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We spoke to someone who has made fashion her tool for advocacy. For the purpose of this article, we will refer to her as “Rose”. Rose is a fashion designer and an activist for trans rights. She started her journey as an activist with the YOH Sri Lanka and is currently working with the NTN (National Transgender Network) for the welfare of the trans community.
Looking back at her journey, Rose said: “When I was doing my degree at the Open University, I had not gone through the transition process. I was a boy for three years in that environment and I had to go through a substantial amount of verbal bullying. I was the only boy in my course and I had chosen women’s wear for my final-year project, so there was a lot of toxic energy. In the meantime, I used trans women as my models for my designs and I decided to do a whole different style of design. Everyone in my university was intrigued by this new change. I came out as a trans person in my final year, and surprisingly the verbal abuse stopped and everybody including my lecturers wanted to learn about trans rights, LGBTIQ persons, and their rights.”
When asked why trans visibility is important for advocacy purposes, Rose stated that when she first spoke to her mother about her situation, her mother said: “Don’t be trans, be gay”. Her reasoning had been that no one will be able to find out about her if she was gay but becoming a trans person is a visible change. “This is the thing…trans persons are a very identifiable community amongst LGBTIQ people. The decision to become a trans person is a massive risk a person takes, especially in our society. Thus, visibility itself is advocacy and inspiration for others who are going through the same thing that we are.”
“There is also the fact that most people, especially those who are not from the community, perceive trans people in different ways and this depends on what they have been exposed to over the years. So in order to paint ourselves as just people and not sexual tools, advocacy is crucial,” she added.
Speaking of her personal approach to activism, Rose explained that her approach to activism is through fashion and her personality. “Whatever said and done, people are drawn to things they see first, and since I love fashion there is no reason to not take advantage of that. I believe one’s style is reflective of who they are. It mirrors one’s personality so I am very glad that I can talk to someone about my fashion choices before opening a conversation about my gender identity. Once you get to know a person well, gender identity is an insignificant fact.”
Talking about the societal perception of the LGBTIQ community, Rose said that our society is not accepting of the community because of the lack of knowledge. “What they know about us is that we are different and we requested for our rights. We need to give people more context; we need to give them the right information and make them understand that being an LGBTIQ person is not a choice. It is also very important to approach them with the right attitude. It is not fair to expect people to accept something they know the least about overnight. This is a time consuming process. And I am aware that most people in our country use culture as an excuse to remain ignorant, but I believe culture is the only way we can get through to them. For example, our people are very attached to the concept of referring to people as “aiya”, “akka”, “nangi”, “malli”, etc. so we should use these terms to talk to them with the respect they usually want from people and show them that we are just like them and start a conversation about LGBTIQ persons.”
Finally, we asked Rose if she thinks the youth of the country has a responsibility to help change the societal view on minority communities, to which she said that this country belongs to the youth. They are the future generation and it is very important that we reach them. According to Rose, they need to be explained the importance of a change of attitude and the need to take responsibility for their country. “As advocates, I believe we need to befriend more people from outside the community. We should talk to them about our concerns and make them understand that as people, we should stop sticking to our safe zones and start doing things a little differently.”
We spoke to someone who has made fashion her tool for advocacy. For the purpose of this article, we will refer to her as “Rose”. Rose is a fashion designer and an activist for trans rights. She started her journey as an activist with the YOH Sri Lanka and is currently working with the NTN (National Transgender Network) for the welfare of the trans community.
Looking back at her journey, Rose said: “When I was doing my degree at the Open University, I had not gone through the transition process. I was a boy for three years in that environment and I had to go through a substantial amount of verbal bullying. I was the only boy in my course and I had chosen women’s wear for my final-year project, so there was a lot of toxic energy. In the meantime, I used trans women as my models for my designs and I decided to do a whole different style of design. Everyone in my university was intrigued by this new change. I came out as a trans person in my final year, and surprisingly the verbal abuse stopped and everybody including my lecturers wanted to learn about trans rights, LGBTIQ persons, and their rights.”
When asked why trans visibility is important for advocacy purposes, Rose stated that when she first spoke to her mother about her situation, her mother said: “Don’t be trans, be gay”. Her reasoning had been that no one will be able to find out about her if she was gay but becoming a trans person is a visible change. “This is the thing…trans persons are a very identifiable community amongst LGBTIQ people. The decision to become a trans person is a massive risk a person takes, especially in our society. Thus, visibility itself is advocacy and inspiration for others who are going through the same thing that we are.”
“There is also the fact that most people, especially those who are not from the community, perceive trans people in different ways and this depends on what they have been exposed to over the years. So in order to paint ourselves as just people and not sexual tools, advocacy is crucial,” she added.
Speaking of her personal approach to activism, Rose explained that her approach to activism is through fashion and her personality. “Whatever said and done, people are drawn to things they see first, and since I love fashion there is no reason to not take advantage of that. I believe one’s style is reflective of who they are. It mirrors one’s personality so I am very glad that I can talk to someone about my fashion choices before opening a conversation about my gender identity. Once you get to know a person well, gender identity is an insignificant fact.”
Talking about the societal perception of the LGBTIQ community, Rose said that our society is not accepting of the community because of the lack of knowledge. “What they know about us is that we are different and we requested for our rights. We need to give people more context; we need to give them the right information and make them understand that being an LGBTIQ person is not a choice. It is also very important to approach them with the right attitude. It is not fair to expect people to accept something they know the least about overnight. This is a time consuming process. And I am aware that most people in our country use culture as an excuse to remain ignorant, but I believe culture is the only way we can get through to them. For example, our people are very attached to the concept of referring to people as “aiya”, “akka”, “nangi”, “malli”, etc. so we should use these terms to talk to them with the respect they usually want from people and show them that we are just like them and start a conversation about LGBTIQ persons.”
Finally, we asked Rose if she thinks the youth of the country has a responsibility to help change the societal view on minority communities, to which she said that this country belongs to the youth. They are the future generation and it is very important that we reach them. According to Rose, they need to be explained the importance of a change of attitude and the need to take responsibility for their country. “As advocates, I believe we need to befriend more people from outside the community. We should talk to them about our concerns and make them understand that as people, we should stop sticking to our safe zones and start doing things a little differently.”