The Rainbow Blog Philippines

CSWCD, UP Diliman -- The Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP) , the pioneer transgender human rights organization in the Philippines, makes history as they send off a communication to the United Nations (UN) that calls attention to state responsibilities of the Philippine Government as a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to pay careful attention to how the justice system updates itself with current developments in international human rights law in its understanding of gender identity through the lived experiences of transsexual women. "The launch of this historical and important communication to the United Nations comes at a very opportune time what with the recent hurtful pronouncements made by the mother of Congressman Manny Pacquiao. Mommy Dionisia has made comments about transsexuals and their use of the pill showing the widespread ignorance about transsexualism in the Philippines," says STRAP Chairwoman Nao...

Today, I came across news related to a story that came out in early January about Filipino transsexual women entering Japan with fake passports bearing the identity of non-trans women from the Philippines to marry Japanese men with whom they have had long-term relationships. You can read the news item here or below: Philippine transsexuals nabbed for illegally entering Japan Three Philippine nationals have been arrested in western Japan for entering the country on forged women's passports after undergoing sex change operations, local media reported on Tuesday. The three had the illegal passports made by forgers in the Philippines using women's identification so that they could live in Japan as the "wives" of Japanese men they had met, Kyodo News said. While working at nightclubs in Fukuoka, they secured spouse visas from local authorities, said Kyodo and other news reports, quoting local immigration authorities. They were quoted as telling investigators they wanted t...

Official Statement of the Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP) on the recent happenings inside the Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) House involving Rica Paras “Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.” --Anonymous She-man. Mumu (Ghost). Half-half. Samson and Delilah. These are just a few of the derogatory comments heard recently from PBB Double Up Housemates Rob Stumvol, Patrick Villanueva, Hermes Bautista, Mariel Sorino, Yuri Okawa and most especially Rocky Salumbides in referring to Rica Paras. We, her sisters in STRAP, join the rest of the world’s loyal audiences who watch PBB Double Up diligently in expressing our dismay, disappointment and disbelief in this blatant show of anti-transgender prejudice or transphobia . STRAP condem...

This year, STRAP is partnering with the first-ever TLBG student group in the University of the Philippines (UP) system, UP Babaylan to commemorate the International Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) (see the beautiful poster above created by our very own Ms. Dee Mendoza). The TDOR is meant to honor people who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. It began a decade ago after the death of Rita Hester who was brutally murdered in November 1998. Hester’s death resulted in the creation of the Remembering Our Dead website and a candlelight vigil in 1999. Henceforth, transgender people killed due to hatred are honored in annual TDOR activities worldwide. We are holding TDOR week in UP and our activities are as follows: November 24 - 27, 2009, UP Diliman Campus, Quezon City Nov. 24 (Tue.) 10:00 AM, TDOR Exhibit Opening | Palma Hall Lobby (Exhibit runs until the 27th) Nov. 27 (Fri.) 2:30 - 5:00 PM, TRANSCEND: Stories and Struggles of Transpeople in the Philippines (Foru...