Welcome to our 33rd #womanoftheweek! Today, we will be discussing Cecilia Chung, a Civil Rights Activist! Enjoy!
For over 20 years, trans woman and first generation American Cecilia Chung has broken multiple boundaries by advocating for causes such as LGBT+ equality and HIV/AIDS awareness. She remains to be an active leader in various organizations such as the San Francisco Health Commission, and shows no signs of stopping her activism on the local, national, and international level.
Chung was born in Hong Kong in 1965 and emigrated to Australia before moving to the United States in 1984. Chung later moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco where she studied international management at Golden Gate University. As a result of moving and her identity conflicting with her environment, Chung’s early life was met with adversity. Through culture shock as a minority in Australia, attending boarding school where she was told to “Get back on the boat,” and embracing her true identity as a female despite being rejected by her family and feeling like an outcast, Chung uses these experiences to fuel her advocacy.
After college, Chung underwent gender reassignment surgery and engaged in sex work to fiscally support herself, which led to contracting HIV in 1983. Chung later reconciled with her mother and completed surgery in 1998. She went on to hold positions such as Chair of the SF Human Rights Committee, President of the SF Pride Board, a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDs, etc. Through working on the SF Transgender Discrimination Task Force, she pioneered anti-discrimination policies and as a founder of Trans March, she organized one of the largest transgender events in the world which has been organized in multiple US Cities since. As for health advocacy, Chung was an HIV program coordinator at the API American Health Forum and directs Positively Trans, a project that advocates for awareness regarding high HIV/AIDs.
In the words of Cecilia Chung, “I think whatever your thing is, it’ll come naturally if you allow it to.” Chung’s “thing” was her passion for activism, which made great strides towards LGBT+ antidiscrimination; with the help of Chung, San Francisco became the first city to pay for gender reassignment surgery to uninsured minors. As for her health activism, Chung still strives to destigmatize and increase awareness towards HIV/AIDs today. The fight for these issues, central to both her identity and agenda will remain for years to come, however with her progressive contributions, the wait will end much faster.
This is a Woman of the Week article, a weekly deep dive into an amazing women of color. For more incredible stories like this one, check out our article on Chiaki Mukai and Sarah Winnemuca! Make sure to follow us at @likeagirlglobal on Instagram for more updates and original content!
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