Departure

On Wednesday night Chad left for Manila.  His leaving didn’t go quite as smoothly as I had hoped.

It was just over a month ago that I booked the flight.  Chad would be leaving Taipei at about 1:30, and arriving in Manila at 3:30 in the afternoon.  I really didn’t give the ticket much thought until this last Wednesday evening when Chad, after a day’s work, decided to confirm the time he’d be flying out the next day.  And then I heard, “Um, is this for 1:30 tomorrow afternoon, or 1:30 tonight?!”

This was a classic “oh shit” moment.  It was a bit frantic, as Chad still had to pack, but luckily all his camera gear was ready.  He took the little mix-up pretty well, but I don’t think he was too pleased to be getting into Manila at 3:30 in the morning.  The good thing is he didn’t miss his flight (phew), and now I will be obsessively double-checking before all future flights to see if they are in 12 hour or 24 hour formats.

While in Manila Chad will be getting a feel for the Malate district.  Chad’s guesthouse is right in the center of the area, about a block away from the parade’s starting point – Remedios Circle.  The parade will be ending in the nearby streets of Maria Orosa St. and Julio Nakpil St., known in the gay community for their lively nightlife.

Over the next few days Chad has plans to meet with some of the figures in the Philippines LGBT community.  This includes Reverend Ceejay Agbayani, the first Filipino clergy of Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) ordained in the Philippines, and head of the march’s parade committee.  With luck, Chad will also have a chance to meet with Bruce Amoroto, a Filipino gay activist and current president-coordinator of TEAM PILIPINAS (Philippine Forum on Sports, Culture, Sexuality, and Human Rights.  Stay tuned as write-ups on the march will be starting next week.

Test Run – Philippines March, 2009

“Should we go?  Shouldn’t we go??”  These questions were floating in the air as we carefully considered whether or not to attend the 2009 Manila Pride march.

We’ve just begun the mammoth task of trying to organize, find funding, and setup the “Walk with Pride” project, not an easy task.  While Chad has taken part in lengthy photography assignments before, they’ve usually involved staying in one place, so the logistics of planning for 14 months of travel is … hm, what’s the right word, “interesting”.

The number of pride parades held each year is sizeable, with well over 400 large marches held, and parades ranging in size from less than 60 marchers, to the largest in São Paulo, Brazil, with over 3 million people attending the 2009 parade.  Many of the biggest pride celebrations are held in June, as it is principally recognized as Gay Pride month.  Additionally, a lot of the top parades are run during the same weekend, the last in June (June 26-27), which commemorates the Stonewall Riots of 1969.  However, with so many dates a rough itinerary is just beginning to fall in to place.  We’ve decided to officially start the project in May 2010, traveling to Minsk for the second annual Slavic gay pride parade, then moving into Europe during June, with a quick trip to the states for the San Francisco LGBT Pride on the weekend of June 26-27, followed by July and August back in Europe, September still unclear, but October has both the Hong Kong and Osaka parades.  Our rough plan goes on like this until June 2011, until we finally end the project at either the NYC or Washington D.C. pride gatherings.

But, what about this year’s Dec. 5, 2009 Manila Pride march?  Why not unofficially start now, visiting some of the parades that are closest to our base of Taiwan?  The Philippines gay community is supposed to be particularly vibrant, and despite being a predominantly Catholic country, it was Manila where the first ever gay rights parade in Asia was held in 1994.  Similar to others, the original parade date honored the Stonewall Riots, but in 2003 the march was moved from June to December in support of Human Rights month.  Since 1999 the parade has been organized by Task Force Pride a loose network of groups working to promote positive visibility for the gay community.

The decision: We should go

… at least that was our decision.  My work superior felt differently on the matter, so I will most likely be unable to leave the country until May when we officially start.  However, expect to see Chad (the red head with the camera) around Manila as of the 3^rd.  The march’s theme is “We Dare, We Care,” and will commence at 5pm in the lively Malate district.  Chad’s pictures of the march will be posted in the week following the parade, so check them out on the project’s main pride website: www.walkwithpridenow.com , and on our Flickr account.

Country Details: Gay Rights and Culture in the Philippines

Philippines LGBT Rights:

Homosexual Acts Legal? Yes

Same-sex Relationships Recognized? No

Same-sex Marriages Allowed? No
◊ The Metropolitan Community Church Philippines has been conducting same-sex holy unions since 1991, and the communist New People’s Army of the Philippines has been conducting same-sex marriages since 1998.  However, the Philippine Constitution does not recognize same-sex marriages.
◊ UPDATE: As of Dec, 2009 a Manila lawmaker is seeking to criminalize same-sex unions.  House Rep. Bienvenido Abante, Jr. said such marriage should be discouraged by a criminalizing measure because it is “highly immoral, scandalous and detestable act.”  Under the bill, violators faces 15 years of imprisonment and a fine of not more than P150,000. (link)

Same-sex Adoption Allowed? No

Can Gays Serve Openly in the Military? Yes
◊ Beginning in 2009, openly gay and bisexual persons are now allowed to serve in the military.

Anti-discrimination Laws?  No
◊  Proposed in 1998, but still not passed, the Anti-Discrimination Bill would criminalize practices and policies that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.  It would cover discrimination in the workplace, educational institutions, health centers, commercial establishment, police force, the military, and others.

Legislature Concerning Gender Identity? Some
◊  The Philippines Court of Appeals ruled in 2008 that sex reassignment is not a valid reason to allow for the official change of someone’s “name” or “gender”.

Cultural Points of Interest:

• The Philippines is home to the longest running pride march in Asia, with annual marches since 1994.  Anti-gay protesters were formerly unknown to the parade as the local church did not believe in organizing any disruptions.  However in 2008, for the first time, a foreign led anti-gay Christian group picketed the parade.
• The film “Bubot Niyar“, aka “Paper Dolls,” is a documentary by director Tomer Heymann that focuses on the lives of five cross-dressing Filippino men working in Tel Aviv, Israel, who formed the ‘Paper Dolls’ drag group on their nights off.  They all work as health care providers for elderly, Orthodox Jewish men, and are some of the 300,000 foreign immigrants that moved to Israel to fill former Palestinian jobs when relations worsened in 2000.  The film won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Torino International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
  
• Philippine Gay Culture: Binabae to Bakla, Silahis to MSM is a book by J. Neil C. Garcia, a professor of English, creative writing, and comparative literature at University of the Philippines.  This hefty 540-page book looks at gay identities that have emerged in the Philippines from the 1960s to present day.

Websites:

Gay in the Philippines is a site that aims to reflect the lives and lifestyles of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transsexuals (LGBT) in the Philippines. The website collects information and stories from LGBT communities, while featuring gay-friendly destinations for those who want to travel or holiday in the Philippines. http://gayinthephilippines.com

OutrageMag.com promotes itself as the only Gayzine in the Philippines. www.OutrageMag.com

Weeqender.com is Philippines’ first LGBTQ travel and lifestyle magazine blog. http://weeqender.com/

Rainbow Bloggers is a website that posts articles created by LGBT Filipino bloggers, in hopes of encouraging aspiring writers.  The site also highlights a ‘Rainbow Blog of the Week.’ http://www.rainbowbloggers.com/

Task Force Pride is the organizing network of the 2009 Manila Pride March. http://taskforcepride.blogspot.com/