Everyone has an opinion about gender identity, but few people have the right knowledge
Text: Tim van Erp
Photo: Jon Haywood
Video: Andre Kloer
Singer Sem Jansen (33) hadn’t exactly expected to be asked to become an ambassador when Pride Amsterdam called him. And although he didn’t immediately picture himself on a boat, he had a few clear reasons to say “yes”. ‘I actually need to do this.’
He didn’t have to think long. But Sem Jansen was surprised when Pride Amsterdam invited him, as someone from Brabant, to be a Pride Ambassador for 2025. There were two reasons he paused before saying “yes.” “First, I’m not exactly a party animal. So I thought, even knowing that Pride also has many activist aspects, this might not be for me.” Laughing: “I said, ‘If you want someone who can dance on a boat it’s not going to be me, that’s awkward for me and for everyone watching.’ But that wasn’t necessary — the organisation said I could just come as myself. I thought: I actually need to do this if I believe Pride isn’t for introverted people like me. There are surely more people who think the same. But that picture isn’t true. Pride is for everyone.”
The second reason: visibility has a negative side. “Being so open about yourself carries risks, especially in the current climate. But that’s not a reason to avoid it. Besides, I’m already out.” That’s an understatement: Sem took his followers on social media along through his transition and made both an album and a theatre show about it. Not only about the practical side, but also about doubts, insecurities and unhappy feelings. Sem was already known as a member of the Leif De Leeuw Band, who among others performed on De Wereld Draait Door. In 2020 he won the SBS talent show as a solo artist, Hit The Road. “Gender identity is a sensitive topic in the media and politics right now, and I notice that. When a newspaper interviews me and shares it on social media, a lot of negative comments appear below. Personally I hardly receive any hate. On the contrary, I often get kind messages from people I meet: listeners who say they finally understand what being transgender means.”
Changed voice
Of course, Sem adds, there are unpleasant experiences too. “People who after a show, at the merchandise stall, said to me: ‘I liked your higher voice better,’ or ‘You were so pretty when you were still a woman.’ Comments that aren’t meant to be hurtful but are painful nonetheless. I think people who say things like that don’t realise how sensitive it is. I had practised for weeks to get my changed voice somewhat under control, was happy it worked, and then get a comment like that afterwards.”
Because before his transition, Sem’s voice was the only thing he liked about himself. And that was something he might lose. “Research suggested that voice changes for transgender men would lead to a voice that can’t hold a pitch or sing loudly. And I had no musical role models to look to. The only trans man with a record deal back then was Lucas Silveira, a Canadian singer. But he sang completely differently from me. I had made a whole folder of trans singers I’d found on social media and YouTube. But almost none of them sang professionally. Nowadays there are more examples: Sam Bettens, for instance, from the Belgian band K’s Choice.”
Sem assumed his singing career would come to an end. “And not only that: my voice made people look at me positively, it was how I presented myself to the outside world. I was much less social then and lived quite isolated. My transition could have affected that too. But I also knew: I had tried everything to be happy and it hadn’t worked. Sacrificing my career was a risk I was willing to take. Yes, maybe I could sing beautifully, but I didn’t want to keep living the way I was.”
As an experiment Sem recorded some songs before his transition, with his old voice. Afterwards he recorded several new songs. Together they form the first and second halves of his 2023 album Uncle Sem (2023). On the song Goodbye he duets with his former self, as he does in his accompanying theatre show Who The F*ck Is Britt?!, with footage of him before his transition projected in the background. “With a vocal coach I worked hard to find the overlap between my female and male voice and to train that area. In the Leif De Leeuw Band they said: ‘If it doesn’t work out, it’ll be fine, you’re also a guitarist.’ But I knew that just playing guitar wouldn’t give the same fulfilment. Fortunately it worked out: I sing a lot better now than just after my transition.”
No deadname
The title Who The F*ck Is Britt?!actually refers to those same bandmates. “When I had just come out as Sem, staff at concert venues would sometimes accidentally still call me Britt. My bandmates would then joke afterwards: ‘Who the fuck is this Britt anyway?’ That’s how we took away the awkwardness: with humour.” In that title Sem explicitly uses his old name, which is often met with resistance within the community. “I did hesitate about it. But for me the name Britt doesn’t feel like a deadname. I had that name for a long time; my parents chose it with love. I don’t need to erase the first 25 years of my life. I understand that that can be different for others. And of course it’s another story when someone calls me Britt to hurt me. But, for example, I have a family member who supported me from the start and fully sees me as a man. Yet she sometimes accidentally calls me ‘Britt’. She finds that more upsetting than I do.”
In his ambassador portrait for Pride, Sem wears a rosary as a hidden message around the theme of LOVE. It refers to his grandmother and her undoubtedly unconditional love. “She never knew me as Sem, but I’m sure she would have accepted me. When I came out as a lesbian she immediately renounced the church without hesitation. An institution that doesn’t accept me, she thought, is not to be trusted.”
Sem teaches twice a week at his singing and guitar school in Helmond. He was also afraid his transition could cost him work there. “I sent a letter to all the parents of my underage students announcing that I would now live as Sem. I thought some might withdraw their child from singing or guitar lessons. But no one did. In fact I now have more students who are themselves trans or struggling with their gender identity, including older people. Sometimes teenagers drop hints that they have another reason for being at my school besides learning to sing or play guitar. If they ask, I give them names of support organisations: Jong & Out in Eindhoven, for example. I want to help them, of course, but I don’t want to risk parents thinking I encouraged it.”
Because that misconception about being trans or non-binary unfortunately still exists. For that reason too Sem finds the Pride ambassadorship important. “Everyone has an opinion about gender identity, but few people have the right knowledge. I notice that everyone I talk to about it can develop understanding or respect. I know not everyone has the same privilege I do. But it offers hope. The more people we reach and the more conversations we can start, the better acceptance for transgender people will become.”
Pride ambassador since 2025
