CEBU, Philippines – At the Mandaue City Pride March in Cebu on Saturday, June 14, members of the LGBTQIA+ community renewed calls for the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression (SOGIE) Equality Bill which remains only as a passed bill in Congress.
Thousands of participants took to the streets of Mandaue City for the grand event. There were colorful parade floats, drag queens in creative costumes, and attendees carrying placards with messages pushing for the passage of the bill and support for the movement.
There were also family members, mostly parents, who attended the event to support their children and other relatives who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
“The key element that each representative that were given the opportunity to speak on stage is to push the enactment of the SOGIE bill into a law,” Enrique San Juan, co-founder of Cebu Pride Movement, told Rappler.
Mandaue City is known for its landmark Anti-Discriminatory Ordinance, which ensures the protection of every individual’s Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression (SOGIE); it’s the first in the country.
The BPO Industry Employees’ Network (BIEN) Cebu, an independent network of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) workers, in a statement on Monday, June 16, demanded an end to all forms of harassment and discrimination, which it said persist in their industry.
“From discrimination in promotions, to lack of LGBT-inclusive healthcare, to race-to-the-bottom wages — queer BPO workers carry a double burden of oppression: one based on identity, another on class,” the group said.
Empathy goes a long way
Jerome Campos, a member of the queer community from Surigao del Sur, shared with Rappler that it was his first time to join the Mandaue City Pride event and it was his friends who encouraged him to go.
Campos said that he faced some hardships over his sexuality in the past but the support that he received from his friends and parents, most especially from his father who is a policeman, helped him overcome challenges over the years.
“[My father] is actually proud, and I’m very thankful for parents who accept me for who I am,” Campos added.
For him, Saturday’s Pride march was an opportunity not just for allies to express their support for their queer peers but also for LGBTQ+ individuals to show their love for their straight friends as well.
“We would like to give back to the LGBTQ+ community, giving them more exposure for diversity and inclusion,” proud LGBTQ+ ally Loraine Faelnar from Mandaue City told Rappler during the event.
Faelnar shared that she has family members who are part of the queer community. For her, the hardships that queer individuals face must be met with empathy and safe spaces.
“We can be more aware, more sensitive, because we don’t know the experiences [of queer people]…. We have to be empathetic with others in the community,” she said.
“They already live hard lives. Why make it harder for them?” the straight ally added.
– Rappler.com