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Feminists Around the World: Cecilia Chung · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Samantha, and welcome to stuff I've never
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: told you a production of iHeartRadio. And y'all bear with
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  Speaker 1: me because today I am all by myself because my
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  Speaker 1: dear lovely co host Annie is out and about doing things,
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  Speaker 1: fixing things, you know, doing all the good stuff.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe it's Star Wars related. I don't know, JK.
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  Speaker 1: But yes, today I am alone and we are here
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  Speaker 1: to do our feminists around the world. And of course,
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  Speaker 1: happy AAPI History Month. What do I mean Asian American
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  Speaker 1: History Month?
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  Speaker 2: You know you know this stuff.
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  Speaker 1: And as always, we are here to celebrate all the
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  Speaker 1: activists who continue to work for all of us and
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  Speaker 1: the rights of everyone. And today we are talking about
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  Speaker 1: Chinese American activists who has done some amazing work and
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  Speaker 1: continue to do so today, and that is transactivist Cecilia Chung.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 1: Chung moved from Hong Kong with her family at the
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  Speaker 1: age of nineteen and nineteen eighty four, she actually moved
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  Speaker 1: here to Los Angeles with her family, but soon moved
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  Speaker 1: to San Francisco, where she would go to school at
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  Speaker 1: the City College of San Francisco and would eventually graduate
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  Speaker 1: with a degree in international management from the Golden Gate University,
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  Speaker 1: and it was soon after this Chung actually began her transition.
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  Speaker 1: She has talked about knowing that she was different from
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  Speaker 1: a very young age. She spoke about how she felt
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  Speaker 1: misunderstood as a child, and in an interview with a
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  Speaker 1: local ABC News in San Francisco, she said, quote, they
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  Speaker 1: would consider me a problem child because I like to
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  Speaker 1: argue a lot. I had this feeling of being different
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  Speaker 1: that I didn't know how to tell them. I was
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  Speaker 1: definitely misunderstood. Nobody gave them a handbook on what to
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  Speaker 1: do when your sons turn out to be gay, or
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  Speaker 1: what to do when your sons turn out to be
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  Speaker 1: a daughter. And yeah, this was something that she would
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  Speaker 1: go through throughout her life. But soon after graduated in college,
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  Speaker 1: she would go on to work as a court interpreter
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  Speaker 1: and working in finance, but soon wanted to live her
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  Speaker 1: life openly and not hide anymore, and at the age
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  Speaker 1: of twenty two, she started her transition. Her decision wasn't
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  Speaker 1: an easy one for her. She soon lost her job
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  Speaker 1: and her relationship with her family suffered and they stopped
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  Speaker 1: speaking to each other for about three years. And with
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  Speaker 1: all her hardships, she soon became homeless. She then turned
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  Speaker 1: to sex work to survive, and it was during the
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  Speaker 1: hard times that she found out she was HIV positive
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  Speaker 1: and was even assaulted and her harassed during her time.
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  Speaker 1: But even through her difficult times, she never regretted her
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  Speaker 1: decision to transition. She said in another interview that even
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  Speaker 1: though through this it sounds painful, but it's actually more
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  Speaker 1: painful to know who you are. I would rather be
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  Speaker 1: really trying hard to survive than to look in the
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  Speaker 1: mirror and not see myself. And she used these experiences
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  Speaker 1: to push forward in her advocacy for her community. In
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  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety four, she joined the Transgender Discrimination Task Force,
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  Speaker 1: which quote issued a landmark report on the injustices that
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  Speaker 1: trans individuals faced every day. The task forces efforts led
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  Speaker 1: the city to enact several pioneering anti discrimination policies, and
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  Speaker 1: it was during this time she also worked as a
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  Speaker 1: counselor for residential facilities and housing programs, as well as
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  Speaker 1: an HIV test counselor. However, in nineteen ninety five, Chong
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  Speaker 1: was assaulted and attacked, which led her to being hospitalized
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  Speaker 1: with severe injuries. But then this soon would lead her
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  Speaker 1: to being able to reconcile with her family, specifically her mother.
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  Speaker 1: She and her mother have since had a close relationship
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  Speaker 1: and even do frequent lunch dates together. In that same
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  Speaker 1: local interview we talked about earlier, her mother said, quote,
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  Speaker 1: she was very unhappy when she was a boy, and
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  Speaker 1: now she's completely changed. What can I say? I love
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  Speaker 1: her and she loves me. That is all that is
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  Speaker 1: needed for a mother. And apparently her mother works as
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  Speaker 1: an advocate for other trans folks parents as well, in
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  Speaker 1: counseling them and walking them through how to be supportive.
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  Speaker 2: So that's really cool to hear.
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  Speaker 1: And with that support and her love for her community,
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  Speaker 1: Chung has been hard at work and advocating for her people.
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  Speaker 1: She became the first transgender woman and Asian person to
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  Speaker 1: be elected to chair the board of directors of the
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  Speaker 1: San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Prize Celebration, and
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  Speaker 1: in two thousand and two, she joined the board of
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  Speaker 1: the Asian Pacific Islander Wellness Center, working with the mobile
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  Speaker 1: HIV testing project for transgender youth. In two thousand and five,
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  Speaker 1: she was named the first deputy director of the Transgender
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  Speaker 1: Law Center and is now the director of Evaluation and
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  Speaker 1: strategic initiatives for the Transgender Law Center.
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  Speaker 2: So she's been hard at work, y'all.
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  Speaker 1: She's been working hard to fight against the anti trans
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  Speaker 1: violence as well, which is happening all over the country.
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  Speaker 1: She's been outspoken about the dangers against the trans and
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  Speaker 1: non binary community today, and she told the local news
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  Speaker 1: that she got involved after quote seeing the inequality and
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  Speaker 1: the inequality in the systems and how little transgender people
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  Speaker 1: get as resources, how many hoops they have to jump through.
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  Speaker 2: In order to get those services.
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  Speaker 1: And now, Yeah, when she was asked how changes could happen,
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  Speaker 1: she said, the only way that we can really create
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  Speaker 1: change is not just changing people's minds. We also need
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  Speaker 1: to find ways to change people's hearts. If everyone realized
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  Speaker 1: that they might have a friend, a cousin, a coworker,
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  Speaker 1: a mother, a father, a son, or a daughter or
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  Speaker 1: grandchild who is transgender, maybe they will start shifting some
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  Speaker 1: of these conversations. She is obviously very passionate and showing
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  Speaker 1: kindness and love and empathy when it comes to the community,
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  Speaker 1: and she's been one of the biggest leaders in these
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  Speaker 1: types of conversations, and it isn't surprising that she has
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  Speaker 1: been acknowledged for her amazing works, including receiving the Levi
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  Speaker 1: Strauss and Company Pioneer Award committed by the San Francisco
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  Speaker 1: Board of Supervisors during Transgender Awareness Week, awarded the San
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  Speaker 1: Francisco as Foundation Cleve Jones Award, the Human Rights Campaign
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  Speaker 1: Community Service Award awarded the California Woman of the Year,
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  Speaker 1: received the Out and Equal Champion of the Year Award,
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  Speaker 1: and was given the NAACP one hundred Award in twenty twenty.
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  Speaker 1: She's been hard at work trying to change policies and
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  Speaker 1: bring awareness to the needs of the trans community for
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  Speaker 1: a long time now and has become a leader in
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  Speaker 1: this movement. Definitely something that we want to keep watching
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  Speaker 1: as she is still a part of the many of
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  Speaker 1: the boards and has been recognized officially by governments all
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  Speaker 1: over the world.
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  Speaker 2: So there you go.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's the beginning of AAPI month and we're going
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  Speaker 1: to keep pushing forward talking about the history of the
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  Speaker 1: Asian American people as well as the Mani feminists who
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  Speaker 1: continue to work and advocate for the rights of everyone.
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  Speaker 1: So yay, Happy Asian American Heritage Month everyone, and if
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  Speaker 1: you have any suggestions of amazing feminists we should highlight.
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  Speaker 1: You can email that to us at Stuff Media, Mom
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can find us on
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Twitter at mom Stuff podcast, or on Instagram and YouTube
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: at stuff Mom Never Told You. We also have a
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: book coming out in August, and if you want a
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: pre order, you can at stuff you Should Read dot com.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much to are very patient and loving kind
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: super producer Christina, executive producer Maya, our researcher and media
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  Speaker 1: magic maker Joey, and to my lovely co host Annie,
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  Speaker 1: who I dearly miss right now, and of course thanks
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: to you our listeners. Stephone Never Told You is a
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
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  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: favorite shows.