Project accomplishments of ProGay Philillipnes for 2005

ProGay Philippines was enabled by a combination of different grants from the Funding Exchange and its partners to carry out its various administrative tasks. Because of the difficulties in mobilizing activities for LGBT concerns in the Philippines where homophobia slows down processes for participation, the project was extended from its six-month required duration to fifteen months to ensure a more comprehensive implementation and longer lasting effects.


CHANGE (Combat Homophobia, Act Now for Gender Equality) Campaign

The CHANGE Campaign was launched as a campus-based room-to-room campaign to raise the awareness of students on the rising incidents of anti-gay raids conducted by the police against gay men in cinemas and parks. ProGay printed 5,000 copies of a legal aid document Manindigan laban sa Police Abuse (Stand up to Police Abuse) and distributed the leaflets to gay men in cinemas, bars and clubs. The leaflet was also used as a resource packet during CHANGE speaking tours in the University of the Philippines (UP Diliman) and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP). ProGay and other allied gay and lesbian lawyers rescued from police custody 83 gay men arrested in a raid on a bar in Manila on December 12, 2004. The action prevented the corrupt police officers from carrying out the attempt to fleece PhP5,000 (about USD100) from each person. The campaign resulted in an increase in student advocates who joined ProGay during the campaign season.


Bathhouse Film Production

ProGay co-produced with the filmmaking organization Grupong Sinehan the gay film Bathhouse by providing start up funds for the set design and other overhead production cost and helping clinch the cinema exhibition agreement with Robinson’s Movieworld. Production started October 2004 and was finished in December.
Bathhouse is a broody tale of homophobia among gay men at Klub Hombre, a private club in Manila. The film was finished thanks to the dedication and volunteer spirits from gay and lesbian artists and their heterosexual supporters

It was finished in time to screen for the World AIDS Day on December 1, 2004 with the cooperation of the Remedios AIDS Foundation, which together with ProGay mounted a picture exhibit of People Living with HIV called Positive Lives. ProGay volunteers also distributed safer sex packets to the gay members of the audience.


Pink Film Festival 2005 – In the Pink of Health
In January 2005 ProGay announced the holding of the third Pink Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in Manila (June) and Davao (December). The theme In the Pink of Health highlighted the growing need to mainstream the sexual and reproductive health information campaign for LGBTs and youth.

The project involved soliciting of film donations from the Embassies of Canada, Switzerland and Finland and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Spain. Documentaries from the Women Educational Media in San Francisco were also obtained. The festival got a big boost when a major television station GMA7 launched a new film entry with the attendant launching of a highly publicized HIV/AIDS awareness campaign.

Most of the funding came from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, a government agency. The festival opened opportunities for institutions, political parties and businesses which were previously reluctant to join LGBT events, such as the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines, Gabriela Women’s Party and the Gateway Mall Cineplex.

Aside from screening LGBT films and documentaries on HIV/AIDS, the festival became an opportunity to distribute 3,000 pieces of safer sex packets consisting of printed materials, condoms and lubricants
to most at-risk groups such as young adolescents
and gay men.


Manila Pride Chorus
ProGay provided crucial support for the establishment of the Philippines’ first openly gay male choir, the Pride Manila Chorus. By helping obtain rehearsal venues and concert guest appearances and shouldering the printing costs of souvenir booklet, sales and marketing, PMC finally mounted its first solo concert on 9 July 2005 at the University of the Philippines. ProGay continues to support PMC to this very day in helping recruit fresh talents and seeking additional funding for its continued performances.

National ProGay Conferences

The ProGay LGBT Leadership Conferences were conducted in Davao City and Quezon City on. on August 27-28 26-27 September. The two conferences were great successes in bringing out the issues of LGBTs in the two regions.

The conference was partially funded by the Royal Netherlands Embassy. The conference objectives were to assess the health situation of LGBT chapters of ProGay and other organization and to gather as much information as possible for a Philippine LGBT Situationer.

The delegates for the Manila Conference came from Ilocos Sur, Benguet, Isabela, Metro Manila, Batangas, Laguna, Tarlac and migrant lesbian workers from Hongkong. The Davao City conference included participants from Zamboanga, Davao, Cotabato, Leyte and Cebu. Afterwards, the delegates developed a Plan of Action to address the issues and problems of the sector. The conference was divided into sharing workshops where male and female representatives separately discussed their problems and situations.

In both conferences, the sharings were capped with a dialogue with government agencies, legal experts and supporters of LGBT rights. In Davao, Gabriela Women’s Partylist President Luzviminda Ilagan presented the salient points of the proposed bill amending the Philippine HIV/AIDS laws. Different city agencies presented programs of technical assistance and capability building among other government offices and gave tips for LGBTs on how to access their programs on vulnerable and special sectors.

In Manila, national government agencies namely the Department of Labor, the Philippine National Police, the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, the National Commission on Human Rights, the Department of Health and the National Anti-Poverty Commission were grilled by the conference participants on how to reconcile their programs with the needs of the LGBT. From the legislative side, Rep. Liza Maza of the Gabriela Women’s Party advised the LGBT sector to submit to her proposals for law reform.

After the conference in Manila, the participants together with 100 other LGBT representatives marched on the Quezon Memorila Circle in a Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade. The participants marched under the new gay-straight alliance called Rainbows For Change. The paraders unfurled the portion of the longest rainbow flag from Key West Florida, donated by Rainbow25, while declaring slogans calling on the Arroyo government to respect democratic rights. The event was widely covered by television stations and newspapers.

LGBT Pride Parade – Celebrating Pride and Rights

Capping the year of campaigns was the holding of a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Pride Parade in Manila during the week of observance of the International Human Rights Day on December 10. The Pride parade was produced in a two-month long process of consultations with different LGBT groups and individuals. The organization of the parade was met with difficulties and challenges because of the intensifying

repression against democratic protests that the regime of President Gloria Arroyo was inflicting on the Filipino people. The Philippine government has been implementing its Calibrated Preemptive Response policy by banning all kinds of gatherings and street events in Manila. The permit for the parade was obtained after so many beaurucratic red tape and refusals from the police department.

After so many difficulties, the parade finally pushed through on December 10 with the participation of 2,000 people on the main streets of Manila despite the heavy rain. In addition to the demands for equal rights for LGBT and end to gender discrimination, ProGay issued calls for the withdrawal of the Philippines from the World Trade Organization agreements that cause economic hardships on LGBTs and other Filipino citizens.

Gays and Lesbians in the Family Day (GIFT)

On December 15, ProGay held its annual Gays and Lesbians in the Family Day which our community's reunion and advocacy activity to bring together the LGBT and their supportive friends and families, with the objective of honoring the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members of Filipino families and focusing on their importance forbuilding families and the Filipino nation. The organizers make an effort to invite parents, brothers and sisters of LGBTs and ask them to bring gifts and oral testimonies of their love and support for their queer relative. In 2005 the Gabriela Party hosted the event in their offices. Gay and lesbian youth shared with ageing LGBTs stories of discrimination and hope.


Participation in International Conferences

ProGay is the Regional Director for Region 19 in the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Coordinators (InterPride) and the president Edgar Atadero was invited to the 24th InterPride General Assembly conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota that was held October 13-16. InterPride exists to promote Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride on an international level, to increase networking and communication among Pride groups, to encourage diverse communities to hold Pride events and to act as a source of education. Mr. Atadero was able to obtain skills from capacity building and sharing workshops on fundraising, events management and human rights. As part of the Board of Directors, Mr. Atadero deliberated on the suggested improvements and year-long program of the Human Rights Committee.

ProGay was invited to the 2nd Asian Regional Conference of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) in Cebu City on 20-23 October and two officials Atadero and Michael Falguera, secretary-general, participated in the four-day conference of skills-building workshops, organizational building, lectures on LGBT empowerment. Mr. Atadero facilitated the Gay Men’s Caucus Pre-Conference and the skills building workshop on Managing Pride Events.

ProGay’s president Edgar Oscar Atadero participated in the International Dialogue on Gender, Sexuality, HIV/AIDS and Human Rights: Focus on Asia hosted LGBT activists from all over the world, including Oscar Atadero of ProGay Philippines. The conference was hosted by ARC International which collaborated with the Korean Sexual-Minority Culture & Rights Center on November 24th - 27th, 2005 in Seoul, Korea.

The participants were stakeholders in the international arena (NGOs, academics, and funding organizations) from all geographic regions, particularly those with some experience advancing human rights regionally and/or internationally. The Dialogue raised awareness of proposals for UN reform and its possible impact for our communities. Mr. Atadero shared the developments happening in the Philippines with the Asian activists and facilitated the observance of the International Day of Remembrance for Transgender Victims of Violence.