Hacker-turned-official speaks of her cross-gender orientation

Taiwan's youngest-ever minister without portfolio, Audrey Tang (??), opened her inner world to the public Monday, as her cross-gender sexual orientation has drawn as much attention as her talents in the cyber world.

As a teenager, she discovered that what she wanted was not simply to become a girl but to be both a boy and a girl, the 35-year-old hacker-turned-official recalled in a television interview.

"It is like learning English. It does not mean I have to give up Mandarin or Taiwanese dialect," said Tang, who was born in 1981 as a boy named Tang Tsung-han (???).

She changed her name in 2005 when she declared herself on her blog to have a cross-gender orientation.

Describing the nature of being a woman or man as a kind of language, "it's both fine for me" to be either a woman or a man, Tang said, adding that "there are many languages on Earth."

She also disclosed in the interview her relationship with a partner, with whom she has been for over 10 years, like "two fates entangled."

They live together, along with two dogs and seven cats, which she calls her "animal companions."

A self-styled "civic hacker" involved in several online projects on public participation in policy discussions, Tang took office on Oct. 1 as a minister without portfolio in the new government led by the Democratic Progressive Party.

She is tasked with being in charge of issues pertaining to the digital economy and open government, according to the Cabinet.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel