This month is Pride Month. A movement and a celebration that is born out of the resistance to discrimination, calling for an end to violence and rallying for equal rights for everyone. With the llluminates of the Spectra, we recognized Atty. Regal Oliva with the Courage Award for her efforts as a leader of the community. We also gave the Ally Award to the Sangguniang Kabataan of Dumaguete for being supporters of diversity. This week, as an ally of the LGBTQ+ community, I am sharing this space with two brilliant young people, Jacob Coriander Gunn and Shamah Silvosa Bulangis. Read and hear their voices loud and proud.
Dumaguete Pride March has been a staple in June for the past years. It is a month-long celebration organized by many different sectors of the community, including Silliman University, PETALS, Illuminates of the Spectra, Sangguniang Kabataan Pederasyon ng Dumaguete, and the City Hall. It focuses on showcasing the many different aspects of life and a queer individual in Dumaguete. As a city that takes pride in heritage and homegrown talent, celebrating Pride in Dumaguete means remembering our queer history, it means art as it mixes with queer life, it means nomads, theologists, activists coming together to create a melting pot of intersectionality that altogether creates beautiful poetry around the struggles and victories, kilig and heartbreaks of queer people in Dumaguete.
When we think of LGBT icons nowadays, however, we typically think of men in women’s clothing making jokes in movies or on television shows. We think of skinny, white, and effeminate gay men and women who are actors or music artists. People that are attractive and make us laugh or entertain us. People that are easily digestible because that’s what gay people are to most: ready-to-go consumable entertainment. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Representation comes in all forms and is always welcome. LGBT people are always happy to have their story told and be represented; they just want all of their stories told.
We want the stories of Marsha P. Johnson, Zazu Nova, Sylvia Rivera, and Jackie Hormona: trans-women and drag queens of color who paved the trail for transgender rights advocacy and stoked the fire for the first ever Pride March. We want stories of Walter “Markova” Dempster Jr., portrayed in a movie by Dolphy; a drag burlesque performer and one of the last living “comfort gay” during the Japanese occupation. We want to hear of Jennifer Laude, the trans-woman whose murder further fueled the cause of LGTBQ+ Rights advocate for the protection of the queer community. We want to know of the parlor gays and the beaucon gays in Dumaguete! Their stories of victory and their journey and continuous search for beauty.
Let’s talk about Angie Umbac of the Rainbow Rights Project, graduated Magna Cum Laude in Silliman University and is making waves in the Commission of Human Rights as of now. Not to mention Pastor Kakay Pamaran, a lesbian pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church, and was a known singer and athlete in Dumaguete. We want to discuss about the lesbians silently creating waves in the legal system and the legislation.
We want to hear about the lives of the queer people that had had enough of the mistreatment and inequality they faced on a daily basis. That is the reason we have pride. That is the reason the LGBT community is able to celebrate.
While pride is a celebration, it is important to remember how it began and who started it. It is important that we share the stories and experiences of LGBT people living in our community, not just those that are pretty and easily consumed. As we continue disrupting oppressive systems and creating safe spaces for queer people, as we celebrate expression and love as we know it, we march to remember that before Pride was a party, Pride was a demonstration for equality.
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