Its story, a dream broken by prejudices, has been around the world and the documentary that tells it (Veni Etiam. I shall come again by Mahtab Mansour), never welcomed in Italy, has been awarded in 14 international festivals.
Today Alex Hi, once born Alexandra Hai, is a 55-year-old gondolier “forcibly retired”. From Venice he was in practice sent away so much that today he says he is “in exile, in the hope that justice will be done”.
A few days after the death of Chloe Whitethe physics teacher who set herself on fire for the constant discrimination suffered since she revealed her gender identity, Alex Hai remembers the struggle for those who, like him, were born into a body that did not feel hers.
“I had been following on FB Cloe since 2015 and for me he was an important example of courage. Thanks to her, I felt that it was never too late to have gender confirmation surgery, even while doing public work. Chloe, as her former student said Sara Mazzonetto, she died because of our society. Chloe, me and many people like us, derided, accused, threatened and robbed of our work, we try instead to improve society to build a better future that is worthy of every human being “.
The interview
The student of the trans teacher Cloe Bianco: “She was mocked by everyone. And the parents queued up for interviews to see her as if we were at the circus”
by Gabriella Cantafio
The story of Alex Hai, half German and half Algerian, begins when he arrives in Venice in the 1990s with the dream of becoming a gondolier. He immediately clashes with what is often called caste (the gondoliers) who only recently welcomed some women, mostly relatives.
In addition to being a foreigner in the eyes of many Venetians, at the time Alex was in the registry office of Alexandra, a trans man who would later undergo the gender confirmation operation.
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Having failed the gondolier exam several times, “bullied and discriminated against”, Alex Hai in 2005 sets up his own business and starts working privately with hotels. Even in this case they don’t leave him alone. The attacks of those who accuse him of practicing an illegal job are continuous and the Municipality changes a law that until that moment allowed to carry out what is called the gondoliere da casada, or private.
Alex Hai appeals to the Court and in 2007 he wins, as the sentence of the Court of Cassation in 2015 will reiterate. “The threats were continuous and also the insults that have been going on for years now” he recalls speaking of a wound that still burns. “In the end, to protect those who loved me, I went on my own. I couldn’t separate myself from my gondola ”.
At that time, as you can still read on his FB page (Alex Hai Gondola Tours), many turned to Alex Hai, leaving messages of affection and esteem for his work.
However, in 2019 the local police stopped him and confiscated his gondola as an abusive worker. “I have been separated from my gondola for 980 days. I couldn’t even do one last lap, now I don’t know where it is, it belongs to the Municipality, ”he says.
“For me Venice without my gondola makes no sense. I felt bullied and discriminated against for a variety of factors, because I was a foreigner, because I was in a woman’s body and because I was a trans man, ”she explains. “Every time I took the exam I always got a lower score! Yet I was hired by hotels, do you think a hotel takes someone who doesn’t know how to row for its customers? ”.
From that moment Alex Hai leaves Venice and goes abroad, in exile. Today the story of Chloe reopens many reflections that have never been addressed. “It must be understood that a person’s gender identity may or may not correspond to the sex assigned at birth. In the case of trans people, the gender identity does not match. You find yourself in the wrong body. It is a freak of nature that you suffer and that is why you have to explain to young people what it is ”continues Alex Hai.
“I already told my parents that I was Alex before I went to kindergarten. The transition is like a second puberty, exploring new tastes and, as everyone does at that time, feeling a little clumsy. This is why it must be done as soon as possible “. For Alex Hai, the problem in Italy is that of the bureaucratic process, all in obstacles. “Many do the operation externally, but not everyone can afford it economically”.
Alex Hai’s story isn’t over yet. He still dreams of his gondola in which his poem “And the moon will pass, to mark another day” was engraved. “Until justice is done I will stay away from Venice. Unfortunately today it seems that the only way to receive the necessary apologies is to kill oneself. I have faith in young people. The twenties of today are strong and sooner or later they will come to power. I trust in them, the only hope “.
1 comment
I never said “he” I said SHE because Cloe was a woman . How dare you quoting me this way !
Gender is important get your google translate shit together do your homework right – this is disrespectful to me and Cloe and an absolute No go in the matter, get a grip!
Alex Hai