Pride protests, marches, and celebrations are now, more than ever, needed—especially when bills that protect the rights of our queerfolk are being delayed for years amidst the persistent rise of discrimination.
One prominent display of protest and solidarity among the LGBTQIA+ community is the annual Quezon City Pride (QC Pride) festival, with its latest iteration held on June 22, 2024, and themed, “Love Laban 2 Everyone.”
However, the event, whose actual purpose was supposed to create a safe space wherein the LGBTQIA+ community can gather as one to fight for their rights, instead turned into one that diminished the very purpose of Pride—especially with the spotlight given to imperialists, such as the United States (US) Embassy, who turned safe spaces unsafe, and the protest for inclusivity and equality for the community into one that is centered on plain token performativity.
Where it went wrong
The said 2024 QC Pride Festival was rained on by the presence of foreign embassies as well as ambassadors. One of many foreign envoys that were given a platform to give solidarity speeches was the US embassy. The embassy claimed that their presence in the festival is not just a show of support to the community during this Pride Month, but also in their everyday pursuit for true liberation in society, and equal rights.
But what do these words hold, when the same foreign country that preaches equality is the same imperialistic country that continuously puts the Philippines on a leash?
Sympathy works as a knife in this situation. The US’s supposed alliance is not done in the name of the Filipino queerfolk, but as a means to an end to enter our spaces, powder up their names, and further assert dominance within our own country.
This manipulative tactic was called out by many LGBTQIA+ advocates, activists, student organizations, and national democratic organizations (NDMOs), especially when they, who hold first-hand testimonies of the struggles of the LGBTQIA+ community, were devoid of the chance to have their own platform to talk about the challenges that they face.
Bahaghari Philippines, an NDMO formed by LGBTQIA+ advocates in the Philippines, was among those who voiced their concerns regarding the presence of the U.S. Embassy in QC Pride.
“Now the US is doing what it does best: pretend to be a champion for democracy and human rights, even when it is the #1 sower of terror principally responsible for crimes against humanity worldwide,” said Bahaghari Philippines, one of the NDMOs that expressed their concerns regarding the presence of the U.S. Embassy in QC Pride.
Hypocrisy at its finest
This display of hypocrisy is also made evident with the fact that the United States is partly responsible for the injustice in the murder of Jennifer Laude, a Filipina trans woman, by Joseph Scott Pemberton, a US marine during their Balikatan Exercise.
Imperialism prompted the Balikatan Exercises here in the Philippines—the same imperialism that provided a leeway for them to commit heinous crimes against Filipino LGBTQIA+ individuals, highlighted by Pemberton’s killing of Laude.
It has been ten years and still no justice has been brought to our trans sister, as the US refused to turn over Pemberton, and eventually, was granted absolute pardon by former President Rodrigo Duterte. Within those ten years, the imperialist state has not issued even a single apology for the wrongful killing that stemmed out of an American troop’s bigotry.
With that, the US Government has no right to claim that they support the LGBTQIA+ members of our country. What is clear is that they do not advocate for the community’s rights—only their imperialistic motives that weaken our country’s national development.
More so, the nature of Pride has always been rooted in militant movements—continuing the fight of the LGBTQIA+ community that has withstood years and years of discrimination, abuse, alienation, and even worse—killings. Yet, the progress that the community has made in advancing their rights can be impeded by one thing: performative solidarities made by the government and corporations.
Our local government units (LGUs) should do better for our LGBTQIA+ community, rather than merely focusing on making the community feel celebrated. They should be knowledgeable of the history that comes with Pride and the community.
Safe queer spaces should be spaces free of bigotry and hypocrisy.
Now, more than ever we need to retrace and re-track the real purpose of Pride. More than it being a celebration of identity, this movement is made to call out, fight, bite back, and revolt against anti-LGBTQIA+ policies that are being imposed in our society. Most of these are rooted in imperialistic endeavors made by imperialist countries.
It doesn’t matter how much glitter, color, or makeup the U.S. Embassy puts on—as long as its purpose is only for its own gain. The Filipino people shall see right through its real intentions. Until then, there is no space for them in Philippine Pride.
Yuan Simbulan is the senior arts editor of The Angelite for the Publication Year 2024-2025, and writes opinions under the column “Juan O’ Clock.”
The views and opinion of the editor does not necessarily reflect those of the publication.
