In Singapore, the fight of transgender actress Medli Dorothea Loo facing rejection from the authorities and the entertainment industry

A child star revealed in independent films and mainstream television series, Singaporean actress Medli Dorothea Loo has seen her career hampered in a socially conservative city-state since coming out.

Although Singapore is home to a vibrant LGBTQ community, activists report stigmatization of transgender people, workplace discrimination and family rejection. “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,” confides to AFP the 20-year-old actress who came out in 2021.

Artists like Madame Loo are rare in the city-state where strict guidelines limit the representation of LGBTQ characters in the media, forcing it to turn to the less regulated theater scene. Singapore repealed a British colonial law criminalizing sex between men in 2022. But authorities said controls on LGBTQ media content would remain in place.

Negative representations

According to regulations, films and television shows dedicated to “alternative sexualities” and gender identities are prohibited for those under 16 and cannot be broadcast on free television channels. Although official guidelines place no restrictions on queer artists, activists say producers self-censor, due to their own biases or fear of backlash from audiences or sponsors.

“The few representations that we see (…) are very unfortunate negative representations, playing on very hurtful stereotypes according to which trans people are either criminals or deviant people,” laments Leow Yangfa, executive director of Oogachaga, a local nonprofit providing counseling services to the LGBTQ community.

Repercussions on his career

After growing up in a Catholic family, Medli Dorothea Loo began acting in a short film at the age of seven. She went on to appear in TV shows, films and stage productions, and earned a theater degree. Her biggest role was in 2017 in the drama series Lion Mums 2, where she played a student who commits suicide after being caught cheating during a badminton tournament.

“Being able to express pain in this role helped me deal with my own pain at that time,” she explains, recalling an experience “cathartic” as she suffered from gender dysphoria and mental health issues. When after researching online she finally realized she was a girl trapped in a boy’s body, “It was not a moment of joy or relief.”

“I felt fear and dread, because I knew that if I really was who I was, I risked losing my entire career, my family and all my friends,” she adds. She then repressed her desire to transition until depression forced her to confront the problem, before announcing it to her parents.

Although her mother took the news badly, her father provided her with consent forms for hormone replacement treatment at a private clinic. But she knew that coming out would have repercussions on her career. “I was right, I haven’t worked on television since coming out,” she assures.

The theater and the foreigner as Eldorados

She also lost hundreds of followers on Instagram and producers she had worked with in the past stopped calling, even for non-male roles. The young woman then focused on stage productions, subject to less strict official guidelines, notably appearing in a musical inspired by Snow White as a non-binary dwarf.

But despite these small victories, she still feels her options are limited and so is now applying to performing schools abroad in the hope of securing more rewarding jobs. “I think it’s the only way for me to be seen as an actress beyond my gender identity. Which is a little sad, because it’s home,” she says. “If I had the means to flourish as an artist here, I would stay”.