Teresa Lau

Themes — Activism, Coming Out, Community, East Asian Experience, Familial Relationships

Teresa Lau is a queer activist and healer who grew up in Maryland outside of Washington D.C. and is the daughter of Chinese immigrants. She first came out in 1993 while attending college at MIT and became active in a campus organization, GAMIT (Gays At MIT). Teresa continued with her activism work in Massachusetts at QAPA (Queer Asian Pacific Alliance) and Massachusetts Asian AIDS Prevention Project (MAAPP). Her activism work is rooted in love and has been influenced by her family and the immigrant experience.

Teresa is currently a wellness facilitator with a chiropractic practice that focuses on connecting people with the energy in their bodies and how their life experiences manifests through their bodies. This work mirrors her ideas about identity, which is to create a wholeness for ourselves that encompasses all parts of our identities and to be seen fully with understanding for the depth we all possess.

I think when I came out, being recognized as a feminine and femme kind of on the spectrum anyway woman was so amazing and liberating for me, to really be seen and met in that way was tremendous. Like, it just never…I never felt like I…it was a feeling of belonging that I had not really experienced before.

So there was a lot of childhood feeling like I’m not quite right but I’m gonna do my best. So when I came out, it was amazing. I felt seen for the first time in this really cool way.