Transgendered Tongan 'leitis' finding their way in the conservative country

By Peter Munro
Updated August 29 2015 - 2:13pm, first published August 28 2015 - 6:30pm
Joey Joleen Mataele describes herself as "a woman trapped in a man's body." Photo: Edwina Pickles
Joey Joleen Mataele describes herself as "a woman trapped in a man's body." Photo: Edwina Pickles
Hairdresser Sonia Inesmorgan Kivalu says she loved to play with the girls as a child.    Photo: Edwina Pickles
Hairdresser Sonia Inesmorgan Kivalu says she loved to play with the girls as a child. Photo: Edwina Pickles

Perched within cooee of the king – at a long table topped with suckling pigs, lobsters, coconuts and big blocks of supermarket chocolate – is Joey Joleen Mataele. She's hard to find among the hundreds of nobles gathered on a grassed oval to celebrate the coronation, on a steamy day of singing, dancing and double desserts in the Kingdom of Tonga.

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