Cecilia Chung is nationally recognized as a civil rights leader, advocating for HIV/AIDS awareness and care, LGBT equality, social justice and human rights. She is currently a Health Commissioner in San Francisco where she is the first trans woman appointed to the position by Mayor Ed Lee. Cecilia was also the first trans woman and first person living openly with HIV elected Chair to the San Francisco Human Rights Commission where she has served for over seven years. An immigrant from Hong Kong, Cecilia has lived in San Francisco for over 20 years where she has worked locally and internationally to advance equality and justice. During that time, she has broken ground in a number of ways including: being the first transgender woman and first Asian to be elected to lead the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Celebration; the first transgender woman and first person living openly with HIV to Chair the San Francisco Human Rights Commission; and, an architect of the nation’s most ambitious publicly funded program addressing economic justice within the transgender community.

For almost two decades, she has worked to advance equality and justice both locally and internationally. In 1994 she was a member of the Transgender Discrimination Taskforce, which released a groundbreaking report by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, documenting widespread discrimination against trans people. The report led the City to adopt many pioneering anti-discrimination ordinances and policies. She is the former Deputy Director of the Transgender Law Center, has also served on a number of planning bodies, including the San Francisco HIV Health Services Planning Council, and was a trainer of Community Planning for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). In 2001, she was elected President of the Board of Directors of San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Celebration, becoming the first Asian and first trans gender women to hold the position, and she lead the Board to a new standard of inclusion and excellence. In 2004, as a founding producer of Trans March, she helped organize one of the world’s largest annual trans events.

Cecilia has dedicated herself to ending stigma, discrimination, and violence in all communities.