Photo: Chella Man speaks as the virtual keynote speaker for Penn State Pride Month on April 17. Courtesy of Becky Marcinko
Becky Marcinko
The Daily Collegian
Apr 19, 2020
Penn State’s Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity featured Chella Man as the Pride Month virtual keynote speaker on Friday.
Man is an artist, actor, model and YouTuber with over 258,000 subscribers. He portrayed mute superhero Jericho in the DC Universe series “Titans.”
Man identifies as deaf, transgender, genderqueer, Jewish, Chinese and pansexual, and is masculine-presenting.
The virtual event was captioned and featured an ASL interpreter.
Maya Branch, a student at Temple University majoring in human development and community engagement, moderated the discussion with Man.
Marco Planchart, a student staff member at the Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, said co-sponsors for the event included the Gender Equity Center, the Center for Spiritual and Ethical Development, World Campus and Student Disability Resources.
Planchart said Man grew up in central Pennsylvania, and is currently a student at The New School in New York City where he studies virtual reality programming.
At the beginning of the discussion, Man spoke about his situation during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I was pretty overwhelmed recently, just because my dad was just tested, and he tested positive, so it’s been a scary time recently,” Man said.
Man said he has coped with the situation through ensuring he spends time outside, since he said he also struggles with seasonal depression.
“Centering myself has become very important in my life,” Man said. “There’s a bunch of different ways, but one thing that has stayed constant since I was basically born is I have always been doing art, and always painting.”
Branch said Man is representing “so many marginalized communities at once.”
“One of the biggest revelations I’ve had throughout my life is all of my identities are on a continuum, and this is a realization that would have helped me if someone had explained this to me, or had the terminology to explain it to me at such a young age,” Man said. “There were so many categories and labels in the world, and I always felt one step behind them.”
Man said he was never “stereotypically deaf,” because he did not grow up attending a deaf school, did not use sign language as his primary language, is verbal and does not have a “deaf accent.”
“I felt like I couldn’t be completely accepted in [the deaf community], but also I felt outside of the hearing community,” Man said. “I was always exhausted. Having simple conversations would take everything from me — all the energy — because it would be so much lip-reading.”
Man said his experiences have led him to the realization that deafness is a spectrum, and this spectrum is valid.
“If I had grown up with [the realization that deafness is spectrum], I would have stopped comparing myself, and I would have been able to empower myself to be my own representation, which luckily I can do today,” Man said.
Moreover, Man said this realization has helped him realize his other identities are a continuum, since he is biracial and identifies as nonbinary.
“I think that’s beautiful,” Branch said. “Everything kind of exists on this spectrum: Gender exists on that spectrum, sexuality and even people can identify one way today and then a new way tomorrow. And that’s all super valid.”
Additionally, Man spoke about how growing up in central Pennsylvania affected him.
“I felt very isolated in central Pennsylvania,” Man said. “I always sum it up, actually, by saying Trump came to speak at my high school. That was a very hard moment in time for me. That kind of depicts the culture of the area.”
Man said being in New York City now is “like heaven.”
Man also discussed his experiences with his Jewish heritage.
“Learning and hearing from Jewish people when they have been in the face of discrimination has really empowered me to perserve when facing my own discrimination, whether that is from being Jewish, or just in any other facet of my identity,” Man said.
While taking questions from viewers of the livestream, Man explained his various tattoos, like one given to him by his partner MaryV Benoit.
Man also said he continues to create art, and he uses art as a way to cope with his depression. He hopes to work on a large mural in New York City after social distancing regulations are lifted.
“I just wanted to remind anyone out there that they don’t need to wait for a specific, niche community or place to open up to them,” Man said. “They can just look in the mirror and feel that is enough, and understand that all they are feeling and all their experiences are valid.”
Source: www.collegian.psu.edu/news/campus/article_897ceee6-8201-11ea-b848-739dc9a4fe1b.html
