Shaun Tuazon Oral History

Shaun Tuazon, a 31-year-old Filipino American, was born in Oakland, CA and raised in Alameda. He identifies as a homosexual male, grew up as a soft spoken, quiet, artistic individual, and recalls attending Catholic school, being consistently surrounded by family, and hearing that he wasn’t manly enough. Shaun is currently a performer in the theater industry. He claims he found his voice in church and is part of the MaArte Theater Collective for Filipinos in theater. This interview covers topics such as family, coming to identify as a gay Filipino man, and the Filipino American theater community in San Diego. I met Shaun through Judy Patacsil of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) and interviewed him at San Diego Miramar College. I am an Ethnic Studies undergraduate student at UC San Diego interested in oral histories, gender, sexuality, and social justice. Being a queer Japanese Filipino American, I am active in the Filipino American community and hope to bring into it more conversations about gender and sexuality.