By Simone Nadine Bornilla
"Love knows no bounds."
This is what I've learned growing up in what society would consider an unconventional family set up.
I was taken in by my biological father and my stepfather when I was 5 years old from my grandmother in Bicol. They took me to Manila and raised me there together with my brother. Our life wasn’t anything extravagant, but my parents definitely pushed themselves harder than they ever could just so we could get there eventually.
Growing up, I remember I never found anything unusual about the family that I was in. It never occurred to me that I didn’t have the regular mom and dad physical figure of a parent simply because I was satisfied with the love and care that was being provided to me by my own. Of course, this started becoming more and more apparent to me upon growing up, and even then it still was never a problem.
We had friends and relatives who were very accepting of us. I was even accepted into a catholic school, Colegio San Agustin - Makati (CSA), and also graduated from there where even the faculty members were very loving and welcoming of me and my family.
By the time I was an incoming Grade 8 student, I wanted to apply into an International School in the country. We’ve already submitted every requirement needed for the application and have already paid the school for the entrance examination. Upon payment they said they’d inform us when I’ll be taking the exam, yet a few weeks pass by and we still haven’t heard from them. My parents, feeling very concerned, got in contact with their registrar and he said that I can’t be granted admission to the school because I belong in a gay family.
Hearing this news was such a disheartening thing for me and especially for my parents. They blamed themselves for the school rejecting me.
“Why did they have to reject her for being our child? We’re not the ones applying.,” is what they often say amongst themselves. What’s worse is that by the time we figured out we could legally act on what happened, it was already too late.
Luckily, though I applied late into CSA - Makati, they accepted me right away as one of their students, and to this day I’m grateful for them and for every friend I’ve made in that school for being so accepting of us.
This entire story of mine is what motivates me to keep pushing harder whenever I feel even just a bit of doubt regarding my candidacy in Miss Universe Philippines because I’m reminded of why it’s so important for me to do this.
I had a great support system when the incident with the international school happened. Unfortunately, there may be other people out there who experience something similar and have no one by their side to help them cope.
I want my experience as a candidate on Miss Universe Philippines to be fruitful in encouraging the members of the LGBTQ+ community to raise their voices as well. I want to be able to use my platform to share their stories and fight off those that intend to do harmful crimes towards them. Because I mean it when I say that I am a strong ally, and this platform alone gives me the ability to prove just that.