I can relate, Nate, even though I'm a (queer) woman. Gay/lesbian bars used to be so fun when I was young, but sadly I think it's because I was looking through naive rose-colored glasses before I realized a lot of the issues you mentioned here, including racism. Have people ever automatically assumed you're straight and excluded you/gatekeeped just because you're Asian? I feel like as Asians we have to go out of our way to look "different" or else people just assume that we're not only straight but homophobic, or at least clueless.

Thanks for bringing light to all these issues and for giving concrete action steps on what we can do going forward.