Pauline: I have been involved with electoral politics on and off for nearly 20 years, though less so than with movement politics. I co-founded the Out People of Color Political Action Club in 2001, serving as its co-president before OutPOCPAC became inactive, and I co-founded the Guillermo Vázquez Independent Democratic Club of Queens in 2002, serving as its vice president during the all-too-brief life of that LGBT political club. OutPOCPAC was the first, and so far only, political club in New York City organized by and for LGBT people of color. Through OutPOCPAC and GVIDCQ, I became involved in a number of campaigns for candidates for office here.
Monika: Was there a particular campaign that stands out for you as especially significant or memorable?
Pauline: Probably the most controversial but also the most effective campaign I was involved in within the realm of electoral politics was the Anybody But Quinn campaign in 2013. That was a campaign aimed at preventing the openly lesbian New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn from winning the Democratic mayoral primary, and I think ABQ did, in fact, play an important role in helping to deny Chris Quinn the nomination that year.
Monika: How important has love and romantic companionship been in your personal journey?
Pauline: Romance is the one area of my life that has not flourished since I transitioned. In fact, I have not had a single long-term relationship since then. I suspect that most transgender people could easily understand why that might be.
Monika: In 2010 you recorded Barricades Mystérieuses, a collection of piano works by Couperin, Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, and Debussy. What inspired you to take on that project?
Pauline: I am only an amateur pianist, not at all a professional or even close to it, but I am happy that people who have heard Barricades Mystérieuses seem to really like it.
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| Photo by Anh Dao Kolbe. |
Monika: What role has music, and the piano in particular, played in your life?
Pauline: Piano music has played an enormously important role in my life, and the miracle is not so much that I recorded a CD, but rather that I did so after not having seriously practiced for 25 years before buying an upright piano over a decade ago and recovering my piano technique. Playing the piano, as well as accompanying myself while singing, is my favorite thing in the world to do, and it has sustained me through many ups and downs. Not only is it extremely important as an aesthetic discipline and spiritual practice, it has also helped sustain me as an activist by giving me a means of creative expression and a way of dealing with the frustrations that I experience as an activist.
Monika: Many transgender women choose to share their journeys through memoirs. Have you ever considered writing one yourself?
Pauline: Yes, and I have had many friends encourage me to do so. I have written autobiographical essays, but I think I will leave my memoirs until after I write a few other books first.
Monika: Are there any new projects you are currently working on, in addition to the causes you have been involved with for many years?
Pauline: Yes, both new projects and ongoing ones. I just stepped down as executive director of Queens Pride House after more than three years in that role. I was the first openly transgender executive director of an LGBT community center in the city or state of New York, as well as the first Asian American in such a position. I was also one of only two openly transgender executive directors of an LGBT community center in the country, and one of only two Asian American executive directors of such a center nationwide. But I am continuing to serve as coordinator of the transgender support group at Queens Pride House, which I revived four years ago after it had fallen apart, and I have been leading it ever since.
Monika: Beyond Queens Pride House, is there another initiative that has become especially important to you in recent years?
Pauline: My biggest relatively new activist project has been my work with New York City Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, which I co-founded in 2011 in response to a ban on Palestine solidarity organizing at the New York City LGBT Community Center in Manhattan.
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| Discussion with Pauline Park (YouTube) |
Monika: That sounds like a highly challenging endeavor. How did your work with QAIA lead to other opportunities, and what has been the reaction?
Pauline: Partly because of my work with QAIA, I was invited to participate in the first US LGBTQ delegation tour of Palestine in January 2012. My Palestine solidarity work is by far the most controversial activism I have ever been involved in, far more controversial than any mainstream LGBT activism or advocacy I have done. Challenging Israeli occupation and apartheid necessarily means taking on the Israel lobby, which is very powerful, especially in New York, the epicenter of the Zionist machine. Very few queer activists in the US are willing to do so.
Monika: What advice would you give to transgender girls who are struggling with gender dysphoria?
Pauline: I have a very particular perspective on gender dysphoria, which I think is a problematic concept. As I like to say, I don't think I have a gender identity disorder; I think society has a gender identity disorder. I would recommend joining a transgender support group to anyone who is struggling with gender identity issues.
Monika: Pauline, it has been such a pleasure speaking with you. Thank you for taking the time for this interview.
Pauline: You are most welcome. Thank you for the invitation~!
END OF PART 2
All photos: courtesy of Pauline Park.
© 2015 - Monika Kowalska
Some documentaries with Pauline Park:
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