ARTIST Jake Zyrus recently posted a photo on Instagram of his cover for Tatler Asia. In his caption, he aptly thanked the magazine for creating visibility for the transgender community.
After this, however, Jake started to receive some negative comments about his life before his transition, with one of them even using his deadname.
“Sayang boses mo Charice,” the comment read. “Bakit si Ice Seguera trans man pero never binago ang boses. Sayang talaga.”
Jake quickly replied to this comment: “First of all, with respect to my past, keep my deadname out of your silly mouth. And darling, it’s because [Ice] hasn’t taken any hormone therapy. It’s a HUGE part of being a trans man.”
He went on to say that he would no longer explain the rest to the commenter, given that they sounded ignorant based on their comment and said that they could use Google for free for their research.
Others quickly came to Jake’s defense, with artist Cheesa writing: “The only thing sayang is you coming on here just to write some trash ass comment.”
“You support a trans, and bash another trans because of what? Birit? Yun lang?” added Jake in a follow-up comment.
“Being transgender is more than just singing high or low notes. And the audacity of you to deadname me and properly call Ice his real name. What a joke.”
Jake goes on to explain that due to the amount of trauma he’s experienced, he no longer felt pain over comments such as these, only numbness.
In a comment to a fan about the issue, he wrote: “We won’t stay quiet no more with these kinds of people.”
The other comments on Jake’s post, on the other hand, showed love and support for the artist, greeting him a happy Pride Month and wishing him luck in all of his future projects.
Jake’s journey
In 2017, Jake announced that he was transgender. He explained that he has been sure of his identity ever since he was young, and it was through his fans and his music that he was able to find the strength to transition.
In 2022, Jake posted to his Instagram about having top surgery, discussing how this has helped him to find confidence in himself.
At present, he is also taking hormone therapy, which has caused changes in his speaking and singing voice.
During his transition, he talked about how he has received adverse reactions from the public and his loved ones, with others not being accepting of the LGBTQIA+ community.
This negative feedback, however, has not stopped Jake from talking about his identity, giving transgender people in the Philippines the courage to be who they are—free and uncaring about what others might say.
