Bakla Ako, May Reklamo?

Last week, I received an inquiry (through my YouTube channel) about gay marriage or any gay news coming from the Philippines. They are civil partners (one is Filipino) who live in Northern Ireland.
Here is their original message:

Hi There AJ

This is Ian and Roel in North East England(We live near Newcastle upon Tyne) I was actually looking through google for info on Gay News in the Philippines, Roel is from Las Pinas and we wanted to get more upto date news on whats going on regarding “Gay Marriage” and all that other legal stuff.. and your website might be just the ticket!

So many sites are either out of date or diffrcult to upload through po-ups or whatever..

Hope that you might be able to help?

Many Thanks

Ian & Roel (Civil Partners)

I was overwhelmed with the message and I’d like to thank Ian and Roel for trusting me to give them information about “Gay Marriage”. Everyday, I read about updates and news about gay marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnership laws being enacted in other parts of the world through various gay news feeds. However, that doesn’t make me an authority on gay marriage. So the views that you will see in the next block quote are mine alone and should not be construed as the view of all gay men in the Philippines.

Here’s my reply: Read the rest of this entry »

From Task Force Pride (TFP) 

 This year’s Pride March aims to bolster the struggle to reduce and eliminate the stigma and discrimination against the LGBT community. It also hopes to contribute to an effort in Congress to enact a measure that penalizes discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

The Pride March, which will be held on December 8, 2007 as part of the Human Rights Week celebration, affirms the universality of human rights and fundamental freedoms and the endurance of solidarity between and among vulnerable communities. The Parade shall take place in Manila City, from Rajah Sulayman Park along Roxas Blvd and culminate in a brief cultural program.

As we continue to oppose homophobia and hatred and push for the recognition of our human rights and fundamental freedoms, we recognize that our efforts can only achieve results with your support and participation. In this light, we would like to invite you to join and support this year’s Pride March and the activities before and after it. Below is a calendar of activities for your reference. Your participation in these events will significantly contribute in our collective goal of mainstreaming our community’s advocacy against discrimination and homophobia.

Here’s a detailed Calendar of Events: (Click on Image to Enlarge)

For more information, please get in touch with task Force Pride: tfpmanila@yahoo.com or visit the 2007 Manila Pride blog.

We’re cutting off the short break again for a very special community announcement.  If you’re not doing anything on the night of November 30th and you want to have fun and party and at the same time helping out your gay community, check this out:

Be Seen

Be Bold

Dare to Bare

Erotica: The Sexy party aims to raise more funds for the upcoming 2007 Pride March (December 8). Proceeds of this event will go to Task Force Pride to help in the efforts of coming up with a successful event championing the cause of the LGBT community.  Fight for our rights!  Join the party and don’t forget to join the 2007 Pride March. 

Event Details:

Date: November 30, 2007

Time: 10:00 PM

Venue: PALAWAN 2 Bar

              Yale St., Cor. Aurora Blvd., Quezon City

              (Near Gateway and Aurora Blvd.)

For more details on The Erotica Party, email the organizers here: tfpmanila@yahoo.com.

More details on the Pride March? Click here.

Got this from the Ang Ladlad Community on Livejournal. Let’s all do our part in advancing the representation of the LGBT community to the Congress. 

Not only has the Comelec denied accreditation to Ang Ladlad, it ahs also branded Danton Remoto, who is running for Senate, as a nuisance candidate. This despite the fact that Remoto is ‘a university professor, Fulbright scholar and author of some 20 books…and taught for a year at Rutgers University in New Jersey.’
Apparently Richard Gomez has better credentials.

The Inquirer has an article about it, and I find it funny that the Comelec finds Richard Gomez’ ‘popularity as an actor’ as an indicator of how serious he is to run for the Senate.

Comelec okays 37 senatorial bets
Gay candidate among 42 dubbed nuisance
By Jerome Aning
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections on Friday approved the senatorial candidacies of 37 people, at the same time declaring 42 others as nuisance candidates.In Resolution No. 7832, all six Commissioners voted to “give due course” to the certificates of candidacy filed by 34 people running under 13 registered political parties and three more running as independents.Among those declared nuisance candidates were Danton Remoto, Theodore Aquino, as well as others described by the commission as “habitual filers,” namely Orlando Abitona, Eduardo Flaminiano, Gherry Guillergan, Daniel Magtira, Manuel Po, Francisco Tajanan, and Camilo Tiqui.Those who made it to the official list, by political affiliation, were:
Kilusang Bagong Lipunan: Joselito Cayetano, Melchor Chavez, Antonio Estrella, Oliver Lozano, Eduardo Orpilla, Ruben Enciso, and Victor WoodNationalist People’s Coalition: Francis Joseph Escudero, Loren Legarda, Vicente Sotto III, and Tessie Oreta Read the rest of this entry »

Danton Remoto, head of party-list Ang Ladlad, talks about the Comelec’s disqualification.

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