Hello!
I’m a trans man living in the US. I’ve lived in the US my entire life. I don’t speak Korean and have virtually no exposure to the culture. I am only 1/4 Korean as well and I thought for a while that I was white passing, though I got a rude awakening during the pandemic.
My father was born in Seoul but his family immigrated to the US when he was very young. He also has very little exposure to the culture and language because his mother wanted him and his siblings to assimilate. He is 1/2 Korean and has faced racism his whole life, so he raised me and my brother thinking of ourselves as white. It was only during the lockdowns in the US that I really started to understand that I am not completely white. My grandmother (we called her Harmony because my brother and I mixed up halmeoni and Harmony) immigrated to the US with her American husband after the Korean War.
Recently, Harmony died. I was devastated to lose her and, as I grieved her, I started wanting to connect with her culture more. We grew up eating her food and listening to her stories, but once she passed my only connection to her culture went with her.
As I transition, I’ve given some thought to maybe giving myself a Korean name as a way to honor Harmony and keep a little bit of our connection to our heritage. However, I hesitate to do that because, since I have little connection to Korean culture myself, it feels dangerously close to cultural appropriation. I’d like to get a second opinion if that’s possible.
If you’ve read this far, thank you very much!
submitted by /u/TransTabletop
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