a trans actor finds the stage in Singapore

Published on: 03/26/2024 – 06:39

4 minutes

Even though Singapore is home to a vibrant LGBTQ community, activists say transgender people still face stigma, from workplace discrimination to family rejection.

With LGBTQ characters effectively excluded from free-to-air television, performers like Loo are rare in Singapore media.

“In the Singaporean space, trans people are just jokes,” the 20-year-old young woman explains to AFP.

“I think being on stage as a trans body, as a trans voice, is a little act of rebellion. It's like a kind of middle finger to 'Singaporean values,'” said Loo, who has turned more towards theater since it was released in 2021.

Her last appearance was in January in a small documentary theater production TRANS:MISSION, featuring different generations of trans people discussing their lives in Singapore in front of a live audience.

Raised in a Catholic family, she began acting at the age of seven when she starred in the 2011 short film “Cartoons” by award-winning Singaporean filmmaker Ken Kwek.

She has since appeared in television shows, films and stage productions, and graduated from a high school theater program.

“Being able to express pain…helped me deal with my own pain at that time,” she said, calling it “cathartic” as she suffered from gender dysphoria and gender issues. mental health.

“Hurtful stereotypes”

The appearance of queer characters on screen is rare. And when they do, they are loaded with stereotypes in Singapore, where regulations restrict the representation of LGBTQ people in local media, activists say.

In 2022, Singapore repealed a British colonial law criminalizing sexual relations between men, but authorities said controls on LGBTQ media content would remain.

Rating guidelines state that adult-themed films and TV shows – including “alternative sexualities” and gender identities – are generally restricted to those aged 16 and over, meaning they cannot appear on free television channels.

Although the guidelines place no restrictions on queer artists, activists say producers may have their own biases or fear backlash from audiences or sponsors.

The “little representation” on Singapore screens “is part of a pattern of very unfortunate negative portrayals or portrayals of trans characters, fueling very hurtful stereotypes that trans people are either criminals or deviants,” said Leow Yangfa, executive director of Oogachaga, a non-profit organization. offer advice to LGBTQ people.

When she began questioning her gender identity at the age of 13, Loo turned to the internet and American YouTubers became her main source of information.

“There is virtually no trans representation in Singapore,” she said, adding: “I just didn’t think it was possible for me to do this (transition).”

“Fear and dread”

She said that when her online research led her to realize she was a girl trapped in a boy's body, “it was not a moment of joy and relief.”

It was more about “fear and dread, because I knew that if that was really who I was, I could risk losing my entire career and risk losing my family and all my friends.”

She repressed being trans until depression forced her to seek therapy before telling her parents.

Her mother took the news badly, but her father signed consent forms for hormone replacement therapy at a private clinic because she was a minor.

Loo documented her transition on the video app TikTok, telling thousands of followers about the impact of the treatment she received.

As she expected, her career took a hit after her release.

“I haven’t done any television work since coming out,” she said.

She lost hundreds of followers on Instagram. The producers she had previously worked with stopped calling. And she resorted to less restricted staging.

But despite these small victories, she feels her options are limited.

“I want to be an artist beyond being trans…I think the only way for me to have a fulfilling career is not to be here” in Singapore.

2024 AFP