Worded by:

PHOENIX - KIEREN - ACE

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A
huge problem occurs from
within the gay community
that everybody seems to
ignore is the boycotting of the
feminine-acting homosexual
men (“fem”, short for feminine).
Many straight-acting gay men
(“masc”, short for masculine)
disassociated themselves from
the gay community is because of
the femininity that are commonly
linked to the word “gay”.
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Anti-Fem
Sitting with us is Jonathan As told by John “I used to de-
Truong, a self-identified “masc”. spise them. I felt they were too
John admitted to be a fem-pho- gross, too weird, and too girly.
bic years ago. He explains the They were never my type to
reasoning for his actions was date nor to befriend. I was being
because “that’s what society told homophobic, even though I am
us to do”. Growing up in a homo- a homosexual man.”
phobic environment (the 1990s),
Johnathan was told to “act like
a man” every time he tries to
expresses himself. Those words
subconsciously stuck with John,
making him feel uncomfortable
around other “fems”.
mininity
For a “fem”, life could be Quy Tran, a feminine homosex- The negativity from his surround-

F
tough especially when you have ual man, is one of the few who is ings made him afraid to express his
or awith
to deal “fem”, life could be from
discrimination Quy Tran, enough
fortunate a feminine homo-
to have friends The negativity
individuality. from
The only histime
sur-when
both tough
straightespecially when you
and gay “masc” peo- sexual
who man, is
support oneThroughout
him. of the few his roundings
he can truly made him afraid
be himself to
is when
have to deal with dis-
ple. Feminine homosexual men are whoheishas
life, fortunate
dealt withenough to of
a fair-share express
he is with his individuality.
himself. More Theoften
crimination
often lookedfrom downbothby theparties.
“masc”. have friends who
discrimination from support him.
both parties. only time when he can truly
than not, he is criticized in every
Feminine homosexual men
If you look on some of the gay dat- “I think my his
Throughout favorite
life, heones
haswould
dealt be
wayhimself
possible.is He
whenwashe is with
told to “tone
are
ing often
apps, looked
such asdownGrindr,by the
Jack’d, be
with‘why can’t you be
a fair-share of like one of the
discrimina- himself. More often than
down the gay voice”, “walk normal- not, he
“masc”. If you look
Adam4Adam, moston somewould
profiles of straight is
ly”,criticized in every wayyoupossi-
tion from both parties. “Imy
gay guy?’ from peers
think “stop gesturing when talk”,
the gay dating apps, such
say “no fems, no sissy, no faggots”.as and family”. ones would be ‘why ble. He was told to “tone down
etc. As he puts it: “It is unjust when
my favorite
Grindr, Jack’d, Adam4Adam,
The homophobia from within mostthe the
peoplegaysay
voice”,
they“walk
acceptnormally”,
gay people,
can’t you be like one of the
profiles
homosexual would say “no fems,
community no
is surreal. “stop
but theygesturing whenexclude
completely you talk”,the
Gay people often paradesfrom around, straight gay guy?’ from my peers partAs where theyit:still
sissy”. The homophobia etc. he puts “It isdiscriminate
unjust
saying they
within want equality
the homosexual for all;
commu- and family”. feminine-gay
when peoplemen”.
say they accept
but more
nity oftenGay
is surreal. thanpeople
not, they
oftenare gay people, but they completely
referring to the straight-acting
parades around, saying they exclude the part where they still
ones.
want It is ironicfor
equality andall,hypocritical.
making it discriminate feminine-gay men”.
both ironic and hypocritical.
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Secret Affair
We all had a chance to sit with V and M, and listen to their stories
that’s been on their minds for quite sometimes. These two girls has
loved each other for over 6 years. The fact that lesbian community is
deemed unaccepted some countries made their 6-year story sorrowful.


“S
ix-year secret relationship” is the
thing that she is thinking about right
now. Six years is not short nor long.
Until now, she still reminisces that time - the
first time that she decided to confide her real
sexual orientation to her parents. She was 19.
It seems like it just happened yesterday.

“Mom shouted at me, dad did not say anything

but he showed distinct disapproval on his
face. I love M. M had been my significant other
for 2 years then, now 6. I wanted to bring her
home to my parents, so I decided to come out.
But then, after seeing their reactions, I kept
her a secret.”

V cares about her family’s feeling but she also

loves M. V told us she tries her best to please
her family while still dating M. Her parents
are still in the denial phase. They keep acting
as if V had never actually came out. Now, even
though V loves M so dearly, she could never
bring herself up to tell her parents about M.

“A
t that moment, she decided to call me
and sobbed violently, she said that
she had come out to her parents. But
unfortunately the result was as I expected. I
anticipated this call, but still, I could not calm
her down. That night was disastrous. She was
crying, yelling at her parents, threatening to
commit suicide, it was awful. I managed to
make her feel better so we hang up but when I
see her the next morning, she had lots of cuts
on her arms”.

Unlike V, M has not come out to her parents.
She expected her parents to be very open
minded but at the same time, she cannot take
that risk. M opens up about her dreams, saying
that in the perfect world, she and V would live
happily in a modern apartment, with two kids.
When asked about whether or not she would
come out to her parents, she simply smiles and
say “no”. She knows that one day they would
eventually find out, but she has hopes that it’ll
make the relationship stronger.
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 Gender Dysphoria

S
itting with us is Hoang Nguyen, and a now-gen-
tleman. He is one of the many pre-op (pre-opera-
tion) transgender people with hopes that one day
they could afford to have the surgery.

Hoang describes that he did not feel like he wanted to

be a man until he is at around the age of 14. “It’s just
that at that moment, my breasts began to get in the
way, and I wondered why I even have them, and is there
a way not-to-have them?” he jokingly said, then added
“but I kept assuming that I would get over it in the
future, and spoiler alert, I didn’t”

At the age of 16 is when he started to “butch up”, like

one of those stereotypical lesbian girls you would
normally find on TV sitcoms. He started to cut his hair
short, wear t-shirt and jeans, sneakers. Overall, he
looked like a regular teenage boy, and even the store
clerks thought so, until they heard his voice and got his
preferred gender pronoun mixed up.

“The worst part about “butching up” is that you have to

wear a binder” he stated, “Binders are worse than bras,
it holds your breasts in tight so you wouldn’t feel its
existence, and usually it leaves bruises. The only saving
grace are the heavenly feeling when you take them off”.

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Even though it is the 21st century, transgender-related topics are still very tabooed
subjects even within this modern society. Most people’s argument is that your “gender”
is defined by what genital you were born with. Reality says otherwise. People associ-
ated themselves with a different gender at different ages. While most grew out of it,
some remains convinced they should have been born as a different gender instead.
Gender dysphoria is the exact reason why sex reassignment surgeries were born, to
help those that feel uncomfortable in their own bodies achieving their desired sex.
However, the procedure is costly and illegal in most countries.

N
ow at the age of 25, Hoang has a stable career
as a tattoo artist. If everything goes according
to plan, he could have his very first sex reassign-
ment surgery before he reaches 27.

He has been planning on this since 20; and hearing

himself say so passionately almost brought tears to
all our eyes. The journey there was not easy. He had
conflicts with his parents when he finally came out as
transgender. At one point, things got intense; bottles
were thrown, scars were made, etc. Up to the point
where his parents eventually disowned him.

“I was around 22 at that point, and when that happens,

I was forced to live in the tattoo parlor that I work in.
My friend, the owner of that place, was nice enough to
let me stay until one of his roommate moves out and I
actually have some place to stay”

Fortunately for Hoang, his parents had tried to recon-

nect with him after a year of abandonment, and had
been welcoming the idea of having a son, instead of a
daughter.

“Everyone deserves a happy ending, even the misfits

like me. I hope the surgery comes out as successful,
with little to no complications. I hope that when I get
my life together, I can find someone that can look pass
all of this, and be appreciative of me throughout all of
this”.
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The images are for illustrational purposes and all
names have been altered by the request of the
interviewee.
The images are for illustrational purposes and
all names have been altered by the request of
the interviewee.

The images are taken by:

PHOENIX - KIEREN - JACK - VAN
Designed by: ACE