Love Wins With Ian King and Joey Mead

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How do you feel about
Ian King and his transformation?

Ian King and Joey Mead
Joey Mead and Angie/Ian King. Photo published with permission from Ian King.

Despite our modernity, our education, exposure through different media, and our connectivity because of the internet, many of us still remain discriminating. Perception just cannot be quantified, or even dignified, for that matter, but we just need to open our minds and also try to understand the things that are happening around us. Hate will not bring us anywhere. But love…ahhh…love. It’s the tie that binds us all.

It has been almost a week since businessman and luxury car enthusiast Ian King came out as a transgender named Angelina Mead King or Angie King. For those who don’t know, Ian King is the husband of host and model Joey Mead.

I am not a super fan of Ms. Mead, but when I first heard that she settled down, I felt happy for her. We are not friends either but I’m the kind of person who is happy when good things happen to others, celebrity or not. From time to time, I would see articles about them and how they are happily married (like other celebrity couples) and I continue to feel happy as well.

Then the news about how her husband Ian is now a woman. I had mixed emotions. Yeah, I am the kind of person who has emotions attached to news. So many questions came to mind? Are they gonna get a divorce? How is Joey handling this? Is there a third party? How did this happen? But then I read Ian’s interview with Tim Yap, I found that there’s more to the situation than meets the eye.

Sometimes, it is easier to judge about how things are in a person’s life, especially if we just read about them or see them on TV. What struck me the most was his statement, “That’s a weird part, I’m happy with my privates and that should remain private. It’s no one’s business. Why does it matter? I have a partner, we are faithful and loyal. We have been living with each other for more than 10 years.”

You see, I am a Bible-believing Christian. And in the bible, homosexuality is a sin. But I don’t even want to write about it because I have so many gay friends and I love them all. But they know me, my faith, and they respect that, too. And we are still friends. And in my writing this, I know that this is not going to sit well with other brothers and sisters in the faith. One person told me that this situation poses more questions than answers.

But in the case of Ian, he is not gay. He is a like a girl who enjoys dressing up and having the desired shape, or the silhouette of being a girl, along with the mani-pedis, long colored hair, and women stuff. But that is not entirely wrong. Weird in a sense because our society or culture has assigned that certain stuff should only be done or used by women while men shouldn’t even try to understand them. Weirdness is only based on one’s stand point and not the basis for what is right or wrong. But another told me that even if Ian is not homosexual, he is causing other people to stumble and that is still sin.

Ok, he wants to grow his bosom. How is that different from getting a nose lift, bust lift, butt enhancements, and the like? I am not saying this is wrong, but as with everybody else wanting to have bigger bumpers, I honestly don’t get it because I would rather that mine were smaller. haha

My husband got so much flack back then because he sported long hair and that is unacceptable in a conservative church setting. He was labelled many things, but rebellious was the one that lingered. He had long hair while we were dating, which was 7 and 1/2 years, and several years into our marriage. So you can imagine people’s shock when he walked into church during our wedding day with a pony tail. In my case, I am not your girly-girl kind of person. More often than not, boyish looks appeal to me. I don’t like skin care regimens because they are too tedious. I don’t understand window shopping, fitting clothes for the heck of them, dressing up to go to the supermarket, staying in salons for long hours to achieve a look, or watching dramas for a crying session. I can eat in a restaurant or watch a movie alone (before my husband came along and then life became so much more fun).

In our home, we have two daughters and aside from dolls and other girly stuff appointed by toy shops, they have carpentry tools, robots, and a collection of different vehicles. And I would really correct somebody who would tell my daughter that she can’t play with cars. I’m like, “Who said she can’t play with cars? And you expect her to drive when she grows up?” The same is true with boys playing with dolls. How can we expect them to learn sensitivity and care that they can apply when they become fathers if we tell them that handling girl dolls are are not manly? Then we women lament  if our husbands are not helpful in the home and with the kids. There goes the irony of everything that our society has assigned. I think that as kids, if we don’t put color or malice in the things that they do, they can better express themselves.

I’m not explicitly saying that Ian is wrong. I am not saying that he is right either. I am not saying that I completely understand him/her. I may have taken some of the things he said out of context. I am not God. And judgment is reserved to God. I’m just saying that I agree with the couple that love wins. No point in hating or ostracizing him/her. The same is true for our gay friends or to the rest of the color of the LGBT spectrum. Will hating them win them over for Christ? Will we achieve the very reason why we want to win them to our side if they feel that they have already been judged before we even knew them? Something to think about. In the end, for me, Love Wins. We can have our opinions about them, but I pray, not hate and judgments.

Kudos to Ms. Joey Mead for being such a strong and loving person. ” I have a partner, we are faithful and loyal. We have been living with each other for more than 10 years,” Ian/Angie says. And I think I can safely say that they are a lot happier and more loyal than most married, “normal” couples.

Here are snippets of his interview with Tim Yap that came out in the Lifestyle Section of Philippine Star:

But you are not gay, right? Or are you?
Sexual preference — no, I’m not gay. I like women. Soft, curvy, yeah, no body hair.

That’s where the confusion stems from. That in the end, you still like women.
I perfectly understand. Sexual expression and sexual preference are two different things. There is no clear description in the Filipino native language, there is no Tagalog version of LGBT…and however how many letters there are — that’s where the blurred lines come from.

Other transwomen, they take pills. Do you take hormones?
I’m taking medication through an endocrinologist, he’s a licensed doctor and he monitors my blood levels every two months and adjusts the hormones. First, it takes testosterone blockers and then you supplement it with estrogen.

When you get this treatment, what’s the end goal of that?
It’s a second puberty where your body is reborn into a different gender because you are alternating it with hormones, so in two to three years, it would be finished and will transfer my body with a distribution of body fat and breasts, that is already starting. I measured when I started. My chest has grown a little — from 36 to 37 — and my waist has gotten smaller.

Is the end goal here to take out your privates and change them into those of a woman?
That’s a weird part, I’m happy with my privates and that should remain private. It’s no one’s business. Why does it matter? I have a partner, we are faithful and loyal. We have been living with each other for more than 10 years. You introduced us and you married us, too. It’s gone full circle.

1 thought on “Love Wins With Ian King and Joey Mead

  1. If you really are a bible believing christian as you claim, then deep in your heart you know what ian did is wrong. There are no ifs or buts when it comes to the bible. Everything is black and white. Even if we are living in modern times as you say, the bible is still the authority on what is right and wrong, unchanging. It is not a matter of perception also.

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