Wednesday, November 20, 2019, 7pm

Growing up as a gay Hmong, Brian Xiong couldn’t find any gay books written about gay Hmong coming out experiences, or just gay Hmong representation in general. He remembers checking out gay resource books from Minneapolis Public Library, City Pages newspaper, or gay lifestyle stories online during his high school years, but none of them represented him, his experience as a gay Hmong person, and the complexities of being a diverse ethnic minority in a minority population. Most of the publications, videos, books, and magazines were about gay White individuals and their lifestyles. If any such stories about LGTBQ Asian-American experiences were published, they were often Chinese, Filipino and other Asian-American ethnicities. A Clan of Our Own is the labor of the author’s passion to discover the coming out experiences of gay Hmong men in the Hmong American community, in hopes that it will provide insightful experiences and stories to help Hmong parents better understand their gay sons or a gay member of their clan. The collection of stories in A Clan of Our Own shed greater light on the experiences of gay Hmong men, their coming out experiences, and the struggles they face daily in their lives, with the hope that both mainstream and Hmong communities are better equipped to assist and understand the strengths and needs of this minority group within a minority.

Dr. Brian Vangtou Xiong is the first Hmong professor and the first Hmong doctoral student to graduate from Minnesota State University, Mankato in Counselor Education and Supervision with an emphasis on College Student Affairs. Born in Ban Vinai Refugee Camp in Thailand, Dr. Xiong came to the United States with his family of 10 to Minnesota in 1993 when he became a fifth grade student in English as a second language class. From a low-income family that waited 30 days each month for food stamps, he knew at a young age that education was the key for him to open the door to a better chapter in America. In the past year, he has helped to found Hmong Educational-Resources, Inc., which has already published half a dozen great books by Hmong-Americans.

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