Kara Chang stepped out in front of 8,000 incoming UCLA freshmen during Welcome Week in the fall and told the story of how she had come out as transgender five months before.
“When I look in the mirror now, I see a strong, independent, queer, transgender, non-binary Taiwanese-American human being,” Chang told the students. “Today I fight and refuse to remain silent any longer.”
Since then, Chang, a fourth-year communications studies student and the first openly transgender student to be a resident assistant at UCLA, has been an active member in many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movements both on and off campus.
On Tuesday, she gave a presentation on LGBT terminology and the differences between gender and sexual orientation at the Born to Be Alive: Drag Appreciation and Show, hosted in the Northwest Campus Auditorium by the Sigma Lambda Gamma sorority.
“There are so many people out there who feel suppressed, and I was that kid. I was that person for so many years of my life,” Chang said. “If you told 5-year-old me, ‘One day you will be Kara,’ that would completely blow 5-year-old me’s mind.”
Chang said she was born in a conservative Taiwanese family in a conservative Houston suburb and went to a conservative church.
“Growing up, I faced a lot of negativity,” Chang said. “I was called ‘gay’ and ‘faggot’ on the playground before I knew what those words meant.”
She added students pushed her down stairs, boys harassed her in the bathroom and people sent her anonymous death threats online.
“When you grow up being told so much that you deserve to die, you begin to believe it,” Chang said. “And when nobody tells you otherwise, what are you supposed to believe?”
She was the first person from her high school to ever be admitted to UCLA, Chang said.
When she first attended UCLA, Chang still used masculine pronouns.
“For the first few years I was really trying to claim my masculinity because that was something I was never really allowed to do,” Chang said. “I tried to be one of the guys, but once I finally got that, I realized, ‘Wait, this isn’t what I wanted at all.’”
Susana Min, a fourth-year political science student who met Chang during their freshman year, said Chang always seemed confident. Min added she later learned Chang was struggling with her gender identity.
“It really taught me that there’s a lot more going on behind people’s facade,” Min said.
In February 2015, Chang announced on Facebook she would now be going by the name Kara and using feminine pronouns.
“It just felt right,” Chang said. “But I’m a fighter, each and every day, and I’m fighting for my right to thrive in this world, and I’m never giving up, never taking no for an answer.”
Chang has served as director of Pan-Asian Queers for three years, sits on the UCLA LGBTQ Student Leadership Council, volunteers for the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team and is a member of Trans Students Educational Resources, a national organization that promotes visibility and education on trans issues in the education system.
She also canvasses with the Leadership LAB, part of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, and goes door to door to discuss LGBT issues with registered voters.
“It’s been really rewarding, being able to engage in conversations with real life people and see the minds being changed then and there,” Chang said. “I’ve definitely put a face to an issue for so many people who’ve never met anyone who’s quite like me.”
Jeremy Gozzip, a design | media arts student who graduated in January, became friends with Chang when she joined the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity.
“She’s really embodied what we’re trying to do (as a service fraternity),” Gozzip said. “The entire experience of her transitioning was a learning journey for all of us.”
Gozzip said he saw Chang open people’s minds about perceptions of gender when the two went shopping with Gozzip’s mother during Thanksgiving break.
“At this one store, there was this really loud, pink furry vest that Kara ended up trying on, and my mom was loving it,” Gozzip said. “It was really nice to see somebody like my mom learning from the whole experience and treating her as if it was just her natural self.”
After graduating, Chang said she plans to continue standing up for other members of the LGBT community but is still deciding how best she can do so.
“My whole life has really been about building communities where people can … feel loved and accepted for who they are, and not for who the world wants them to be,” Chang said.
Last summer, Chang participated in a gender dialogue with 50 middle school-aged girls, as part of her volunteer work for the Taiwanese American Foundation, which holds mentorship camps for children in grade school.
Chang said one of the girls asked her what it was like to have periods and was completely surprised when Chang wasn’t able to tell her.
“It was the sweetest and most genuine reaction,” Chang said. “It was heartwarming that she saw me for who I was on the inside.”