When I catch up with Alok Vaid-Menon it’s the day after the inauguration that returned US President Donald Trump to power.
Like many people who are gender diverse, the rise of Trump and a growing number of anti-transgender policies across the USA, is something that Alok has been watching with dismay. It creates an emotional roller coaster for many people in the LGBTIQA+ communities.
“I teeter between bone chilling fear and a deep calm well of knowing that we’re going to get through this.” Alok shares. “In this particular moment, I’m feeling okay. Who knows after this interview? I might not be.
“It is pretty wild that what was a marginal talking point maybe 10 years ago, has become the mainstream federal policy, this idea of defining gender as biological, if anything, that is a testament to our impact as trans people. We have made such impressive, wholehearted, longstanding strides in every facet of culture, and this backlash is an indication of our influence.” Alok said.
Alok is an intriguing person, visually they challenge gender norms with their striking fashion choices, but underneath that facade is a person with striking intellect, who is also incredibly funny. Alok is many things; hilarious, intimidating, thoughtful, insightful and passionate.
They have a lot of compassion for those who spend their lives rallying against people who are transgender.
“I understand this uptick in transphobia as a lot of non-trans people’s refusal to do their own inner work, that actually they are questioning the gender norms that they are suffering in. And it’s easier to implicate people like me than it is to understand that their own parents, that their own loved ones, that their own places of worship prioritise these mythological fictions like Barbie and Ken over their lived realities and experiences.
“I feel a deep wellspring of compassion for a lot of these people who are suffering and don’t even know it.”
The acclaimed poet, comedian, public speaker, and actor is heading back to Australia and New Zealand in this month for a comedy tour. Alok will begin their tour in Perth on February 13th before heading to Adelaide, Hobart, Brisbane, Auckland, Wellington and Sydney.
As Western Australians head into state and federal elections discussion about the lives of transgender people are already being signaled as campaign topics for the major parties, Alok thinks there’s a clear reason why mainstream politics can’t let people who are transgender and gender-diverse just live their lives.
“There’s a reason why trans people are some of the first people scapegoated; because what we are actually templating for the world is self-determination and freedom.
“You get to question authoritative structures and give birth to yourself. Societies that want to control people want to stifle people who question and show that what is marketed to us as, fixed and absolute, is not.
“Trans people in that way are embodied possibility. Which is the antithesis of authoritarianism. Authoritarianism wants to make the status quo masquerade as the only, and it’s not.
Alok says a crackdown on the rights of people who are transgender and gender-diverse ultimately ends up hurting everyone in society.
“It’s going to have a boomerang effect and impact everyone” they said, arguing that non-trans people might think it has no effect on their lives, but they argue history shows that authoritarianism just moves on to its next target.
“If we allow this to happen to trans people, inevitably, it’s going to come back to you as well.” they said.
In the wake of President Trump’s inauguration ceremony column inches were quickly being filled discussion whether Lauren Sánchez, the partner of Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos had shown too much cleavage at the ceremony. An example of the boomerang effect Alok refers to, will women experience increasing pressure to be demure and cover up?
“We’re the canary in the coal mine.” Alok said, “but this is a much bigger strategy of trying to revert us back to traditional gender norms, which, by the way, the powers that be, never actually practiced.
“I think that’s really important, a lot of these oligarchs, a lot of these leaders, a lot of these authoritarians, historically would preach morality publicly and then privately indulge in whatever they wanted to do. it’s morally inconsistent.”
The solution Alok suggests is not always to be outraged, there’s a desperate need for other responses too.
“I think what’s really important to understand here is that the only way forward is to be extremely silly.” they said.
“I feel so secure about my role as the court jester right now. I feel really gainfully employed as a clown, and I feel so thankful about all the comedic material I’m just being handed for the next four years, every day new jokes.
“I genuinely believe in comedy so much is because comedy allows us to both indulge how difficult and painful something is, and then to alchemise it and detoxify it and make it lose its vice grip on us.
“I’ve seen it in my own life. Whenever I’m going through something painful, I ask myself, ‘Where is the dark joke here?’ And then, if I laugh, something in me loosens, and that thing cannot hurt me in the same way as it was before.” Alok shares.
While in recent years there has been a wave of gay, lesbian and transgender comedians finding success, Alok says it’s unfair to describe this as something new. They argue that queer comedians have always been a force, but in the past were more likely to have been restricted to LGBTIQA+ venues or ended being the behind-the-scenes writers for other performers.
Some of the funniest people in the world according to Alok are Australians.
“Y’all are the funniest queer community in the world. I think it’s something about a mixture of social isolation and just the abject homophobia you ought to deal with, like your unique flavor of trauma has made you play with language so much, just the phrases, the quick wit, – it’s incredible.”
Fashion has always been a huge part of Alok’s world, and as we chat over a Zoom call behind them are racks full of colourful clothes.
“Fashion was the first vocabulary I had to describe who I was on my own terms. I didn’t have a word like queer or trans or non-binary, but I had my mom and my dad’s clothes that I would blend in these weird gender outfits and go outside.”
While Alok now lives in New York, they grew up in Texas as the child of immigrant parents from India and Malaysia.
“I was trying to communicate to the world what you see is not what I see. I’m something different, and it gave me possibility and a sense of control, that I could style myself and therefore, that I owned myself and that I belonged to me in a world where I felt like I belonged to so many other people’s projections and stereotypes.
“It was a really intimate process of giving birth to myself, and now what it means for me is just whimsy. I really just want to have fun. When I see clothes that are like bananas, I’m like, ‘Why would I not wear a banana shirt?’ Because then you get to populate and decorate the world with joy. And what fashion is a vehicle of art that you can take into every space that you go to.” Alok explains.
Alok is looking forward to return to Australia. Their trip down under will come after a tour that will see them perform in Kenya, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.
Having visited Australia several times, Alok shares that they are starting to understand the country better, having been greeted with significant homophobia on their first trip down under.
“Australia is a hard place because there is some really virulent racism and homophobia, and I was reminded this even just running ads for my shows.
“Oh my God, out of the woodwork these guys come in, ‘where’s the torch, burn this faggot’. I’m like, ‘Whoa, where is this?’ It’s this extreme anger that we exist as queer people, and especially as queer brown people.
“But then alongside it, I think the queer community, the Aboriginal community, the migrant community, are some of the most badass, cool, amazing, wonderful people.”
Tickets for Alok’s Hairy Situation tour are on sale now.
