WILLY WILKINSON: In 1987, I never could’ve imagined that I could really come out as a
trans person. And that I could really, 30 years later,
be building community and organizing an API transmasculine retreat.
[INTRO MUSIC]
PATRICK G. LEE: We’re bringing you a 5-part series on queer and trans Asian-Pacific Islander
history. But in doing research for this project, we found that a lot of the early history is very
lesbian and gay-focused, which left us wanting to learn more about trans and genderqueer
organizing.
So to find out more, we decided to go to Oakland to talk to folks at the Transgender Law Center.
[MUSIC]
KRIS HAYASHI: The Transgender Law Center is the largest national trans-led organization
advocating for self-determination for all people.
We are committed to racial justice and we move a wide range of community-based strategies
to keep trans and gender nonconforming people alive, thriving, and fighting for liberation.
So these are fliers and information about API TransFusion which, as far as I know, was
likely the first or at least one of the first national gatherings for Asian and Pacific
Islander transmasculine people here in the U.S.
It was really important that API TransFusion happened -- particularly that it happened
when it did.
2017 under the new administration has been a particular moment for the trans community,
a particular moment for the Asian and Pacific Islander community, where we’ve just seen
an incredible increase in violence, in hate, and in discrimination.
And I think what struck me the most about being at API TransFusion was the opportunity
to connect with and hear from API transmasculine people who are our really elders and to be
able to hear from them about what it was like 30, 40 years ago.
[MUSIC]
PATRICK: After talking with Kris, we realized that if we were going to find out more about
the beginnings of API transmasculine organizing, we’d have to dig into what was happening
in the ‘70s and ‘80s even before much language or awareness around
trans identities existed.
So to help us out on this front, we decided to go to San Francisco to talk to
Trinity Ordona, a Filipino-American lesbian who's been a civil rights activist
for more than 40 years.
TRINITY ORDONA: I started organizing Asian lesbians in the 1980s so the most important
thing to say is that there have been gays and lesbians in all the social movements and
we’re a part of the civil rights movement and empowerment movements, but communities
of color are also not immune to homophobia.
To be out in those political movements was political suicide.
APIQT was the first API queer group to have trans inclusion and that’s now, what, how
many years… decades ago.
Almost 25 years ago.
But that’s we got API Queer Women & Transgender Community, and it’s about a 15 year process
of first, finding out who we are, making sure we’re including, and then finding out where
we’re excluding and changing that, and then finding out where we need to open our minds
and hearts and including that.
[MUSIC]
PATRICK: Two names that kept coming up in our conversations was Chino Scott-Chung and
Willy Wilkinson.
I found out that Chino is a retired firefighter and Willy, a public health consultant, and
that both currently live in Oakland.
CHINO SCOTT-CHUNG: A group of us organized the first ever API transmasculine retreat.
WILLY WILKINSON: There were kind of rumblings amongst a small community of API trans guys
that we really needed an opportunity to get together and to be able to really build community,
see a reflection in each other…
CHINO: It’s funny because Willy and I were at the 1987 Valley of the Moon first ever
Asian/Pacific Lesbian Retreat.
WILLY: This was the first retreat, which took place in May 1987.
CHINO: I didn’t know what to say, I didn’t know how to feel except just…
“Wow, this is the most amazing thing I had ever seen in my life.”
WILLY: “Look at all these different folks -- we have similarities, we have differences,
and look at us: we are all sharing this experience in that we’re all API and that we’re all lesbians."
I started working with organizing the Dragon Club in 1995, a very small group of folks
who, at the time, called ourselves “butch FTM.”
You know, we were butch, we were FTM – female to male – that’s the language that we
used back then, and basically we were in different places on a transmasculine spectrum.
CHINO: As the trans community started growing and started becoming more visible, you know,
then I just really changed my identity from “butch” to trans and felt like that was
more who I was.
WILLY: You know, we were all coming out of the lesbian community.
Part of our work at that time was also helping the larger API folks understand trans issues,
and that was a process.
Many people saw us as traitors, that it wasn’t OK to be trans, we were really just trying
to understand trans issues, and we were really just trying to understand who we were in terms
of our gender and what that meant.
CHINO: We had a conference in LA.
I organized a panel, a trans panel.
There were people packed into the room, out the door, trying to get in.
It was just incredible.
I had no idea that was going to happen.
I was the only trans person at this meeting.
I remember there was a young whippersnapper there.
She was very, very vocal and she said, “No, we don’t want men coming in our community.”
I just remember saying, “I’ve been in this community 15 years and I’m trans and
if you’re not going to allow trans people in, you’ve gotta kick me out.”
And I felt so alone and so targeted in that moment and clearly, the panel and the workshop
had a big impact because then that organization went on to change.
WILLY: When I look back at it, I am really proud that our community really did the work
to really try and understand that and change their name and be embracing of different experiences
and identities.
CHINO: Young people are so gender fluid.
I feel so proud and I feel just proud of these young people, you know?
And I’m proud that I’ve been a part of that.