Don't you hate seeing an exciting headline, going to the article and then realizing that you're not included in the discussion?  This happened again today and it pisses me off.

The article in question appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the home paper for a county that is over 13% Asian American.  So naturally when I see a headline like, "Support for gay marriage varies widely among racial and ethnic groups", I would assume they would at least have some facts and figures about our community.  But alas, no.  Never mind that Asian Americans are the second largest racial group in the county.  Nada.  Not a mention.

This is especially glaring because Reuters News Service just released a wonderful article entitled, "California gay marriage fight goes to Chinatown." The article cites the hard work of such groups as API Equality and the Philippine American Bar Association.

Lost in the 2009 election wreckage for gays was the marriage campaign's relative success in Asian communities, which have swung toward support of same-sex marriage at a faster rate than the rest of California and have become a model for other groups.

 

Asian Americans have been building grass-roots support in Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Filipinotown for four years. Gays, lesbians and straight allies have talked about the often-taboo topic of homosexuality, set up booths at festivals, harangued non-English language media to change coverage and lobbied elected officials for support.

Asian Americans need to be part of the conversation and reporters need to include our perspective, especially when discussing issues of race and ethnicity in a place like Los Angeles.  To not include us is just plain bad journalism.  Please write to Cathleen Decker at the Los Angeles Times and tell her to do a better job.  Her email is Cathleen.decker@latimes.com