Tien Neo Eamas, a 55-year-old Singaporean-Canadian transman, standing indoors beside two other trans or gender non-conforming people, all three individuals smiling happily. He is an older man with a lined face, light brown skin, dark brown eyes, and short, black hair. He is wearing a silver chain necklace and a dark purple collared shirt. The person on his left is a younger Asian person with short, black hair, dark brown eyes, and light skin, wearing a collared black shirt and several silver earrings. The person on his right is a light-skinned person with medium-length dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, wearing a brown corduroy jacket over a white t-shirt.

Tien: Becoming Queer Joy

Interview

2023

Singapore (சிங்கப்பூர் 新加坡), Canada

Tien Neo Eamas, a 55-year-old Singaporean-Canadian transman, discusses growing up in a fundamentalist Christian family, recognising himself in another trans man of colour, being the first Asian trans man to come out in Vancouver, enduring racialised expectations of manhood, overcoming hatred and abuse, attempting suicide, and finally finding joy both in himself and in his community.

Watch.

Available Summary:

"I think that, the only thing I wish I knew then, was that life was going to be extremely challenging and that it was okay... If you're going to stick around on Earth, just make me this one promise: make sure you have a freaking good time."

Tien, is the 1st Asian Transman to publicly come out in the Vancouver, then, gay and lesbian community of 2001. In this profound and inspiring film, Tien shares his story as a pioneer, racialised transman immigrant and his journey to discovering his true purpose in life -- cultivating and becoming joy.

The TROUBLEMAKERS 7.0 film program gathered a fresh team of aspiring young filmmakers and experienced troublemakers to work together through an eight-session filmmaking program that captured local queer and trans histories.

We are in awe of the films they created, and excited to share them here! See all the films here: https://reelyouth.ca/troublemakers-2023.html

-Reel Youth, YouTube.

Notes from Jack:

I highly recommend watching this interview. I love what Tien has to say, I'm thankful for his visibility, and this portrait of a trans man's place in trans history is so valuable.

Tien Neo Eamas, a 55-year-old Singaporean-Canadian trans man, sitting indoors against a flat dark blue background. He has light brown skin, a lined face, dark brown eyes, and short black hair. He is smiling widely, with a silver tooth filling partly visible. He is wearing a silver chain necklace and a collared dark purple shirt. — *What a beautiful smile.*

Included in this video are photos of of Tien as a young person, photos of him wearing post-op gauze on his chest, footage of him welding, footage of him wearing platform high heels while practicing pole dancing, and other glorious snapshots of a life well-lived.

Tien Neo Eamas, a 55-year-old Singaporean-Canadian trans man, performing a dancing move indoors. He is wearing a black singlet and black shorts, and black platform high heels. — *Very impressive.*

Tien describes conceiving the first date-based celebration of trans joy in 2007 (né Lesbian Day of Visibility, IDAHOBIT, et cetera), smiling widely as he notes that it was originally called Happy Tranny Day, but was renamed to Gender Euphoria Day when some community members objected to the reclaimed slur being used.

"It was a really powerful moment," he explains, "The only event around trans was the Trans Remembrance Day in November. Which is important... but all we did around Trans Remembrance Day was honour the dead and the murdered of our community, and at that point, I was clear that we needed to actually start celebrating us. It was challenging for lots of people, because I insisted on it... I would tell people, no, no, no, don't come and do your slam poetry and be angry... Do something fun. I think my younger self would be very, very proud of me, and be probably a little bit stunned that I was able to get here."

Finishing the interview, he says, "I love that the community has expanded and grown to be so much more welcoming, open, loving, and generous in its embracing of the diversity of humanity. It's time to actually show the world how colourful we can be."

I am so, so glad that I watched this gorgeous interview! Everybody else should, too.

Entry last updated:

28 June 2026

JACK'S TRANS MALE RESOURCES