The Rainbow Blog Philippines

Jacque Bermejo's Shoutout in Facebook Comments on her Statement (Click to Enlarge) What can you say? Related aritcles: Dubai-based Filipina Vilified for Calling Typhoon ‘Well-Deserved Punishment’ Final Update : Jacque Bermejo’s Innocence Official Statement of Jacque Bermejo on her alledged Facebook comment

Philippine News Agency September 25, 2009 Ladlad, a gay and lesbian group, has renewed its bid to get the nod of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to accredit and allow the group to join the party list elections next year. Ladlad head Danton Remoto said he is hoping that the poll body will evaluate thoroughly their application. “I hope the Comelec will see the point of our party list,” he said before the hearing of their accreditation Thursday at the Comelec head office in Manila. He said Ladlad should be allowed to participate in 2010 elections as they represent a marginalized sector in the society. “Like many Filipinos, many lesbians, gays, transgenders are poor. So we reflect the economic conditions of the country. Marginalization is not only financial,” Remoto pointed out. He is also confident that they will finally get the approval of the Comelec since they already have members all over the country. Remoto revealed that they have 13 regional chapters and 22,000 members and aff...

In the spate of gay killings in the past few weeks, members and leaders of MCCQC, ProGAY-QC, SGO-Phils, OUTPhils, GABAY, IFTAS and other concerned LGBT groups and formations are joining forces in monitoring and documenting murder cases or hate crimes against us, not just the ones covered by media, but all. Documenting these cases would provide our legislators ammunition to pass the Anti-Discrimination Bill pending in congress as well as lobbying for an Anti-Hate Crime Bill. We make this call to everyone: If you have heard or known of a murder or homicide case or any incident of violence which the LGBT community is targeted please send us the following information at the MCCQC e-mail mccqc@ymail.com or if you are a member of any of the participating organizations mentioned in this letter, contact your community leaders: 1. Name of the Victim 2. Age of the Victim 3. Profession of the Victim 4. Date of Crime 5. Circumstances how they were killed and how they were found 6. Notes or other i...

Mga Tanong: Pwede bang ma-consider legally ang domestic partnership between gay couples ngayon sa Pilipinas? Up to what extent pwede marecognize ang partner ko? Anong gagawin mo if you are fired from work because you are gay? Anong gagawin mo kung nahuli ka sa isang bathouse, massage parlor or sinehan na gumagawa ng milagro? Pwede ba akong mag-adopt ng child if I am single and gay? Ano ba yung bagansya at paano ko mapo-protektahan ang sarili ko? Paano kung may nagkalat ng chismis na bakla ako or may HIV ako, anong laban ko sa mata ng batas at human rights? Ang Sagot: Rainbow Rights Project Inc., in coordination with Single Guys Online, Metropolitan Community Church QC, IFTAS, and GABAY, presents: “THE LGBT LEGAL FORUM” This event is on Saturday, 3pm, September 19, 2009 and will be held at Metropolitan Community Church Quezon City (MCCQC) LGBT Center, 56th Mindanao Avenue, Project 6, Quezon City. Please come and join us in discussing everything you need to know about Legal Rights for Le...

I've waited 3 years for a new relationship. Well, not really "wait", because whenever I'm on vacation, speed dating services would envy me at how fast I go through dates. Whenever I wasn't on a date, I went out with friends to "hunt" at clubs and bars - 99% of which ends up with my friends carrying new human accessories with them, and me, just a lighted cigarette and a sure-fire hang-over. My friends kept on telling me that I have really high standards and whenever we go out, my constant blabber of "Nobody's interested in me" is more of a "Nobody here is interesting for me". Even now, I don't know which is which. During this vacation though, I went out with one guy who I'll hide under the name of Marshall ... and I almost thought that he was THE ONE. ... CLick here to read more ...

Last weekend I had the privilege of witnessing two beautiful things in action: youth and love. On Saturday, along with other officers of Ang Ladlad , the national organization of LGBT Filipinos, I braved the rains and went to the University Hotel inside the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman campus for Ang Ladlad's Meet & Greet with a youth social network, OneBacardi. OneBacardi is a group of gay and bisexual youth who set up mainly cultural and socio-civic activities aimed at bringing the local LGBT community together. They currently have almost 100 members from the Metro Manila area alone (see pic below). When I met them last Saturday, my heart just melted because they lived up to their claim of being a bold, brilliant and beautiful group of guys. They were all so good-looking and charming! For some time now, OneBacardi, through its officers led by current head, Angelo "Gelo" Camaya, had been expressing their desire to partner with Ang Ladlad so that both or...

Ang Ladlad , the national organization of Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Filipinos, is holding a Meet and Greet with the bold, brilliant and beautiful clan, OneBacardi* (see their logo above). WHEN : 12 September 2009, Saturday WHERE : Seminar Room 104, University Hotel, UP Diliman, Quezon City WHAT TIME : 6:30-10:30 pm This event is part of Ang Ladlad’s Membership Renewal Campaign in the National Capital Region (NCR) and is open to all bona fide Ang Ladlad members who want to renew their membership for the year. Come one! Come all! And let’s meet One Bacardi*!!! _________________________________________________________ *ONEBACARDI is a dynamic social network organization whose aim is to strengthen the members’ awareness and involvement in LGBT issues, and promote unity and camaraderie within the entire LGBT community. They envision a community of socially mature individuals who are free-spirited, well-rounded and socially responsible. They provide their members a ready an...

VIZ! Celebrating Dykons who made us Out and Proud! We are who we are because of their impact, both on the lesbian and straight communities. Melissa Ethridge. Indigo Girls. K.D. Lang. Tracy Chapman. Le Tigre. The Murmurs. Tegan and Sara. Joan Armatrading. Ani DiFranco. Sleater Kinney. Dresden Dolls. Uh Huh Her. Joan Jett. Sarah Bettens K's Choice. and the list goes on. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gay,_lesbian_or_bisexual_people/A-E ) And we are paying tribute to them, to say Thank You for making us more proud of who we are. VIZ celebrating dykons who made us out and proud a night of live music, dance, film and poetry. featuring: Lee Grane Flush and the Toilets Tao Aves Odd Man Out Midnight Vaginas Odd *We will also screen a short film by Joee Mejias entitled, SEVEN MONTHS, at around 830PM Mag:net Katipunan Sept. 14, Monday 8pm-1am P150 with P50 consummable See you! **LEMONITE (short for Lesbian Monday Night) is a regular event of Lunduyan ng Sining at Mag:net Katipunan ev...

Held last September 3, 2009, the 3rd Getting-To-Know Org Heads Meeting, the biggest among the three (3) G2K Org Heads, was a success with more than 20 LGBT organizations who attended and collaborated in addressing the three (3) point agenda: Hate Crimes, Pride March, and the “We Dare, We Care” campaign. Below is the list of different organizations who went to the meeting: Ang Ladlad Partylist Animo Dugon Berde EnGendeRights GABAY Gabriela UPD GALANG Ketchup Magazine LeAP! Manila Pride Fest Metropolitan Community Church Quezon City One Bacardi OutPhilippines Pinoy Bi Society Project Equality Queer Pagan Network Rainbow Bloggers Philippines Single Guys Online STRAP Task Force Pride TeaFrosters The Library Foundation UP Babaylan Hate Crimes: Thought to be a serial killer, the different organizations decided that it’s not really a single person who is doing it, but different people who express anger to gay people since these cases where from different places in the archipelago. The recent ...

When I was having coffee and smoke in our balcony to start my morning today, I overheard one nasty exchange of minds from that group of cute young boys who hang out at the house next to where I live, which went as follows: Boy 1: Pare yang babaeng nagtatrabaho sa America priority yan. Boy 2: Pero mas maganda pa rin pare ung based sa America o Americana talaga. Boy 3: Bahala na kung ano yan Pare basta MAKAPAL ANG WALLET. Boy 4: Oo nga, BE PRACTICAL, Pare. The conversation left me clueless as to what to feel at the point of hearing it, but hell sure it raised a lot of questions from me. Well, yes, the looks of the members of this barkada is not a joke. They're one bunch of cute college boys. However, I don't see any reason for looks to be made a basis for assigning a corresponding value to one's self in looking for a mate. Such conversation only made me realize that, in these hard times, the word "practicality" is already overrated, and consequently, finding a ...

DANTON REMOTO Ang Ladlad Chair 2010 Senatorial Candidate I called up Helen Flores of Philippine Star to ask her who sent her the press release showing a purported Pulse Asia senatorial survey that showed me getting only 0.7 percent, landing third from the bottom of the list. She said, "Pulse Asia." I said that is impossible because I am not a subscriber to any of the surveys. Read: I did not pay P50,000 for my name to be there. I told her to check out the website of Pulse Asia. I did, again and again, and the alleged press release she got is not there. The only recent news item is the presidential survey. In short, it is a hatchet job. Clearly, then, the hand of a muckracker is at work here. Some rich political party commissioned a survey, put my name there, and must have been shocked out of their dimwitted skulls when they saw me again up there in the list, past their nina bonita, as it has been in the last many surveys. How do I know this? Because the other political parti...

I just realized, based on my experience last month, that I am an overly-scheduled person. On top of work, I am also working on my Master's thesis at the University of the Philippines, attending Spanish classes every Saturday, running three times a week and going to the gym for the same number of days. Add to these doing advocacy work for the LGBT community. My life will probably look more hectic compared to the average person. No matter, I like it this way. I enjoy being busy and I hate being idle although I do feel sometimes that there are just too many things to do in so little time. Last month alone I was in several activities involving the LGBT community. First I was a speaker at the Alternative Classroom Learning Experience (ACLE) forum on coming out (see pic above) of the University of the Philippines (UP) Babaylan, an LGBT students rights advocacy group in the UP system. I shared my coming out experience with the mainly student audience. I told them that in the past because ...

DANTON REMOTO Ang Ladlad, Chair 2010 Senatorial Candidate http://filipinovoices.com/ "The most media-attractive partylister to date is Danton Remoto’s Ang Ladlad. While denied COMELEC accreditation in the past (it said it didn’t have a national presence), it is now more politically sophisticated to go into the fray. Gays are found in all levels of society, the trades and professions. They contribute much to our society. However, Danton is astute enough to recognize that it is OK for Ladlad to go partylist for now, but that cannot be the state of affairs for the future. Ladlad will have to expand its constituency. Danton is considering a senate seat with the Liberals. Best of all he knows how to play the conservative streak in Pinoy society. While Pinoys may have no problems with openly gay people, they may have problems with gays exchanging vows with each other. So Danton says, 'Walang same-sex marriage, Ayaw ni Jesus.' A look at Ladlad’s platform is lefty but should be ac...

THE PHILIPPINE RED PARTY PROJECT September 5, 2009, SM Mall of Asia The Red Party Rationale Medical students across Australia have rallied as part of a nation-wide effort to increase awareness of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), a devastating spectrum of disease afflicting an estimated 33 million people across the globe. To raise awareness, Australian medical students have hosted several fundraising and educational events all around the country. Themed with the color red, the international color for HIV and AIDS, the events have affectionately become known as 'Red Parties'. Two of these Australian medical students, Patrick Aouad and Zabrina Abdool, from the Australian National University visited the Philippines recently. They saw the plight of our fellowmen, especially those seeking consult at the Philippine General Hospital. They returned to Australia and proposed that the Adult Infectious Disease section of the Philippine Gener...

I was on my way home when I got an itch to tune in to "Good times with Mo, Mojo and Grace Lee" on Magic 89.9. I've been hearing a lot about the trio from a friend on how good they carry any topics that's being brought on the table. She said it's a good jump-start for her day, I said what the "f" I work during graveyard. But still I gave in. DJ Mo heading the trio, is known for being bold, straight to the point, eloquent, witty, spontaneous and entertaining. I know no one that I know (or close to me) would admit that they like Mo Twister, or maybe few or very, very few rather. In the entertainment business, someone who's very upfront, tactless and sharp will always have a bunch of haters. Maybe more than half of the population who knows him hates him just like maybe same percentage of the Pinoy that hates Kris Aquino. Tell it to me. Why am I not surprised? Anywho, they can talk about anything and everything under the sun - from politics, current eve...

Rowena Joy* (see pic above) is the title of a new mini-series being shown on GMA Network , a major TV station here. It is about a gay man, RJ who runs away from home after his homophobic father finds out about his sexual preference. RJ leaves for Japan to work and years later returns as a woman now called Rowena Joy. The show airs every Thursday night and so far it has had two episodes already. It has its ups and downs of course. While at the same time portraying Rowena Joy as a kindhearted soul, the show also perpetrates the biggest misconception about transsexual women: that they are gay men who desire to be women, playing on that transphobic concept of "women trapped in men's bodies." In this case, the woman Rowena Joy has been unleashed and yet still acts and thinks like a gay man. The show gives me a feeling of being spoken for. I feel like the show was put together by a bunch of gay men who then decided that this is how a transsexual is, feels and thinks. It leaves...