Tamara Ching

Tamara Ching is an American trans woman and San Francisco Bay Area transgender activist. Also known as the "God Mother of Polk [Street]", she is an advocate for trans, HIV, and sex work-related causes.

Early life and education

Ching was born in 1949 and grew up in the Tenderloin district in San Francisco, California. She is multi-racial and has German, Hawaiian, and Chinese ancestry. Throughout her teen years, she became a sex worker as a way of survival. Ching was empowered to address the contemporary issues related to her experience as a sex worker. Suffering with diabetes and hepatitis C, she continues to do work within the transgender and sex worker community since the 1960s and strives to create a space for young trans people.

Activism

• Transgender and commercial sex work advocacy.
• Endorsed Proposition K during the November 2008 San Francisco general election, which did not pass.

Honors and awards

• Honored in a Clarion Alley mural portraying trans women activists in the Mission District of San Francisco, California. Created in 2012 by Tanya Wischerath.
• Best Community Service by and Individual award, Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club
• Visibility Award and Volunteer of the Year, GAPA Community HIV Prevention Project
• Lifetime Achievement Commendation, CA State Senate
• Most Empowering Transgender Individual in San Francisco, Team SF

Interviews

• Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria. A documentary by Susan Stryker.

Published work

• Ching, Tamara. "Stranger in Paradise: Tamara Ching's Journey to the Gender Divide." A. Magazine 3.1 (1993): 85-86

Personal life

Ching lives in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, where she has lived since 1992.

References