It started at a urinal in Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
There he was, Sinon Loresca, in all his glitter sequin glory, glaring back at the camera in his 10-inch red heels.
The gay Filipino model and actor had a message for the folks in Myanmar.
Touchdown. Two weeks later, the Internet sensation has divided Myanmar netizens, donated to street children and strutted his stuff all over the shop.
In fact, one video posted on Facebook of the self-styled ‘King of the Catwalk’ sashaying topless down a busy Mandalay road in those heels has racked up over 1 million views.
Not all of the some 2,200 comments are positive, which is unsurprising in a conservative country that still criminalizes homosexuality…but show us one Facebook user that does not appreciate his bronzed, chiselled torso and we will show you a bot account.
“This is not cool. It’s not like Burmese tradition, more like against it,” wrote Facebook user Yazar Htun, while other comments were just plain homophobic.
Yet an overwhelming majority of the comments were positive.
“So what if he’s walking around in his underwear? Why are you following him? He's been to many others countries, so skip it if you don't want to see this. He's doing charity with his own money, what does it matter if he's a buff and slim gay guy? It's not like he's destroying the culture,” wrote Facebook user P Myo.
Another user, Ei Mon Kyaw, got straight to the point.
“Please give me your heels when you leave. Anyway, I love you.”
Loresca’s visit to Myanmar comes at a time when its LGBT community is uniting over the death of Kyaw Zin Win, a 26-year-old gay Yangon librarian who took his own life in June after being subjected to homophobic bullying in his workplace.
A heavily criticised inquiry by the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission concluded he was “mentally weak.”
As well as being an LGBT role model, Loresca knows how to make a buck or two. So far in Myanmar he has promoted cakes, hotels, spare motorcycle parts, tour operators, supermarkets, and cosmetics—all making for funny videos and photos.
He has 471,000 Instagram followers, 1.6 million have liked his Facebook page and, judging from his posts along with his fans’ reactions, he has probably gained a few more followers from his stay here.
