June is Pride Month and with the way things are now, it has to be reiterated, that the occasion is and still is a protest.
It was an opportune time to talk about what the current status of primary concerns are of the community. This is why the folks from Verde Creatives held an event called "Rainbow Voices: Mga Mukha at Boses ng Bahaghari" (The Faces and Voices of the Rainbow). The platform seeks to have a place for community members to talk about what is important, like the good and bad things about what is happening with the LGBTQIA+, brothers and sisters, and the phenomenal horrors on why the SOGIESC Equality bill is still not approved.
I asked them bluntly about how it might have been all frustrating, and they said a resounding YES. Though they assured me, they never will get tired. They promise to continue the fight, but it has to be an effort done with YOU, me and the rest of the community. It'll have a huge impact when we do things together, and I've seen it happen in recent years. I'm glad it's not just the bad things that were discussed, but the good things too.
Here's the talk on video, this was held at the Dark Roast Coffee House in Maginhawa Street, so listen in!
Verde Creatives very own Ms. Bemz Benedito, Ms. Gigi Marie Garcia of the Society of Trans Women of the Philippines (STRAP), Mx. Patrick Espino of LADLAD Partylist, Ms. Venus Ancheta-Lane, an HR Professional who is also part of the Society of Trans Women of the Philippines (STRAP), and Atty. Juliane Paul Tabarangao shared their expertise on the topic to explain where we are and how we are with regards to the causes we need to support.
Ms. Bemz reiterated "LGBT rights, trans rights are human rights. It is still not being accepted, just tolerated. It is important to celebrate Pride, it is a protest, it is important to discuss it, in platforms like Verde, to have a place to discuss things that may not be allowed in public. Thanks for giving us the voice, for letting us fight, to give solutions, but even if the faces have changed, we need to support the cause to protect LGBT or us Filipinos."
Ms. Gigi Marie Garcia adds "It's time for Trans people to change their name, markers and legal ID's for legal gender recognition. This would be a big help and our coalition will be pushing for legislation, government support for the passage of SOGIE bill. We hope this would be enacted as law, while we partner with more people to support our cause. Preferred names and gender identity is important for government transactions, and with it, we get recognized including the non binary individuals too. Our trans sisters even get offloaded because of it. STRAP hold sessions and hear so many stories about it, but names affirm the persona of the person."
Patrick Espino also shared "June is Pride month, but it has been used so many times that it is starting to be used. At times, they still call us names, but where are we now, still not where we want to be. Hate must be eradicated, it must be stopped."
While we are making progress as a society, there is still a long way to go. This effort by Verde Creatives is a really huge help to make those issues and put those points across. I hope this would put an even better perspective on letting all us know where we are, and perhaps find more ways on how we can help. I love how they pointed out that these issues are not designed to mock or put aside the fun during Pride events, because we need to celebrate our huge and small wins.
Happy PRIDE!
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