Bay Area transgender activist's experiences shaped her path toward LGBTQ+ civil rights advocacy

Cecilia Chung always knew she was different, but she didn't always know how to express it.

"I've always known that I was not in the right physical form. I didn't really know how to describe it," Chung said. 

The term transgender would come to her years later and it would feel like a light bulb clicking on for the first time.

"I realized, hey, you know, that's what I always feel like," Chung said. "I was born and assigned the wrong gender at birth that I should have born a woman." 

She would make her transition at 27 years old in 1992. But the journey to becoming Cecilia wasn't an easy road. She'd face a wave of discrimination and a round of firings from several jobs as she began to change.

"I really didn't have any savings, and so I really had to, like, try to rely on like, hustling on the street," Chung said.

Chung even contracted HIV during this time.

"I feel dehumanized and really humiliated, and in some way I feel really devastated because I have a college degree and I wasn't able to like find work," Chung said. 

But Chung says those experiences, while harsh, pushed her into a career of activism, starting with just speaking about her life. 

An outpouring of support would later catapult her into different roles. First, a policymaker, pioneering some of the earliest anti-discrimination laws. A founder, creating the first-ever trans march in San Francisco. And in 2013, being appointed by President Barack Obama to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.

 "I see our advances as like a pendulum," Chung said of the progress made in her community. 

Each new stage of her life, an opportunity to uplift. Now the senior advisor for the Transgender Law Center, Chung said there is still work to do for her community — the political climate demands it.

"We were definitely, like, advancing in a steady pace. But, I think, as a pendulum, it always swings back," Chung said. "It's really important for us to really stand together and not lose the goal that we were all trying to achieve. And it was, like, ultimately change the world for the better."