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“We Want to be Seen & Heard”: NHS Professional & Actor Victoria Gigante shares her transition journey from the Philippines to the UK

To mark Trans Awareness Week, Stonewall Trans Ambassador, actor and NHS worker Victoria Gigante shares her transitioning journey, which started in the Philippines and continued in the UK. She also talks about how her acting career is helping the trans community be seen and heard in a bid to normalise the trans experience.



 

Hi Victoria, can you tell us about your career journey to date? 


I am the youngest of four siblings in my family (two brothers and one sister), and the only one living here in the UK. I came to the UK when I was about 26 to study health and social care, and started work in a private residential care nursing home, looking after the elderly and people with disabilities. I then shifted into business and management, after a business and management degree at the University of Sunderland, which allowed me to get another visa to continue my stay in the UK. I'm now working as a Patients Access Officer at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital NHS Trust in London, as well as a trans actor and a Stonewall Trans Ambassador. 



 

Can you share your transitioning journey with us? 


I was assigned male at birth and started my transition back in the Philippines when I was around 16. As well as coming from a very conservative background, my parents and family were very concerned about the safety aspect of the hormone replacement therapy I was self-diagnosing with. So I had to stop because of the pressure from my family and society in the Philippines. There were a lot of transitioning challenges for me in the Philippines, both culturally and medically. Then after being in a terrible situation of not being able to express myself for who I really was, I just focused on work for a decade until I got the opportunity to move here to the UK in 2009.


Coming to the UK has been great as I can just be myself and not worry about what other people think about me. It’s also been the best place for my transition. Although I started at 16, I had to stop because of the lack of medical treatment and support. The trans community is culturally celebrated in my country, but are not legally protected there. Also healthcare professionals don’t have enough information or guidelines, and they lack much-needed clinical advice/support. National and local governments are also unsupportive of the trans community there. Basically, the whole health system doesn’t acknowledge our existence. So compared to the UK, the health system for transitioning is very behind in the Philippines. 


That said, there is still a lot more that needs to be done to improve medical services for people wanting to transition in the UK. We need better locally informed inclusive services for trans people here, so they do not have to wait years for the services they need. Many trans people have to travel out of the city they live in just to get a better and more informed service, this needs to change. Also medical services for trans people need to be offered in Primary Care, not mental health, as currently is the case. However, for me the UK has been the best place for me to transition. I started to have my hormone replacement therapy after being referred to a gender identity clinic here. I also changed my name from Victoriano to Victoria. In many ways, I’m still thankful that I get to keep the name that my parents gave me because it forms part of my identity.




 

 


 

How supportive were your family and friends in the Philippines?

 

Initially, my family struggled to accept me as Victoria, but they have slowly come round. Seeing me happier, being a productive part of society and achieving my goals as a transgender woman is what has helped them to come round to accepting my new identity. My father particularly found my transition hard, but he is slowly coming round now too. I think he was ashamed and feared what my relatives and neighbours would think/say if they found out that I’m not what they think I am, and not boxed into their binary system. However, thanks to my mama's influence and her softly, softly approach, my father has also slowly started to accept me as his daughter, and a woman. 

 

How do you feel after transitioning? Can you share some of your favorite moments?

 

There are different phases of transitioning. There is a social transitioning, a physical transitioning and a medical transitioning. I started my medical transition back home in the Philippines, which I continued here in the UK. Now I have started the social transitioning process; and it’s this aspect that has really made it a memorable experience for me. Before I thought no one would love me and no one would accept me as a trans woman. Yet thanks to my transition, I've met many amazing people who are very supportive and accepting of who I am, and see me as a valid person. Those are happy moments for me. Also being in love; walking down the street holding hands with a partner who introduces me to their family and friends because they’re not ashamed that I am a transgender woman is wonderful. Those kinds of experiences have made me really happy.



 

What’s been the most challenging aspect of the journey for you?

 

Transphobia. Recently I experienced a horrible incident walking down a street in Brighton after filming when I was confronted by a group of men about my trans identity. That’s uncomfortable and very scary because you never know if you will be physically attacked or assaulted for being trans. So I try to make sure that I go out with other people to avoid getting assaulted. Sadly, tansphobic hate is not only happening on the streets, but also online. That’s probably a consequence of our need for transparency and desire to normalise this experience. We don't want to be hidden away anymore. We now want to be visible and we want to heard.

 

How supportive were your colleagues and employer, both during the transition, and after?

 

In the UK, I was lucky enough to have a very supportive employer, and colleagues. And I'm very grateful that within our NHS Trust, they show support by doing things like providing name badges with pronouns. I am also thankful to our management for making sure that the workplace is safe for us, and allows us to be authentic at work, and be part of a team. Having that kind of support is very important to excel. In fact, I recently won the Receptionist of the Year Award. 




 

Being a strong ally, having supportive trans-friendly policies and making sure that the workplace is safe for the trans community is really important. They need to know that if they decide to transition, there will be support from the top management, and employers need to ensure that everyone is aware of these policies. And, when policies need amending it’s vital to involve the trans community to ensure that policies are relevant, adequate and that issues are tackled appropriately.

 

How are you normalising the trans experience through acting?

 

The trans community now wants to be seen and heard. Being seen or heard can solidify and normalise the narratives of our existence. My love of acting in films and the stage started when I arrived here in the UK, 10 years ago. I was fortunate to found different theatre groups such as the Philippine Theatre UK and The Old Vic Community Company where I am a member. I learnt a lot from these groups and met many amazing diverse people. Those connections put me in different films and theatre projects in which I played different roles. For me, being on the stage and in front of the camera is a safe space which doesn't discriminate. I am Filipino transgender woman actor with a passion for reflecting what our world is now, has been and will be. And as an actor I would love to create more awareness of the trans community to normalise our experiences. 

 

 In 2017, I played Summer in “Summer in London” at Theatre Royal Stratford East – the first play in the UK to feature an entirely trans cast. In 2019, I played Mae, a Thai transgender woman in a play called “My Dads Gap Year” at Park Theatre. This is the story of Dave; a dad in mid-life freefall who takes his repressed, gay, teenage son William on a wild adventure to Thailand, where Dave meets and fall in love with Mae. The story touches on gay love, straight love, trans love, buddy-love, drinking games and beer bellies. I was nominated Best Supporting Female for this play at the Offies in 2019. I am currently preparing for a play called “Miss Philippines” by Rogelio Braga this coming 22nd and 23rd of November at the National Theatre, where I will be playing Mimi, a Filipina transgender woman in a beauty pageant




What advice do you have for someone going through a transition right now or considering one?

 

I believe a supportive circle of friends and loving family are important for people considering or going through a transition. There are also several trans organisation such as CliniQ, Mermaid, NotAPhase, Gendered Intelligence and other LGBT+ organisations such Stonewall for support and resources on trans health and wellbeing. Every Tuesday afternoon, I work at CliniQ CIC, which is a trans organisation run by and for trans people. We are a professional team of healthcare, wellbeing, counselling, therapist who are trans and cisgender providing much-needed wellbeing and sexual health support for the trans community. Medical support and counselling for the trans community is currently hugely underfunded in the UK.

 

What’s your ideal vision of the future for the trans community?

 

My ideal vision for the trans community in the future is that I hope we can walk happily in the street without fear of being harassed or discriminated against. We should be able to live fulfilling lives where we are able to offer our skills, talent and support in creating a product progressive world. I am hopeful that society would be kinder towards us in the future and now is the best time to make it happen.

 

Victoria Gigante is taking part in myGwork’s panel on Trans Empowerment: Lived Experiences tomorrow on 19th November. Click here to find out more, and join the conversation.

 

 

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