For #LGBThistorymonth I will be posting an #lgbtq #womaninhistory every day. Today is Helen Zia, a Chinese-American journalist, award winning author and activist for Asian American and LGBTQ rights.

Zia is a second generation Chinese American and has been outspoken on social justice issues ranging from human rights and peace to women’s rights and countering hate violence and homophobia. Her work on the landmark 1980s civil rights campaign against anti-Asian violence is documented in the Academy Award nominated film, “Who Killed Vincent Chin?”

She is the author of Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People and the former Executive Editor of Ms. Magazine and board chair of the Women’s Media Center.

Zia has received numerous journalism awards for her ground-breaking stories; her investigation of date rape at the University of Michigan led to campus demonstrations and an overhaul of its policies.