Finding the Real Me

News.NCMOnline.com – Xiaoqing Rong

Sing Tao Daily, News Feature, translated by Eugenia Chien

Editor?s Note: Advocate Pauline Park, an Asian transgender woman who was adopted by a Caucasian couple, says she has finally found a sense of belonging.

The famous Chinese movie star Chen Xiao Ching once said, ?It?s hard being a person, harder being a woman, and even harder being a famous woman.? What about being a transgender woman? Pauline Park, the chair of the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy, understands best the weight of this question.

Whenever someone asks Park where she is from, Park never knows how to answer. Park and her brother were adopted by a Caucasian couple from a Korean orphanage when Park was only eight months old. Growing up in a small town in Wisconsin, Park and his brother were the only non-white residents. When he was in elementary school, teachers and parents looked at Park and his brother curiously and asked, ?Whose children are these??