AsiaSF celebrates nearly 25 years of providing safe performance space for trans women
SAN FRANCISCO – On the corner of 9th and Howard in San Francisco's South of Market, there's a place where people take pride in living their authentic lives, even in a world where that's not always easy to do. It's a restaurant, bar, and cabaret, called AsiaSF.
It's a place where the girls just want to have fun.
"This is what life should be. Just everybody having a good time," said Trina Jo, one of the performers there.
Jo is proud of who she is as a transgender woman. She's not alone at AsiaSF. The women who serve dinner, drinks, and take the stage here, are also transgender.
"It's just very liberating," she told KPIX 5. "We're just living our lives, our authentic lives."
Jo said the challenges transgender people endure vary. Her journey was in full steam in the 90s on the pageant circuit, and she wanted to be accepted for who she was.
"Years of being bullied and totally looked down on. It was basically, this is a no-no. Especially in Asian culture," Jo said.
Another big challenge? Finding a job where she could just be her true self.
"When you see in the employment application, especially back in the 90s, there are only two genders, you really don't know what to pick. That's very daunting. But, going to AsiaSF and working for AsiaSF, that was never an issue," she said. "There was no box for the gender. It was everyone is accepted."
Jo was hired when AsiaSF first opened 24 years ago, and she hasn't left. She's considered one of the "OG's" on the team, which is made up of people at different points of their own personal journeys.
"They're very nice, they're very kind how they treat me here," she said. "They call me Mama, or Mother, which is fine. I love that."
Amiya Wilson is one of the newest members of the AsiaSF family.
"I have this aspiration of being a cabaret-burlesque dancer," she said. "Like a showgirl in Vegas."
Like Jo, Wilson is grateful she can just be herself. However, it isn't always easy.
"I'm on the pursuit of happiness, I'm on the pursuit of winning back my finer, kinder, and healthier self," Wilson told KPIX 5. "Sometimes, it's really difficult navigating in a world that's not necessarily for you."
In a world, where she says it sometimes feels like an explanation is still expected, when it shouldn't be.
"It's exhausting," Wilson said. "We're women. We're navigating life, and that shouldn't matter."
One dance, or one table, at a time, these women are making a difference.
"I've had nights where I had customers who had never interacted with trans people before," Jo said. "They find that, wow, there's nothing scary about this."
Wilson, Jo, and their AsiaSF family members, take pride in who they are, what they do, and are proud to be living their authentic lives.
"To be what you want to be or be the change you want to see in the world comes with energy, effort, compassion, courage, and kindness," said Wilson.
"It's just living your life and living the best life you can be," said Jo.