Test 2

Please select your preferred language.

請選擇你慣用的語言。

请选择你惯用的语言。

English
中文简体
台灣繁體
香港繁體

Login

Remember Me

New to Fridae?

Fridae Mobile

Advertisement
Highlights

More About Us

7 May 2018

Watch: Leitis In Waiting Depicts Transgender Tongans Fighting for Justice

A movie about transgender women fighting for acceptance in Tonga hopes to bring about change in the Pacific island nation.

 

Leitis in Waiting, which has its European premiere at the Festival of Commonwealth Film in London on Sunday,  is the story of Joey Mataele and the Tonga leitis, an intrepid group of indigenous transgender women fighting a rising tide of religious fundamentalism and intolerance in their South Pacific Kingdom.
 Tonga is one of 36 Commonwealth members that criminalise same-sex activity and cross-dressing under colonial-era laws in, according to the Commonwealth Equality Network.
Although rarey enforced, LGBT issues remain taboo, Mataele, who is in London to promote the film, told Thomson Reuters.
"I believe that the importance of having this movie is to be able to change the minds of people," said the 54-year-old, who has close ties to the Tongan royal family. "I (also) hope it will take the message to the British government - or even straight to Queen Elizabeth - that they are the ones that brought that colonial law we are suffering from to the Pacific and they should do something about it."
Watch the trailer below:

 

Leitis in Waiting, which has its European premiere at the Festival of Commonwealth Film in London on Sunday,  is the story of Joey Mataele and the Tonga leitis, an intrepid group of indigenous transgender women fighting a rising tide of religious fundamentalism and intolerance in their South Pacific Kingdom.

Tonga is one of 36 Commonwealth members that criminalise same-sex activity and cross-dressing under colonial-era laws in, according to the Commonwealth Equality Network.

Although rarey enforced, LGBT issues remain taboo, Mataele, who is in London to promote the film, told Thomson Reuters.

"I believe that the importance of having this movie is to be able to change the minds of people," said the 54-year-old, who has close ties to the Tongan royal family. "I (also) hope it will take the message to the British government - or even straight to Queen Elizabeth - that they are the ones that brought that colonial law we are suffering from to the Pacific and they should do something about it."

Watch the trailer below:

Tonga

Reader's Comments

Be the first to leave a comment on this page!

Please log in to use this feature.

Select News Edition

Featured Profiles

Now ALL members can view unlimited profiles!

Languages

View this page in a different language:

Like Us on Facebook

Partners

 ILGA Asia - Fridae partner for LGBT rights in Asia IGLHRC - Fridae Partner for LGBT rights in Asia

Advertisement