BY KHRISCIELLE YALAO AND HANNAH NICOL
Thousands of members of the LGBTQIA+ community, advocates, and allies raised their rainbow flags and marched for justice and freedom during the simultaneous pride festivals in Quezon City (QC) and Makati City on Saturday, June 24, serving as the culminating event of the month-long celebration of Pride Month this June.
The “Love Laban” Pride Festival was held at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City, while the “Tayo Ang Kulayaan: Pride March and Festival” was conducted at the Circuit Events Grounds in Makati City.
"Love Laban" was organized in partnership with the local government of Quezon City, and "tayo Ang Kulayaan" was headed by the Metro Manila Pride organization.
Thousands join the Quezon City Pride March on June 24, 2023. (Noel Pabalate / MANILA BULLETIN)
The events gathered huge crowds, with LGBTQIA persons proudly flaunting their fashionable attires with the rainbow pride flag worn as capes or painted on faces.
The festivals featured numerous booths from non-governmental and non-profit organizations that center LGBTQIA issues in their advocacies, along with private sector partners that lent their services in solidarity with the community. It also showcased small arts and crafts businesses owned and operated by LGBTQIA individuals.
Booths for free HIV testing were also set up at the event.
The highlight of both events were their respective Pride marches, where the LGBTQIA groups took to the streets to raise awareness, express themselves, and proclaim their goals and demands for equal rights and opportunities to the public.
Participants of the QC Pride Parade marched from the Memorial Circle to East Avenue, V. Luna Road, then to Kalayaan Avenue from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The parade featured rainbow floats covered with flowery ornaments, marchers in glamorous attires, families hand-in-hand with their children, and pets wearing rainbow neckties and t-shirts.
LGBTQIA members, allies, advocates march at the Metro Manila Pride Festival at Makati City on June 24, 2023. (Khriscielle Yalao / MANILA BULLETIN)
The Makati Pride March, that started at 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., traversed the surrounding area of Circuit Makati including Theater Drive, West Gala, A. Reyes Avenue, JP Rizal, Zapote, Kalayaan Avenue, JB Rojas, and the Riverfront Drive.
It was led by the Gays and Lesbians Association of Makati (GLAM), a large queer organization in the city, followed by the LGBTQIA groups of the city's barangays.
Some sectors included muses, clothed in elaborate costumes, as heads of their clusters in the parade. The Manila Pride Color Guard enthralled bystanders with dance routines as they waved and twirled their flags in the streets.
Most participants in both festivals held varying sizes of the rainbow flag and the specific flags of varying sexual orientations and gender identities, while other participants held up sign boards calling for #SOGIESCEqualityNow, wage increases, end to the Visiting Armed Forces Agreement (VFA), defense of indigenous peoples, and no to the return of the mandatory Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) among others.
Pride as protest
Pride is not just a celebration, but it harkens back to the first brick thrown at the Stonewall Inn in New York in June 1969, which sparked the so-called "Stonewall riots" that marked the beginning of decades-long resistance that fill much of modern LGBTQ+ history.
In both pride events in Quezon City and Makati, the resounding call of the Filipino LGBTQ community was the passage of the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression or Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) Equality Bill or Senate Bill 1934 authored and sponsored by Senator Risa Hontiveros.
The bill, which was recently approved by the House Committee on Women and Gender Equality, aims to define SOGIESC, identify the discriminatory practices against LGBTQIA persons, and enumerate mechanisms to resolve these issues and hold violators accountable.
"We always have your back to help and protect our SOGIESC, our LGBTQIA community. That is the purpose of the bill. We should sanction and penalize those who would violate the rights of our SOGIESC," said Gabriela Women's Party Representative Arlene Brosas in English and Tagalog at the Makati Pride.
She urged for more support from the community, especially in lobbying and advocating in both the Congress and the Senate, in order for the bill to pass.
A participant holds up a sign stating "Pass SOGIE BILL now!" at the QC Pride Festival at the Quezon Memorial Circle on June 24, 2023. (Noel Pabalate / MANILA BULLETIN)
At the QC Pride, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte lamented the stagnant status of the SOGIESC Bill in the Congress and Senate.
"Kung maiintindihan lang sana nila kung anong ipinaglalaban nito, matagal na sana itong naipasa. Dahil isa lang naman ang sinisiguro ng SOGIE Bill, ang magkaroon ng patas na karapatan ang lahat ng Pilipino (If only they could understand what it was fighting for, it would have been passed a long time ago. Because the SOGIE Bill ensures only one thing, that all Filipinos have equal rights),” she added.
Angelu, one of the participants at the QC Pride, told Manila Bulletin that she thinks the SOGIESC Bill has not yet been passed because lawmakers don't understood or give importance to the struggles of the LGBTQIA community.
As one half of an LGBTQIA+ couple, she said they still get judgmental looks from strangers, especially when they are together in public places.
"Kaya’t hindi natatapos ang laban natin, at patuloy lang ang panawagan na maipasa ang bill dahil hindi lang naman ito kaartehan ng komunidad, hindi ito para maikasal kami, hindi ito para makapagpalaganap kami ng kabaklaan—simpleng karapatang pantao lang ito. At karapatan naming maging malaya at ligtas sa sarili naming bansa (That's why our fight is not over, and the call to pass the bill continues because it's not just community justice, it's not for us to get married, it's not for us to spread a 'gay agenda'—it's just a simple human right. And we have the right to be free and safe in our own country)," Angelu said.
Pride and joy
Despite the struggles the community faces, joy and camaraderie abound at the festival.
At the Makati Pride Festival, an impromptu dance battle and dance showcase occurred at the center of the Circuit Events Grounds field, much to the delight of the audience.
In QC, individuals offered "free hugs" to comfort LGBTQIA members, who often face alienation and discrimination from normative society, along with dismissal or disownment from their own families or relatives.
People give free hugs at the QC Pride Festival at the Quezon Memorial Circle on June 24, 2023. (Noel Pabalate / MANILA BULLETIN)
Energetic performances from talented drag queens also entertained the festival goers during Pride Night at both cities.
Lady Morgana, the winner of Miss Congeniality in the first ever season of Drag Race Philippines, made a special appearance and performed “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by Whitney Houston to an enthusiastic crowd at Makati Pride.
Lady Morgana performing at the Metro Manila Pride Festival at Makati City on June 24, 2023. (Khriscielle Yalao / MANILA BULLETIN)
Ballroom Couture PH also graced the stage, presenting the vibrant and exciting dances and aspects of ballroom culture.
Performers at the festivals included Nica Del Rosario, Kween Yasmin, JC Quintana, Matthew Chang, JC Alcantara, Marina Summers, Ice Seguerra, and many more.
Solidarity and allyship
When one greets “Happy Pride,” a whole crowd shouts it back – a testament to the community that the LGBTQIA has built and nurtured over the years. As an environment that thrives through its diversity and differences, the Pride festivals sought to "provide safe spaces, uplift and empower, make voices heard and speak aloud."
"The LGBTQ community is one with millions of Filipinos who dream of a future that is colorful, equal, and free. This Pride, let us all shout, we will not go away, or be erased)," a representative from BAHAGHARI exclaimed in English and Tagalog.
Other groups who delivered their solidarity messages at the Makati Pride were the Aromatic Asexual Support PH (AASP), Transmasculine PH (TMPH), Makati LGBT Pride, Better Teem Supporting Youth Today, Concerned Artists of the Philippines, DAKILA Philippine Collective for Modern Heroism, PAREA BI Alliance, Society of Transwomen in the Philippines (STRAP), Pinoy Deaf Rainbow, Lesbian Organization for Unity and Diversity, LGBT Organization Against Violence and for Equality, Lesbians for Rights and Lesbians Alliance Movement, Kabataan Partylist, and other youth organizations.
Youth activists join the Metro Manila Pride March at Makati City on June 24, 2023. (Khriscielle Yalao / MANILA BULLETIN)
As allies, the local governments of both cities expressed their support for the LGBTQIA community.
On behalf of Makati Mayor Abby Binay, Vice Mayor Monique Lagdameo delivered a speech at the event, assuring the Makati LGBTQ community that the local government will continue to support human rights for all. She was joined on stage by Councilors Martin Arenas, Anna Yabut, Carmina Ortega, and Bodik Baniqued.
"In Makati, we take immense pride in being an ally for the rainbow community. At City Hall, we are fortunate to have dedicated LGBTQ employees who contribute their unique perspectives and talents to our collective mission of serving our Makatizens," said Lagdameo.
"We recognize the struggles of the LGBTQ community that extend far beyond our borders…As public servants we want to make a truly inclusive society that goes beyond mere tolerance. We strive for genuine acceptance," the vice mayor added.
Thousands join the Quezon City Pride March on June 24, 2023. (Noel Pabalate / MANILA BULLETIN)
Meanwhile, Belmonte, a long-standing and outspoken ally of the Quezon City queer community, emphasized how the voices of the LGBTQIA can no longer be ignored.
“Sama-sama tayong magma-martsa hanggang sa dulo ng bahaghari at hanggang sa wala na kayong takot ipaglaban ang inyong mga nararamdaman at isigaw ang inyong mga minamahal. Hindi niyo naman ako ituturing na mother kung hindi ko kayo kayang panindigan. Hangga’t ako ay naririto, mananatili niyo akong sandigan (Together we will march to the end of the rainbow and until you are no longer afraid to fight and shout for your loved ones. You won't consider me a mother if I can't stand up for you. As long as I'm here, you will always have my support)," said the Mayor.
Other officials who joined Belmonte at the QC Pride Festival were Senator Risa Hontiveros, District 3 Councilor Wencerom Lagumay, and ambassadors from different embassies in the Philippines.