Interview with Taffy Johnson

An interview with Taffy Johnson, a fa'afafine and trans woman of color from Sāmoa. Taffy is also a queer and trans activist and community organizer in the Pacific Islander communities of South King County, Washington. At the time of this interview, she served as the executive director of United Territories of Pacific Islanders Alliance (UTOPIA,) an advocacy and mutual support organization led by and serving members of the Pacific Islander LGBTQI community. She also served on the boards of the Pacific Islanders Health Board of Washington and the Pacific Islanders Community Association. In this oral history interview, Johnson discusses her experience building community among fa'afafine and other trans and gender nonconforming Pacific Islanders upon moving to the United States in 2006, the challenges and joys of founding South King County's UTOPIA chapter, the differences between trans and gender nonconforming identities in Sāmoa and the United States, the importance of community organizations like UTOPIA, and her thoughts on what a better world would look and feel like.

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View At: https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll97:187
Citation: Cite

Item Information:

Identifier: 8k71nh53q
Collection: Oral Histories with People of Color
Institution: Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection, University of Minnesota
Creator(s): Johnson, Taffy
Contributor(s): Beam, Myrl
Billund-Phibbs, Myra
Publisher: University of Minnesota Minneapolis Libraries
Date Created: Nov. 19, 2019
Genre: Oral Histories
Transcriptions
Subject(s): United Territories of Pacific Islanders Alliance (UTOPIA)
Places: Washington > King County > City of Seattle > Seattle
Topic(s): BIPOC
Fa'afafine
Gender non-conforming identity
LGBTQ+ people of color
Pacific Islander American transgender people
Trans women
Transgender people of color
Resource Type: Moving image
Text
Language: English
Related URL: https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/
Rights: Copyright undetermined
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