. The moment. 🌍
Our founder Leo Andersen at the 2026 IIIF Annual Conference in the Netherlands — presenting alongside the J. Paul Getty Trust, the University of Hamburg, and Dedan Kimathi University of Technology in Kenya.
An intersection of erasure. Or left in corners. Too q***r and/or Asian.
The obstacle is not a technical one but political. Community-led solutions are required.
Q***r Asian stories belong in the global archive. Leo made sure the world heard that this week. 🌸🏳️‍🌈
***rAsianMuseum ***rAsian

06/03/2026

Conference break well spent. 🕹️
Our founder Leo Andersen found an arcade game at a cultural heritage museum in the Netherlands that teaches you history through historic maps — inspect the map, find the location, put it on the modern map. Leo was immediately obsessed.
He's already plotting. When he gets home, he wants to build a q***r map of St. Pete — the bars, the spaces, the history, the people who made this community what it is.
Because q***r history deserves to be found, too. 🌸🏳️‍🌈
***rAsianMuseum ***rHistory ***rMapping ***rAsian

06/03/2026

Meet one of our Q***r Asian Icons. 🌸
Alice Marie Gripp — Creative Loafing's Best of the Bay 2025 Best Drag Performer, Equality Florida Regional Manager of Safe & Healthy Schools, St. Pete Pride Grand Marshal, and one of Tampa Bay's most fearless advocates for LGBTQIA+ rights.
This Pride Month, Alice was selected to represent the color YELLOW in the City of St. Petersburg's Beyond the Rainbow campaign. In her own words:
"Yellow is sunshine, joy, warmth, and hope. It's the feeling of seeing someone smile in the audience...a reminder that even in difficult times, light still finds a way through."
She performed at QAM the night before her birthday with her entire family in the audience watching her shine. That's what QAM is here for — a space where q***r Asian artists are celebrated exactly as they are.
Happy Pride Month Alice. We are so glad you exist. 🌟🏳️‍🌈
***rAsianMuseum ***rAsianIcons
Alice Marie Gripp City of St. Petersburg, Florida

06/02/2026

Day 2 in Leiden at the IIIF Annual Conference. 🌍
Q***r Asian Museum, United States — between the Bodleian Libraries at Oxford and the University of Cambridge.
We are boldly everywhere. 🌸🏳️‍🌈
***rAsianMuseum