Amao Leota Lu, 48
Performer, speaker & writer
Fa’afafine, Female with a trans experience
She/her and Diva
In a makeshift change room at the Victorian Trades Hall in Carlton, Amao excitedly prepares for the tech rehearsal for the Melbourne Fringe Festival where she will be performing for the first time that night.
Dressed in a beautiful silver-trimmed figure-hugging gown with her signature purple lipstick and a crown of purple flowers adorning her head, Amao brings her unique cultural performance as a proud Samoan fa’afafine to the mainstage, unfolding her narrative of intersectionality between her cultural heritage, sexual and gender identity and faith.
“In my Samoan culture, being a Fa’afafine is an esteemed position. It’s the only country in the world where our Prime Minister is the patron of the Samoan Fa’afafine Association,” Amao boasts, adding “I use my dance and performance as a way to tell my story and bring my narrative to the table.”
The journey to embracing her identity as a fa’afafine began when Amao first came out as a young gay man in Sydney and realising there weren’t any “brown” drag queens or gay men.
Upon returning to her hometown Auckland in her 20s, Amao discovered a much more culturally diverse queer community, while coming to terms with her gender identity as a woman. It was here that Amao also strengthened her cultural identity as a Pacific Islander.
By the time Amao returned to Sydney a few years later, she had fully transitioned to a woman and in a strange twist of events, found employment with her former high school as a community support worker among the Pacific Islander students. It was here during a school event that Amao first performed as a fa’afafine.
“It’s only in the last seven years have I come to own that identity and I am very proud of it. As I tell people, my life start with an ‘F’ before anything else because it gives strength. It’s a life saver and gives me leverage here, in a culture that struggles with concepts of being trans and gender diverse,” says Amao, reflecting on her identity and journey.