The Rainbow Blog Philippines

I am happy to announce the start of EDUC8, LIBER8, CELEBR8: The 8-Campus Rainbow Tour, a free symposium on LGBT human rights (see poster above). It will have its first stop at the College of Saint Benilde (CSB) on 29 September 2010. Below is a write-up of this historical initiative. TrueColors Publishing Inc., the makers of Ketchup Magazine , the only Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) magazine in the Philippines in keeping with its thrust to promote social awareness of LGBT issues, proudly presents Educ8, Liber8, Celebr8: The 8-Campus Rainbow Tour. This Rainbow Tour brings together noted leaders of the LGBT community to conduct a free symposium targeting students in 8 colleges and universities in the Metro Manila area in an 8-month period from September 2010 to April 2011. The symposium, which covers various issues including LGBT Politics, Spirituality and Sexuality, Gender Identity and Human Rights & Media Activism, is designed as a “crash course” on human rights and ...

It is very heartwarming to note that the 110-year old Civil Service Commission (CSC) of the Philippines made history in late May when it became the first government agency to acknowledge Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Filipinos particularly those who apply for the Civil Service Examination and explicitly ban any form of discrimination in the handling, verifying and processing of their applications based on gender identity and sexual orientation. The internal memo circulated through all 15 regional offices of the CSC and cascaded to the more than 1 million employees of the Commission can be viewed here . Certainly this memo is ground-breaking and deserves all the praise it can get. It is not only a step in the right direction in the government's promotion of gender equality but as well as of human rights. In a nutshell, the memo affirms the Constitutional principle that all people deserve equal protection in law including in the access of public services. LGBT applica...

Philstar reports Villar and de los Reyes have signed onto the Catholic Church's right-wing reactionary anti-RH bill petition that includes opposing young-adult sex-ed and "homosexual unions." 2 presidential bets vow to block RH bill By Helen Flores (The Philippine Star) MANILA, Philippines - Two presidential candidates, Nacionalista Party (NP) bet Sen. Manuel Villar and Ang Kapatiran Party’s John Carlos de los Reyes vowed yesterday to block the passage of the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) Bill. Villar and De los Reyes along with several senatorial candidates signed the “Covenant for Life” pushed by the Catholic Church and pledged to oppose the RH bill and any legislation “that will ultimately pave the way for divorce, euthanasia, abortion, tyrannical population control and homosexual unions.” The senatorial candidates who signed the agreement at the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, Manila yesterday included former senator Francisco Tatad of the Pwersa ng Masang Pi...

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...

The High Court in Delhi ruled that the Indian penal code outlawing consensual sex between homosexual adults violates the right to life, privacy and dignity in the Indian Constitution. The Court cited the Yogyakarta Principles. The High Court in Delhi ruled that the Indian penal code outlawing consensual sex between homosexual adults violates the right to life, privacy and dignity in the Indian Constitution. The Court cited the Yogyakarta Principles. If you would like to read the historic 105 page judgment, it is available at the Times of India website . In addition to Indian case law, the Court's judgment cited numerous international treaties and other instruments as well as case law from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, South Africa, Hong Kong, and Nepal. The Yogyakarta principals were referred to as follows: Paragraph 43 (citation omitted): On 26th March, 2007, a group of human rights experts launched the Yogyakarta Principles on the A...

I can't believe that people just don't seem to get it. Being against gay marriage is as bad as being a racist. I'm gay, I'm asian and believe me persecution is the same no matter what it's target - black, white, gay, lesbian, etc. Prop 8 = HATE and that makes me hurt for all of us. We need to stop hovering in people's bedrooms and get down to the business of fixing this world-wide problem. The video made me cry. Its one of the most powerful videos I have ever watched in my entire life. I can’t believe how selfish people can be, to only want what is in their agenda. think everyone is entitled to happiness, regardless of what sex, race and culture. The video was beautiful and made me unhappy to see how many faces and people from so many walks of life will be wounded by this obvious act of bigotry. Give everyone EQUAL RIGHTS and get your heads out of the sand people. Gay is not a choice, just like I didn't choose to be asian! Two people who love each other and ...

Book Review on Literature and Literary Theory Professor Emilio Bejel's book "Gay Cuban Nation". This post was written by RBP team member line of flight from Sampaloc Toc . Emilio Bejel is a Professor of Spanish American literature and literary theory at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He wrote Gay Cuban Nation . Before I get into the substance of this book, I was totally offended that the University of Chicago Press would print a book with so many fucking typographical errors! Shame! Shame! Shame! The first few chapters were very fascinating. I know almost nothing about Cuban literature or gay Cuban literary history so that was interesting in itself. However, what was more fascinating was Bejel's ability to weave Cuban national history into the framework of the "rupture" at the end of the nineteenth century / beginning of the twentieth century regarding sexuality. Nakpil Zialcita's comment about Philippine academic disregard for everything Spanis...

Book Review on American Communication Professor Robert Alan Brookey's book "Reinventing the Male Homosexual: The Rhetoric and Power of the Gay Gene". This post was written by RBP team member line of flight from Sampaloc Toc . Robert Alan Brookey is an American Professor of Communications at Arizona State University. He wrote Reinventing the Male Homosexual: The Rhetoric and Power of the Gay Gene . I was just beginning to blossom when LeVay came out with his theory of neuroendocrinological basis for heterosexual and homosexual difference and when Hamer came out with his theory of the gay gene. As an adolescent, the gay gene theory seemed to fit so perfectly into the idea that homosexuality is inborn and that I had no choice in the matter. Yet, as I went through college and graduate school, it became clear that the gay gene theory would not work. The consequences of it are highly problematic. Is there a gene that predisposes someone to watching May Bukas Pa or Wowowee ? D...

Book Review on American English Professor Lee Edelman's book "No Future". This post was written by RBP team member line of flight from Sampaloc Toc . Be forewarned, I really didn't like American Professor of English Lee Edelman's No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive (of Tufts University). He reduces the symbol of the "child" to "the linchpin of our universal politics of 'reproductive futurism.'" I found Lauren Berlant's classic Queen of America Goes to Washington City to be spot on in many instances and if you're interested in how popular American culture utilizes the symbol of the child for neocon propaganda, read her book. She predicted through her analysis of Forest Gump, George Bush II's election. If neocons could they would elect a fetus as president and Dick Cheney as vice president. And they got close with George Bush II. I am not into fetishizing children in an intellectual way or otherwise. Children are ch...

Book Review on American English Professor Judith Halberstam's book "In a Queer Time and Place". This post was written by RBP team member line of flight from Sampaloc Toc . Judith Halberstam is an American Professor of English and also has written Female Masculinity and The Drag King Book . In A Queer Time and Place discusses a number of topics involving sexuality and queer subjects. One of the topics of her book that I found interesting related to her discussion of metronormativity. Halberstam takes Michael Warner's heteronormativity ( Fear of A Queer Planet ) and reshapes it to describe the "normalizing" of urban sexual identities while abnormalizing rural sexual practices and identities. She takes the stories of several tragic FTM transgenders, like Brandon Teena to show how urban LGBT identities have allied with urbanism to create the belief that rural = homophobic. Halberstam shows how the movie Boys Don't Cry ended up changing Brandon Teena's...

Book Review on Canadian English Professor Michael Cobb's book "God Hates Fags". This post was written by RBP team member line of flight from Sampaloc Toc . Happy Labor Day! Alexandra Chasin is an American professor of literature and LGBT studies. Chasin's book is a fascinating and damning account of how market forces have fundamentally altered (and destroyed in some ways) the revolutionary potential of LGBT movements. From the beginning (if there ever was one), LGBT movements have called for a fundamental rethinking of gender, family, and eros. In the U.S., until the 1990s, these movements were local and fragmented in nature, goals were similar but local LGBT groups dealt with local communities to tackle problems of discrimination, etc.,. Local bars funded local LGBT publications. As noted in Fetner's How the Religious Right Shaped Lesbian and Gay Activism , the direction of these movements in the U.S. became unified and nationalized in the 1980s. Fetner describe...

Aruba Bar in Metrowalk has done it again. This bar, which reeks of discrimination, has continually refused entry to transgenders via a sign at the entrance: No Cross-Dressing. BB Gandanghari went to Aruba Bar & Restaurant because she wanted to watch her friend Rannie Raymundo’s show. But she and her friends were denied entry because they were cross-dressing. A similar incident happened not so long ago - at the same bar, to a different person: Inday Garutay. Continue Reading

Book Review on Literature and LGBT Studies Professor Julie Abraham's book "Metropolitan Lovers". This post was written by RBP team member line of flight from Sampaloc Toc . Julie Abraham is an American professor of literature and LGBT studies. Abraham's book is an interesting look at the connection between the idea of the "city" and homosexual identity -- lesbian and gay. I must admit up front that I found the book to be very Euro-American centric and failed to address the relation of the city and sexuality to colonialism and imperialism or test her theories of that relationship to the conscious city creating in colonized places. Because of this, I found a lot of the book boring and tedious to read. But, if you're into urban studies or European lesbian nineteenth century history or Oscar Wilde, you'll likely find this book much more interesting. That being said, the book got me thinking of Benedict Anderson's highly controversial Under Three Fla...

Book Review on Anthropologist and Gender Studies Professor Gayatri Reddy's book "With Respect to Sex". This post was written by RBP team member line of flight from Sampaloc Toc . Gayatri Reddy is an Indian-American anthropologist and gender studies professor. Reddy's book is an ethnography of the transgender hijra of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Reddy carefully recounts the tensions in life for the hijra that are specific to the cultural context like the road from rural life to urban hijra identity in Hyderabad and some of the more seemingly universal aspects of transgender collective identity regarding how the hijra form into hierarchical adopted families that enforce norms for the hijra identity with an "old-timer" at the apex of the hierarchical family. Her discussion of the negotiation between Hindu and Muslim identification is fascinating. (Hyderabad was a Muslim sultanate until after independence and if you ever go there, you can see i...

Book Review on American English Professor Michael Warner's book "The Trouble with Normal". This post was written by RBP team member line of flight from Sampaloc Toc . Michael Warner is a professor of English at Rutgers University. He is one of the founding thinkers in "queer theory" starting with his edited book Fear of a Queer Planet . When first published, The Trouble with Normal was seen as a response to Andrew Sullivan's book Virtually Normal and the move in sexual minority and dissident communities towards a stable LGBT identity community and same-sex marriage as the ultimate goal of such a community. Until the 1990s, the U.S. did not have a clear and stable notion of an LGBT community -- there were transgender communities, gay communities, lesbian communities and some overlap. This is still true about a global LGBT community. This unifying of different groups of people into an LGBT community produced a unified political agenda. For Warner, this polit...

Book Review on American Anthropology Professor Tanya Erzen's 2006 book "Straight to Jesus". This post was written by RBP team member line of flight from Sampaloc Toc . Tanya Erzen is an American anthropologist and professor and identified herself as a "straight woman." She interviews and observes an ex-gay community south of San Francisco, California over the course of a year and does a bit of historical research of ex-gay faith communities, the media and political movements. In the late 1990s, the religious right in the U.S. began heavily promoting ex-gays as a political maneuver to deny LGBT claims for anti-discrimination laws or equal protection under the law. The LGBT community responded with an attack on ex-gays -- the 1999 movie But I'm a Cheerleader is a classic example. Yet, Enzer doesn't focus on either of these two opposing movements, the LGBT political movement or the religious right's political movement. Instead, she focuses on the suff...

Book Review on Canadian Sociology Professor Tina Fetner's 2008 book "How the Religious Right Shaped Lesbian and Gay Activism". This post was written by RBP team member line of flight from Sampaloc Toc . Tina Fetner is a sociology professor in Canada and identified herself as a "straight woman." She reviewed documents from both the religious right and gay and lesbian sources and made a simple claim. The modern American LGBT movement was primarily shaped by the forces of the religious right. The religious right had better organization and way more money to contribute to opposing LGBT claims -- at least, how they saw those claims. This ended up, in LGBT organzing terms, putting significant resources and time into responding to that opposition, even if the area of battle was not a priority for the LGBT movement. As has been discussed at length in other scholarship, until the religious right started organizing against the mild anti-discrimination laws the LGBT movem...

By fullman It's back to barracks, pink soldiers. Contrary to what you've been hearing from your generals and the media, there is no clear go-signal yet for LGBT soldiers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines. First, some clarifications. There is no official ban for LGBTs in the military , hence no ban was technically lifted when top military officials made positive statements about allowing LGBTs in the Armed Forces of the Philippines. That said, it must be stated as well that the AFP has no policy explicitly allowing LGBTs in the military .  So the question to ask is: ano ba talaga, mga papa ? We've been getting mixed and confusing statements from the military establishments. In several committee hearings in Congress for the Anti-Discrimination Bill filed by AKBAYAN , representatives from the AFP would always bring 'unofficial' position papers stating that lesbians and gays cannot be allowed to join the military. In one hearing, the reasons they provided were abs...

Yesterday someone who works for a major TV station (let's call her Lily) called me up regarding the latest, breaking news that some members of the top brass of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are now actually inclined to accept gays and lesbians in the military. Lily, however, was more concerned about terminology. She wanted to know the correct terms that their their News and Current Affairs department should use to report the story in Filipino. "Shall we use bakla and lesbyana ?", she asked. I told her that lesbyana (a direct translation of the word lesbian) was fine but bakla might prove to be more problematic. Firstly, the terms that the general Filipino viewing public are familiar with in referring to the Pinoy LGBT community are bakla and tomboy . Bakla as a term is traditionally associated with effeminacy, "softness", weakness and sometimes even, cowardice, which fall under the purview of gender. Thus, I have always maintained that bakla wa...