“I would rather be trying really hard to survive than to look in the mirror and not see myself,” Cecilia Chung profoundly states. A transgender woman who immigrated from Hong Kong, she dedicates her life to fighting for transgender rights as well as HIV/AIDS awareness.
At age 59, Chung has transformed the violence and suffering she has faced into advocacy for the lives of others. After moving with her family to the United States in 1984, she earned a college degree and began her gender transition. Growing up, she struggled to understand “this whole feeling of ‘different.’” Questioning both her sexuality and gender identity for years, Chung finally discovered her true self in her twenties. Nevertheless, her coming out experience brought immense hardship in both her personal and professional life. She lost her job, her home, and contact with her parents for three years.
“Nobody gave them a handbook on what to do when your son turns out to be gay or what to do when your son turns out to be a daughter,” she says.
Additionally, proving discrimination in Chung’s job contract ending was difficult to do, and without familial support, she became homeless on the streets of San Francisco. Burdened by the lack of resources, Chung found no choice but to turn to sex work to survive, and later to drugs in order to cope.
In 1995, Chung’s life changed even more. When two men attempted to sexually assault her, Chung fought back, leading one attacker to stab her in the arm. Upon her arrival at the hospital, an official contacted her mother.
“I think that the knife [attack], ironically, started the healing process for my family,” Chung reflects. Today, Chung meets with her mom weekly for lunch; despite the mother’s battle to accept Chung’s transition, the two have reached an understanding. Finding inspiration from Chung’s story, countless parents of transgender children have reached out to Chung’s mother. The advice she gives them proves sage: “I tell them, it’s not easy, but you can do it.”
As she regained her relationship with her family, Chung furthered her work to help the transgender community. She became the first trans woman and first Asian to chair the Board of Directors of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration. Remarkably, her work did not end there. She was the first of her demographic to lead the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, and she went on to work with several groups to promote HIV awareness and civil rights.
In 2013, President Barack Obama appointed Chung to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, where she served two terms. Thereafter, she founded Positively Trans, a web of transgender individuals with HIV. Through the network, participants can share their stories and seek policy to represent themselves.
Today, Chung continues to fight against discrimination and injustice for the transgender and HIV community. A woman to be remembered, Cecilia Chung turned her struggle into positive change.