D’Lo’s Conversation with ‘American Desis’ Podcast Teaches us all a Lesson We Need to Learn

Do you know who D’Lo, also known as, D’Loco Kid is? Well, if you don’t, then you better head on over and listen to the two part podcast featuring him on American Desis.

Do you know who D’Lo, also known as, D’Loco Kid is? Well, if you don’t, then you better head on over and listen to the two part podcast featuring him on “American Desis.”

D’Lo’s biography on his website says he is a “queer/transgender Tamil-Sri Lankan-American actor/writer/comedian.” Podcast hosts Arjun Gupta and Akaash Singh delved right into D’Lo’s unique identity as soon as the discussion started, and the remaining 60 plus minutes went by so quickly that I was left wanting more.

Let’s all be real and accept the fact that brown people shy away from talking about anything remotely related to gender and sexual identity, so you can imagine how wonderfully refreshing this conversation between Gupta, Singh and D’Lo was. The best part of the interview was the nonchalance with which D’Lo answered all of Gupta and Singh’s questions, without even a tinge of judgment in his voice.

This spoke miles to the concept of fighting ignorance with compassion that Singh brought up over the course of the conversation.  So often, we find it easier to shut down naysayers without taking the time to explain our perspective, and this is perhaps one of our biggest mistakes as a South Asian community overall.

I noticed that we pit the “good” brown people versus the “bad” brown people, or the conservative South Asians versus the liberal South Asians, or the traditional desis versus the modern desis, when really, we should all be working towards helping each other reach a common ground filled with mutual understanding.

The process of educating others on topics that have always been unnecessarily shrouded in controversy most certainly requires patience and persistence. And the only way to teach people who have lived their entire lives poorly informed or misinformed, is to talk about about these topics and be willing to answer their questions, no matter how ignorant or illogical they may initially seem.

Many of my own questions related to the transgender and queer identities were answered over the course of this podcast, such as how exactly is the label of queer distinct from LGBT?  Or how accepting was D’Lo’s family of his sexual and gender identity? Or even, how accepted are sex change operations in the transgendered community?

I had umpteen more questions that the podcast answered, but even if I had more, I would feel so comfortable reaching out to somebody like D’Lo because of the safe space he provided for Gupta and Singh during their conversation.

Along with D’Lo’s gender and sexual identity, Gupta and Singh touched on his identification with South Asian culture and how this fit in with his Sri Lankan upbringing. Interestingly enough, their conversation highlighted a point brought up by DJ Rekha in another one of Gupta and Singh’s podcasts—particularly the idea that Sri Lankans often do not like being labelled as “South Asian.”

D’Lo said that he would not necessarily feel strong about the label either way, but that he could understand why many Sri Lankans may not appreciate this coalescence with a cultural identity that is strongly influenced by Indians only.

D’Lo is proud to serve as a voice that helps others understand more about the transgender community, and this podcast is just one shining example of his successful efforts thus far.

So, listen to this podcast ASAP to get a better grasp on what gender, sexuality, and cultural identity mean and why these complex identities are so important.