Historic Filipinotown in Los Angeles is home to a celebrated mural about the Filipino American experience, one of the largest and oldest of its kind in the country. But the depiction of one figure is bringing the artwork fresh attention and leading to accusations of transphobia. Featured on the colorful mural, along with labor leader Larry Itliong and musician APL.
DE.AP of the Black Eyed Peas, is the Filipino pop singer Jake Zyrus before he came out as transgender. A growing chorus of voices, including Zyrus himself, say the portrait should be changed.
Zyrus had been added to the mural during an 2011 update, fresh off of becoming the first solo Asian artist to have an album reach Billboard’s top 10. Acclaimed appearances on Glee and The Oprah Winfrey Show made him one of the most famous Filipinos in the U.S.
pic.twitter.com/5hVp2YYgfh Then in 2017, Zyrus came out as a trans man to a mixed response from fans .
In the seven years since, as he's worked to reintroduce himself as a singer to audiences, his name and image on the HiFi mural have not been updated to the alarm of some community leaders. “I feel that it's very important to address deadnaming, to address transphobia,” said Eddy Gana, co-founder of the Filipino American arts organization Sunday Jump. Earlier this month, Sunday Jump made a post about the mural on Instagram tied to Pride Month , sparking impassioned discussion.
Gana, who is trans and non-binary, belongs to the camp that wants the mural updated as soo.
