Rev. Trinity Ordoña is a
lesbian Filipino-American college teacher, activist, community organizer, and ordained minister currently residing in
the San Francisco Bay Area. She is notable for her grassroots work on
intersectional
Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality identifies multiple factors of adva ...
social justice
Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...
. Her activism includes issues of voice and visibility for
Asian/Pacific gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals and their families,
Lesbians
of color
The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered " white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the ...
,
and
survivors of sexual abuse.
Her works include her dissertation ''Coming Out Together: an ethnohistory of the Asian and Pacific Islander queer women's and transgendered people's movement of San Francisco,''
as well as various interviews and articles published in anthologies like ''Filipino Americans: Transformation and Identity'' and ''Asian/Pacific Islander American Women: A Historical Anthology''. She co-founde
Asian and Pacific Islander Family Pride (APIFP) which "
ustainssupport networks for API families with members who are LGBTQ," founded Healing for Change, "a CCSF student organization that sponsors campus-community healing events directed to survivors of violence and abuse,"
and is currently an instructor in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies Department at
City College of San Francisco
City College of San Francisco (CCSF or City College) is a State school#United States, public community college in San Francisco, California. Founded as a Junior college#United States, junior college in 1935, the college plays an important local ...
.
Biography
Ordoña was born in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
, California to
Filipino
Filipino may refer to:
* Something from or related to the Philippines
** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines.
** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
immigrants
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, ...
, where she lived until she was eighteen years old. She attended
Immaculate Heart College
Immaculate Heart College was a private, Catholic college located in Los Angeles, California. The college offered various courses including art and religious education studies.
By June 1906, six young women had become the first graduates of th ...
until 1971, where she majored in liberal arts. From there she attended
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge ...
and University of California, Berkeley where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Asian American History. Ordoña went on to receive a Ph.D. in
History of Consciousness
History of Consciousness is the name of a department in the Humanities Division of the University of California, Santa Cruz with a 50+ year history of interdisciplinary research and student training in "established and emergent disciplines and fiel ...
from University of California, Santa Cruz.
Ordoña met Desirée Thompson in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...
in July 1985. Thompson moved to San Francisco in 1987, when she and Ordoña began their relationship. On June 25, 1988, Ordoña and Thompson married in
Golden Gate Park. 120 people attended the marriage ceremony. They drove down
Castro Street on the back of a convertible, and on the next day drove the same convertible in the
Gay Pride Parade
A pride parade (also known as pride march, pride event, or pride festival) is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, legal rights, and pride. The events som ...
.
Works
Topics of interest in Ordoña's published works cover the politics of
racial triangulation within feminist social justice spaces,
internalized racism
Internalized racism is a form of internalized oppression, defined by sociologist Karen D. Pyke as the "internalization of racial oppression by the racially subordinated." In her study ''The Psychology of Racism, '' Robin Nicole Johnson emphasizes ...
and the idea that shared oppression is not sufficient grounds for solidarity (similar to
June Jordan
June Millicent Jordan (July 9, 1936 – June 14, 2002) was an American poet, essayist, teacher, and activist. In her writing she explored issues of gender, race, immigration, and representation.
Jordan was passionate about using Black English ...
's ideas in "Report from the Bahamas"), identities of
alterity
Alterity is a philosophical and anthropological term meaning "otherness", that is, the " other of two" (Latin ''alter''). It is also increasingly being used in media to express something other than "sameness", or something outside of tradition or ...
, social inequalities and its relationship to
privilege
Privilege may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Privilege'' (film), a 1967 film directed by Peter Watkins
* ''Privilege'' (Ivor Cutler album), 1983
* ''Privilege'' (Television Personalities album), 1990
* ''Privilege (Abridged)'', an alb ...
.
Her works have been published in anthologies edited by
Gloria Anzaldúa
Gloria may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music
* Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise
* Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise
** Gloria (Handel)
** Gloria (Jenkins ...
,
Sharon Lim-Hing, and Maria P. P. Root. She has also been published in the ''Amerasia Journal,'' in roundtable discussion with other queer women academics about
immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...
topics,
perceived homophobia in
Asian American communities, and the
Ameri-centric model of
coming out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out ...
.
In
grassroots
A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...
movements, Ordoña has organized in activism around
San Francisco's I-Hotel, the Agbayani Village for Retired Farmworkers Union, and
anti-Vietnam War efforts. She is a founding member of th
Red Envelope Giving Circlein the San Francisco Bay Area, a group that has "granted over $42,500 to 22 individual and group projects."
Awards and achievements
* APIQWTC's Phoenix Award 2008 with partner Desiree Thompson
*
UCSF
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It cond ...
Chancellor's Award for Public Service (1999)
** Noted for her activism on the
International Hotel International Hotel may refer to:
* International Hotel (Alanya, Turkey), a historical hotel building
* International Hotel (San Francisco), a residential hotel, historic building and community center in San Francisco, California
* International ...
,
United Farm Workers
The United Farm Workers of America, or more commonly just United Farm Workers (UFW), is a labor union for farmworkers in the United States. It originated from the merger of two workers' rights organizations, the Agricultural Workers Organizing ...
, Fight Back Campaign against the
KKK
* Northern California
GLBT Historical Society
The GLBT Historical Society (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society) (formerly Gay and Lesbian Historical Society of Northern California; San Francisco Bay Area Gay and Lesbian Historical Society) maintains an extensive collection ...
Award for Individual Historic Achievement
* BACW Lesbian of Achievement, Vision and Action Award
* Co-host of Bay Area Lesbian Health Conference (2002)
* Presenter in Mumbai conference of international gay and lesbian organizations (2002)
* Co-founder of APIFP, previously the San Francisco chapter of
PFLAG
PFLAG is the United States' first and largest organization uniting parents, families, and allies with people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+). PFLAG National is the national organization, which provides support ...
* Associate Director of the UCSF Lesbian Health Research Center (2002–04)
* "20 Most Influential Lesbian Professors" (2008) by ''
Curve
In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line, but that does not have to be straight.
Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point. This is the definition that ...
''
See also
*
Intersectionality
Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality identifies multiple factors of adva ...
*
List of Filipino Americans
*
Racism in the LGBT community
Racism is a concern for many in the Western lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities, with members of racial, ethnic, and national minorities reporting having faced discrimination from other LGBT people.
In the United State ...
*
Homophobia in ethnic minority communities
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ordona, Trinity
Living people
American LGBT people of Asian descent
Lesbian feminists
Year of birth missing (living people)
City College of San Francisco faculty