Photos by Chio Gonzales
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If you were one of those who got off at the wrong stop on your way to this year’s Metro Manila Pride Festival & March, you might’ve been unlucky enough to encounter a protester soapboxing at the outer edges of the venue. You know the kind — “God Hates Gays” picket sign, mouthful of venom, a mind-boggling lack of love for one’s neighbor, megaphone optional. There are a few of them sparsely scattered around the place, their numbers dwarfed once you actually get to the venue and there are so, so much more people who’d rather wave rainbow flags while others prefer to see the world in black and white. It’s that feeling of being overwhelmed that should explain why Waves exists: we feel the scenes and stories of this year’s Pride can’t be contained in a single article. We took a few pictures of the crowd in Plaza de los Alacaldes and the march around the block. We interviewed a few people on the ground, Humans of New York-style about what Pride means to them. We haven’t included their names in the interest of protecting their identity to a degree, but we’ve been given their permission to publish their portraits. And we know this is something that happens every year, but that doesn’t make 2017 Pride any less momentous. — Jam Pascual
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Notes of a Pride March First-timer
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didn’t think I’d be close to tears at the Pride March. By its end, I’d seen thousands of smiling faces, chatted with friendly strangers, and heard the customary greeting — “Happy Pride!” — in echoes. I’d been jostled a few times and was sweating like crazy, but that’s nothing to get emotional about, right? Yet there were moments that moved me — so many that I probably can’t recall as of this writing. Mostly, they came from the conversations we had during the March. Young STAR met parents, children, girlfriends, boyfriends, allies. We talked to pageant queens and drag queens, first-time and veteran marchers. Some had come out; some hadn’t, and some were about to, but most shared this sentiment: what a relief it was to be yourself. Still, we saw protesters surrounding the venue, in an event that was supposed to be a judgment-free space for the LGBT. Pride is lovingly brave in the face of such dissent. I’ve seen marchers hug protesters or shimmy up to them. No curses or brawls, just love and a ton of dancing. I, for one, got chills when a whole street erupted to the chorus of Born This Way, when marchers were telling us jump off the sidewalk and join in. See, that’s the deal. As a straight teen, I was afraid of feeling out-of-place in the whole shebang. I didn’t know if I had a place in this fight. But I’ve learned from our interviewees that the absence of your personal struggles demands that you support others in theirs. Pride may be the fight of the LGBT, but it’s everybody’s business to treat people right — and to help love, indeed, win. — Annicka Koteh
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Photos by Chio Gonzales
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STORIES FR
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ROM PRIDE
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“May isang ate na lumapit sa akin. ‘Hindi ako bakla, bisexual ako…’ Ate, represented ka! Part ka ng rainbow, magmartsa ka!”
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P: The message that I’m trying to send here is that I refuse to be bound by social norms. And I’m bound by rope, right? So for me, we celebrate Pride without prejudice, without judgment. A: At first, I was very ashamed of being heteronormative. I tried being non-whatever I am. And parang wala, I’m straight! And sabi ako, straight ako, so therefore part ako ng oppression? Or is my real self contributing to diversity? That’s why I love Pride. You’re uncensored, and kahit ’yung real self mo is as basic as possible, ’di ba? If it’s contributing to everyone’s freedom to be whatever the fuck they want, okay na ’yun. 10
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“It’s my passion. I get to be who I want to be anytime. I get to be Adele, Britney, Beyoncé, or even Diana Ross or Aretha Franklin — they’re my idols. They turn me into the diva that I am right now, so I love it.”
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“For me, Pride is for people who show how happy they are about their sexuality, how they show off their happiness.” 14
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“To be perfectly honest, this year in particular, it’s really hard to talk about gay pride with so much happening in the Philippines that I would say… for the moment supersedes our issues. It doesn’t make our issues go away, but as you know, there’s a lot happening that different people have many different opinions on. But I still wanted to come to Pride, because it’s an important part of my life, and it doesn’t change the fact that we need anti-discrimination laws in the Philippines. And eventually, it would be nice to have marriage equality.”
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“My favorite thing about Pride is all the love! It’s so cheesy, I know, but it’s just how everyone comes together, and how it’s an open, safe space for absolutely anyone. That’s what I love the most out of it. You just come up to random people and talk to them like, hey I like your outfit, or hey, happy Pride. It’s just such a friendly, amicable, just a good, like approachable vibe.”
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K: We had a quarrel about these sandos. R: Actually I’m not a fan of a couple’s sando… K: But I forced him to put on this sando.
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K: It’s fun. Medyo lumalaban ako kanina sa haters. Yeah, I hugged one of them and he pushed me away. Yeah, medyo matapang [sila]. Young STAR: But you weren’t hurt, right? K: Nope! But one of them said like, “You’re a very bad girl for doing this.” I’m like, okay, noted.
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“I didn’t realize how important it was to be here. Unlike a lot of people, Pride for me, I’ve never had to struggle. I was out to my family, I was out to my friends, I was out at work. There was no real need for me. I didn’t know, I was like, why do I have to join Pride? I’m not fighting for anything. And it was only last year when I realized, shit, we have to fight for the people who can’t.”
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“From my personal experience, I feel like your responsibility should be to help amplify the message of the community, to get their advocacy out there and to tell their stories as responsibly as possible.“
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