D’Lo’s Big Fat South Asian Wedding: A Coming Out Story

March 30, 2016

D’Lo photo by Belo

D’Lo is a queer/transgender Tamil-Sri Lankan-American actor, writer, and comedian. The first time we met was back in 2013 during the Dis/Orient/Ed comedy tour, which features all Asian American trans and female comics. D’Lo came back to Portland a couple of weeks ago as the keynote speaker for Lewis & Clark’s Gender Studies Symposium.

I caught up with him and we talked about his Big Fat South Asian wedding. Normally I’m not a huge fan of wedding stories when it’s purely about “spectacle”. But this event took the wedding industrial complex and used it to serve as both a powerful coming out story and an unexpectedly strong feminist statement. It’s an excellent story.

Other interview highlights:
**D’Lo came out three times and might have more coming out to do – a lesson on language
**Not being tied to the club scene means a safer space to be a brilliant actor, comedian and audience member