Manafesto
Principled Struggle
We are actively engaging in generative conflict rooted in deep love and care that helps us grow as people together.
Cultural Knowledge
With intersectional, experiential, & cultural knowledge, our communities have the fullest picture of our shared narrative, trust it.
Agency/Urgency
We center the self-determination and agency of community members and community as a whole while taking urgent action.
Sustainability
Sustainability requires connection to community and land. We honor this connection to all life through our cultural practices.
United Territories of Pacific Islanders Alliance Washington (UTOPIA Washington) is a queer and trans people of color-led, grassroots organization born out of the struggles, challenges, strength, and resilience of the Queer and Trans Pacific Islander (QTPI – “Q-T-pie”) community in South King County.
Our Story
Since 2009, UTOPIA Washington has worked with QTPI leaders to create a safe, welcoming, supportive, and vibrant space for members of our community to address basic needs, build pathways toward new expanded career and life opportunities, foster a sense of common purpose, and advocate for social justice, education, and overall wellness among members of the Pacific Islander LGBTQIA+ community. We also seek to build trust and common ground as a convener and bridge-builder between the Pacific Islander community and the LGBTQIA+ community, who often share many of the same issues and concerns.
United Territories of Pacific Islanders Alliance Washington (UTOPIA Washington) is a queer and trans people of color-led, grassroots organization born out of the struggles, challenges, strength, and resilience of the Queer and Trans Pacific Islander (QTPI – “Q-T-pie”) community in South King County.
UTOPIA Washington is led and founded by women of color, identifying as transgender and/or fa’afafine. Fa’afafine is a cultural gender identity native to Samoa translated as “in the manner of a woman.” We approach community work through an intersectional and cultural lens. Our cultural identity plays an integral role in the way we care and fight for the liberation of queer and trans people of color.
Since its inception, UTOPIA Washington has worked to build power and help our community members access resources, employment, stable housing, higher education, culturally competent healthcare, and more. Founder, Executive Director, and Fa’afafine Leader, Taffy Maene-Johnson saw an influx of queer and trans Pacific Islanders emigrating to the Pacific Northwest in search of opportunities and the need to address the inequities in access. These community members faced hardships in securing employment due to race and gender-based discrimination and were often pushed into sex work, low-paying hard labor jobs, and contracted out-of-state jobs where their rights as workers were violated and where there was limited access to healthcare.
The Story of Our Logo
The Pu Foafoa, is a shell that acts as an incubator space that protects, shelters, and is ever so ready to cultivate anew as it cycles through future generations. Like the thriving sea mollusks of the Oceania region, the seashell represents safe sanctuary, and the significance of space that cultivates the growth for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community members that can only be achieved by fostering a space of belonging.
The spiral design resembles the mana of the ocean waves, true to its constant shifting nature, represents the transformative power of UTOPIA’s work.
Mission
We are actively replacing systems of oppression with ecosystems of care and safety for all our communities through Black and Brown organizing, prioritizing land and bodily autonomy, and reclaiming our cultural narratives.