But openly exploring queerness isn't an option not with her mother touting "respectability," and society's limited perception of Chinese-Americanness as either "China doll" or "real American"-adjacent, and especially not amid McCarthyism during which Chinese people, including those within Lily's close Chinatown community, are targeted as Communist sympathizers. Dawning recognition of her lesbianism comes alongside a budding connection with Kathleen Miller, a white classmate. Lily secretly gathers photos of women with masculine qualities she's drawn toward "unfeminine" clothing and interests such as chemistry, engines, and space. The year is 1954, and American-born Chinese 17-year-old Lily Hu, a rising senior at San Francisco's Galileo High School, discovers the existence of the Telegraph Club nightclub by chance: via an ad in the Chronicle featuring a Male Impersonator.
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