Transgender people have always existed, even if we have not always had the language to define ourselves. May has served as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month since 1991 to recognize the achievements and importance of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to the United States. These are five transgender AAPI Americans who have made a mark on US history.
Author’s Note: There is a lot of documentation related to gender diversity in Asian and Pacific Islander cultures, such as hijra, kathoey, and fa’afafine. There is little history written about important gender diverse individuals, especially within the AAPI American diaspora.
Cecilia Chung: HIV/AIDS Activist and Transgender Rights Pioneer
Cecilia Chung has worked to bring visibility to transgender people living with HIV/AIDS. Chung has led multiple projects throughout her life to address the needs that come with being transgender, living with HIV, and being a person of color.
Chung grew up in Hong Kong before immigrating with her family to Los Angeles at age 19. In her younger years, Chung mistakenly believed she was a cisgender gay man since she had never had the framework to think critically about her gender identity.
She graduated with a degree in international management from Golden Gate University in 1987. By 1992, Chung made the decision to transition, which caused her to become estranged from her family, who struggled to understand.
Chung lost both of her jobs due to her transition, forcing her into homelessness and survival sex work in San Francisco’s Tenderloin. Chung self-medicated with drugs and alcohol to cope with constant sexual and physical violence. Chung was diagnosed with HIV that year.
“[This period in my life] sounds painful, but it’s actually more painful to not know who you are. I would rather be really trying hard to survive than to look in the mirror and not see myself.”
In 1994, Chung began using her voice for advocacy. She joined San Francisco’s Transgender Discrimination Task Force, working on a report to the city that led San Francisco to instill anti-discrimination policies to protect transgender residents. She also found work as an HIV test counselor and caseworker for the city.
Chung persisted despite her circumstances. But in 1995, she was brutally stabbed by two men attempting to sexually assault Chung, forcing Chung to be taken to an emergency room with a punctured artery, severed tendon, and nerve damage.
She was met by her mother, who was called by the emergency room as Chung’s emergency contact, despite being estranged for several years. The two finally reconciled, and Chung’s life slowly came back together.
Chung continued to work on bigger projects. She was elected as chair for the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Celebration Board of Directors at the same time Chung became the first person openly living with HIV to lead the city’s Human Rights Commission.
Within a few years, Chung led the Asian Pacific Wellness Center’s mobile HIV testing program to expand resources for transgender youth. She was named Deputy Director of the Transgender Law Center and even served on California’s Civil Rights Enforcement Working Group.
In 2013, Chung was appointed by President Barack Obama to continue her advocacy work at a national level on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. After Obama’s second term, Chung founded Positively Trans to continue supporting transgender people living with HIV, supported by the Transgender Law Center and Elton John AIDS Foundation.
Kim Coco Iwamoto: First Transgender AAPI State Legislator in U.S. History
Hawaii elected its first transgender state legislator in 2024, making Kim Coco Iwamoto the first transgender AAPI person to serve in the country. She unseated Scott Saiki during the Democratic primary for District 25, committed to her community despite losing by a slim margin in 2020 and 2022.
Iwamoto was born on the northern island of Kaua’i, where her great-grandparents had immigrated to seek plantation work after leaving Japan. She graduated from a boys’ Catholic preparatory school in 1986 and moved to New York City to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology.
While in New York, Iwamoto’s transgender identity led her to volunteer most of her free time at the local community center – which instilled her passion for helping marginalized youth. She became motivated to continue her education at San Francisco State University, the University of New Mexico School of Law, and the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government program.
Iwamoto officially joined politics in 2006, serving two terms on the Hawaii Board of Education. When she was originally elected, Iwamoto was the highest-ranking openly transgender person to be elected.
When California passed Proposition 8 in 2008, Iwamoto took a very public position against the law. She argued the law violated basic civil rights and compared Prop 8 to violating the same basic rights her mother had experienced while forcibly interned, “The country has acknowledged that [internment] as a mistake, to just go with populous fear to oppress a specific group. I think we’re going to look back at this kind of oppression as a mistake.”
After serving four years under Governor Neil Abercrombie’s Civil Rights Commission, Iwamoto ran in the 2016 Senate election but lost during the primaries to Karl Rhoads. Iwamoto was recognized by President Barack Obama as a Champion of Change in 2013.
Iwamoto was endorsed by the Sierra Club, Victory Fund, Maui Time Weekly, Our Revolution, and Unite Here! during her run for Lieutenant Governor in 2018. She finished her campaign in fourth place, losing the nomination to Josh Green. Iwamoto was listed by Newsweek as one of fifty current trailblazers for LGBTQIA+ rights.
In 2020 and 2022, Iwamoto ran unsuccessfully against House Speaker Scott Saiki. They competed for Hawaii’s 25th and 26th districts, but Iwamoto came 200 votes short of Saiki during the primaries.
Iwamoto found her footing and won against Saiki in 2024 to be elected into the Hawaii House of Representatives. Kim Coco Iwamoto achieved 52.5% of the vote, defeating Saiki with just 254 votes. Iwamoto continues to participate in her community despite bureaucracy, which led her to being arrested (and released) alongside nine others during a protest at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children.
Iwamoto will likely seek reelection this fall since Hawaii Representatives fulfill two-year terms.
Christopher Lee: Transgender Filmmaker and Founder of Trans Film Culture
Christopher “Cristoph” Lee was an award-winning filmmaker and transgender man from the San Francisco Bay Area, creating as one of the founders of radical transgender erotica. Lee was born in San Diego in 1964, but moved to the Bay Area in the early 1990s.
Lee initially found community with San Francisco’s AAPI lesbian circles, leading him to produce DYKE TV. Within a few years, Lee came out as a transgender man and used his expertise in film to document his transition via “Christopher’s Chronicles.” He continued making other subversive films, such as “Trappings of Transhood,” “Alley of the Tranny Boys,” and “Sex Flesh in Blood.”
In 1997, Lee collaborated with Elise Hurwitz and Alison Austin to establish Tranny Fest (renamed to the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival in 2004). SFTFF was the world’s first transgender film and arts festival and North America’s longest-running transgender film festival.
Lee’s films are recognized as some of the first created by BIPOC transgender men, and he is credited as one of the origins of radical transgender porn.
Lee lived with chronic fatigue and immune deficiency syndrome (CFIDS/ME/CFS), which shaped his life experiences. Even though Lee was active in the community, he struggled with depression and mental illness. Lee died by suicide at age 48 in 2012.
Because Lee had not updated his legal gender on his birth certificate, the coroner labeled him as female on his death certificate. This incited immense legal controversy and debate on how best to represent Lee after his death.
Lee’s chosen family spearheaded AB 1577, the “Respect After Death Act,” to allow California death certificates to be updated to reflect an individual’s lived gender. Toni Atkins introduced AB 1577 with the support of the Transgender Law Center. The Respect After Death Act was passed by Governor Jerry Brown in 2014.
Lee was inducted as one of the inaugural fifty on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor at the Stonewall National Monument in 2019.
Geena Rocero: Transgender Model and Global Advocate for Visibility
Geena Rocero is one of the world’s most famous transgender models, known for her appearances in Playboy Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar. Rocero has used her public influence to increase visibility for the transgender community, speaking at the United Nations, World Economic Forum, and the United States White House.
Rocero was born in Manila in 1983. Despite being born to a working-class family, Rocero began competing in professional beauty pageants at age 15. Within two years, Rocero was the highest-earning transgender pageant queen in the Philippines.
Despite her age, she immigrated to San Francisco, where she could freely change her legal name and gender marker. However, for the sake of her future career, Rocero chose to go stealth while pursuing modeling in the US.
While at a restaurant in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Rocero met a fashion photographer who took an interest. Rocero was offered a contract to NEXT Model Management, which she worked with for 12 years. With NEXT, Rocero modeled for international swimsuit brands and beauty editorials. During that time, she worked diligently to build her modeling portfolio while pursuing naturalization.
During a TED Talk in Vancouver in 2014, Rocero disclosed her transgender identity to the audience in connection with International Transgender Day of Visibility. For years, Rocero had lived in stealth – and while this provided safety, those around her (including her fans) didn’t know the true Rocero. The video, titled “Why I Must Come Out,” has over one million views and can still be viewed on the official TED YouTube channel.
Rocero launched Gender Proud shortly after, a media production company aimed to highlight the needs and rights of transgender people. Hoping to uplift transgender youth, she produced the digital series “Beautiful As I Want To Be.” Through it, Rocero paired young transgender people with older mentors – including Caitlyn Jenner, who had recently come out.
Rocero also produced “Willing and Able,” focusing on transgender employment and athletic competition. The film won a GLAAD Media Award.
In C☆NDY Magazine’s anniversary cover, Rocero was included alongside other highly visible transgender women like Janet Mock, Laverne Cox, Isis King, and Carmen Carrera.
Rocero and Tracey Norman both became the first openly transgender models to appear on Harper’s Bazaar in 2016. Soon after, she modeled for the August 2019 Playmate of the Month, becoming the first openly transgender AAPI model to pose for Playboy.
In 2020, Rocero was chosen to participate in Playboy Playmates of the Year – making her the first transgender woman to ever do so.
Rocero directed a four-part documentary titled “Caretakers” in 2021 to highlight the struggles and hardships of Filipino Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rocero published her personal memoir, “Horse Barbie,” in 2024. The book is still relatively unknown despite being an Editor’s Pick on Amazon and chosen as a Best Book of the Year by Book Riot, Elle, and Esquire.
Dedalus Moving Pictures produced Rocero’s short film “Dolls” in 2025, which Rocero wrote and directed alongside Lilly Wachowski.
Chella Man: Deaf Transgender Artist, Actor, and Advocate
Chella Man has grown a following as a content creator, actor, model, and artist, becoming arguably the most visible AAPI transgender masculine person today. Man sits at the intersection of multiple identities due to being Chinese American, Jewish, transgender, and Deaf.
Man grew up in Central Pennsylvania, losing their hearing starting at age four. They experienced gender dysphoria throughout their entire childhood, struggling to conform to conservative norms within their community.
By the time Man became a teenager, they were profoundly deaf and received their first cochlear implant. Just a couple of years later, Man had their second implant placed in their other ear.
Man began medically transitioning in 2017 after they turned 18, creating their YouTube channel at the same time to document their experiences. Man currently has over 200,000 followers, posting about a variety of topics like vlogs, politics, transition, and American Sign Language.
The following year, Man presented at TEDx to present “Becoming Him” to discuss unique challenges as a disabled transgender youth. The speech, which was uploaded by TEDx Talks, has 300,000 views. Man also signed as IMG’s first Deaf Jewish-Asian model, working with high-profile brands like Calvin Klein, Gap, and American Eagle.
Man was cast as Jericho in DC Universe’s Titans, making their acting debut as a mute crime fighter. Like Man, Jericho is Deaf and uses sign language to communicate – allowing them to relate deeply with the character.
“Casting disabled actors/actresses for disabled roles will aid to authentically represent and deconstruct stereotypes built around our identities.”
In 2021, Man published “Continuum” with Ash Kwak Lukashevsky, an essay-style memoir detailing their life. The book was published with Penguin Random House as the newest addition to Pocket Change Collective, which was a series made from 2020 to 2022 about activism and intersectionality.
Man also began pursuing visual art in 2021 and uploaded “The Beauty of Being Deaf” to their YouTube channel to promote the release of their jewelry collection. The jewelry transforms hearing aids into designer fashion, combining several of Man’s identities and interests as an avenue for other Deaf people to interact with fashion.
Man stepped away from social media for several years before announcing in March 2026 that they were teaming up with Cal Calamia and Schuyler Bailar to compete in the Oceanside Ironman 70.3. Out of the 200 total relay teams, Man finished in third place.
The Ongoing Impact of Transgender AAPI Leaders
Cecila Chung, Kim Coco Iwamoto, Christopher Lee, Geena Rocero, and Chella Man are only a few powerful figures from transgender AAPI history. Transgender history is ongoing, and these individuals exist in a larger, unfinished legacy.