Southeast Asian LGBTQ+ Community

CERI welcomes and prioritizes LGBTQ+ individuals, couples and families—who all deserve culturally affirming mental health care and a place to live their truths.

25% of LGBTQ+ Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) experience psychological distress at rates higher than any other group—straight or LGTBQ+—and at rates more than four times higher than their straight AAPI counterparts (Krehely, 2009). Depression, suicidal ideation and internalized oppression as well as war, colonialism, education disparity, filial piety, acculturation, the “model minority myth” and documentation status compound the unique challenges for this community. More than 1 in 3 documented and 1 in 7 undocumented LGBTQ+ adult immigrants are AAPI.