Ah Kua Show star called 'ah kua' by bus driver
By S M Ong
The New Paper
Tuesday, Oct 09, 2012
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Showbiz/Story/A1Story20121008-376224.htmlOn that day, which was Tuesday, Ms Leona Lo, author of From Leonard To Leona: A Singapore Transsexual's Journey To Womanhood, was at the Bedok bus interchange when a uniformed bus driver "shouted 'ah kua' and adopted a woman's gait as he 'sashayed' past" her.
According to Ms Lo's blog, the driver's colleagues "hooted and clapped".
She wrote: "I was stunned and I felt intimidated (one woman versus so many men intent on shaming her)."
The irony is that two years ago, Ms Lo wrote, produced and starred in a stage show called Ah Kua Show and now the name of her show was being used against her.
She once said in an interview promoting the show: "Yes, 'ah kua' is about the most common insult hurled at transsexuals... The title was also chosen because it is our way of re-framing a term that has a negative connotation into something positive."
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Singapore bus driver disciplined after gay slur
Bus driver disciplined for ridiculing trans woman in Singapore
09 October 2012 | By Anna Leach
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/singapore-bus-driver-disciplined-after-gay-slur091012The employers of a bus driver who verbally abused a Singaporean trans woman have agreed to formally discipline him.
Leona Lo complained to bus company SBS transit after one of their drivers shouted 'Ah Kua' (a slur for effeminate men or trans women) 'and adopted a woman's gait as he "sashayed" past me', Lo described on her blog.
When Fridae, an Asian LGBT website, contacted SBS Transit a spokesperson said the bus driver 'is deeply apologetic and we will be taking disciplinary action against him'.
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The SBS Incident – What Really Happened
Posted: October 3, 2012 | Author: leonalo |
http://leonalo.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/the-sbs-incident-what-really-happened/In case you read about this in tomorrow's Straits Times, the incident with the SBS driver has snowballed beyond my original intentions. This has never been about punishing the driver/captain, whatever. I never asked to be abused. I never asked to be the subject of public ridicule. I was on my way to a client meeting yesterday morning when I took the wrong bus. I alighted at Bedok Temporary Interchange. I was late. As I was walking to the MRT station, a bus driver/captain wearing SBS uniform shouted "Ah Kua" and adopted a woman's gait as he "sashayed" past me. His fellow bus drivers – all wearing SBS uniform – hooted and clapped. I was stunned and I felt intimidated (one woman versus so many men intent on shaming her). As I was late, I decided to press on and not confront them. But along the underground pass, I paused to reflect. To walk away from bullies is not my style – unless they are wielding guns and knives. Foolhardiness is also not my style. By the time I returned, the perpetrator was nowhere to be seen. I took some photos and left. The business contact I was supposed to meet was annoyed with me. He smsed me to say we agreed to meet at a certain time but I was late. I explained that I had to settle a case of verbal abuse as a matter of principle.
I did not ask to be abused. I did not want to be late. Yet this is the harsh reality for trans women, young or old, educated or uneducated, single or married – our lives can be cruelly disrupted by unthinking individuals who treat us as objects of ridicule and easy targets.
