Why National Library Board’s Response Is Cause for Concern

I wrote to the National Library Board recently to enquire about displaying the Ah Kua Show poster on their notice boards.  Without enquiring about the aims of the show  – namely, to guide youth who are confused about their gender identity – they turned down my request citing that “displays at our libraries should be relevant to a broad audience of all ages.” 

What is the role of a library?  Libraries exist to promote learning, understanding and diversity.  Libraries are the last bastion of liberal thinking, tolerance and freedom of expression.  Without the Jurong East Regional library, I would not have found Ratnam’s seminal Cries in the Dark, which gave me the identity that could not be named (Voldemort?) – “transsexual”.

If NLB fears that a child might ask his mother what an ah kua is, the parent should, instead of recoiling in horror, use the opportunity to educate his/her child on the wrongs of labelling and name-calling.  This is essentially the objective of the Ah Kua show.  Did NLB bother to find out the objectives of the Ah Kua show before deeming it inappropriate for a “broad audience of all ages?”    

When lost, depressed and much-maligned transsexual youth find out about the Ah Kua show, they may discover the strength to embrace their gender identities and stand up for who they truly are.  They may, upon watching the show, realise that they are not alone.

But when our nation’s library board decides to ban the show’s poster from being displayed on their notice board because the show is not relevant to a broad enough audience (16 years and above is not broad enough???  By whose non-mathematical standards???) , it is indirectly condemning transsexuals to a lifetime of shame and social stigma.  It is reinforcing the stereotype of transsexualism as a “forbidden, shameful” subject. 

How can I, a reasonable, thinking person, accept the NLB’s justification? 

I am a transsexual woman.  “Hath not a transsexual eyes?  Hath not a transsexual hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?”

Dear readers, are you aware that every organisation I’ve written to, including the National Arts Council, has turned me down for a grant and/or sponsorship?  This means that I have to finance the show entirely with my own money.  That’s fine.  I’m not even asking NLB for money – I’m just asking for a few miserable posters I’ve paid for to be put up on their notice board.  Do I deserve a more intelligent response?  If you feel I deserve a more intelligent response from NLB, then please sign this petition.

Thank you!

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