Our Government Tries to Kill Us
Join us on Thursday, December 11 at 7 pm, for a night of conversation with acclaimed authors and activists to discuss AIDS activism, Asian American identity, and our current political moment. We will be joined by Keiko Lane, who writes and teaches about the intersections of queer culture and kinship, oppression resistance, racial and gender justice, HIV criminalization, reproductive justice, queering sex therapy, and liberation psychology; Eric Wat, whose fiction and non-fiction writing reflects his experiences as a queer Asian immigrant in the U.S. and as an activist who still believes history is made by everyday people; and Jih-Fei Cheng, whose research examines the intersections between science, media, surveillance, and social movements.
How do the personal archives of Asian American activists and scholars reflect AIDS social movements? How do family and queer kinship shape the practices of care and memory? This program queries how Asian/Americans are underrepresented as an HIV risk group yet stigmatized by COVID-19. It explores archives of loss as extensions of community care, solidarity building, and ongoing activism enacted by remembering.
Date:
Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025
Time:
7 pm — 8:30 pm
Address:
ONE Archives at the USC Libraries
909 West Adams Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90007
Sunday, June 1, 3:30 PM
Strength and Solace in Numbers
Panel discussion with Soma Mei Sheng Frazier, Keiko Lane, and Tomas Moniz.
In times of love and loss, demonstrations of care can be another form of activism. This sentiment is perhaps most evident in the AIDS epidemic, when physical touch became paradoxically a symbol of tenderness yet agonizingly painful for someone with complications from HIV, as Keiko Lane recalls in Blood Loss: A Love Story of AIDS, Activism, and Art,
Moderated by poet, educator, and organizer Gabriel Cortez, this heartfelt and uplifting panel will highlight the power to be found in community as we go through life’s hardships together.
Presents
AIDS Activism and Queer Care
Monday, March 31, 5:00pm - 6:30pm
Join Keiko Lane for a reading, followed by a conversation with Pete Sigal, professor of History and Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies
Co-sponsored by:
Center for AIDS Research (CFAR); Franklin Humanities Institute (FHI); Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies; Sanford School of Public Policy
Thursday, March 27, 7pm
Japanese American National Museum
Los Angeles, CA
Keiko joins pBrynn Saito, traci kato-kiriyama, and contributing poets for a reading celebrating the release of The Gate of Memory: Poems by Descendants of Nikkei Wartime Incarceration, edited by Saito and Brandon Shimoda.
Sunday, October 27, 3pm
Bureau of General Services Queer Division, NYC
The reading and conversation will be followed by a book signing and reception.
Keiko Lane will read from her new memoir Blood Loss: A Love Story of AIDS, Activism, and Art, and Hugh Ryan will read from new works-in-progress. Their conversation will be moderated by Joshua Gutterman Tranen.
Sunday, October 13, 3pm
Powell’s City of Books
Portland, OR
Keiko Lane will be joined in conversation by
Lidia Yuknavitch, author of Thrust.
