The big rains may be gone (for now) but our fellow men & women are still in need of our help. Many of whom are still living amidst flood and are still trying to get their lives back to normal.

Rainbows should shine after the rain. We will share the spirit of the rainbow.

Tunsuya, Malabon is still flooded up to the knees and there are more than 450 families in need.

Please donate the following as they are the priority:
Water (preferably the 1.5L)
Rice
Tuyo (or any dried fish)

LOGISTICS:

PART 1: Preparation
What: Repack rice, water and dried fish
Venue: #14 Matulungin St. Bgy. Central, Quezon City (near City Hall and Phil. Heart Center)
Date: 10/10/2009 Saturday
Time: 8PM
Description: Repack/group the donations for individual recipients. Donations may also be dropped off to the said address.

PART 2: Execution
What: Assembly and distribution at the venue
Venue: Assembly at SM North EDSA Annex building in front of Savemore grocery
Date: 10/11/2009 Sunday
Time: 9AM
Description: Groups will meet at SM North for a briefing and loading of the relief good to our truck and we will all drive to venue together.

We will ride a truck so please bring your towels, shades, caps, bandannas, raincoats, payong & boots. Tunsuya is also still flooded so please WEAR BOOTS or any other form of protection for the feet/legs.

For inquiries, please text/email/ym Ging Cristobal or MJ Yap.
Ging Cristobal
Mobile: 0926 6843831
Email/YM: leapstick@yahoo.com

MJ Yap
Mobile: 0917 8393741
Email/YM: maryjaneyap@yahoo.com

This activity is by Lesbian Advocates Philippines (LeAP!), Manila Rainbow Club, OUT Philippines and Lesbian Pilipinas.

My niece, who I came out to some time last year (read here), followed me on Twitter. Our conversation went like such:

HER: followed you in twitter
ME: i saw!
HER: hahaha yup!
ME: searchable pala ko dun. hehe... don't spill. i sometimes link to my FB and you know, it's all kurt-hummel-ish (if you know what i mean) so i'm on the down low.
HER: yup haha  dont worry
ME:
ME: but that's why i couldn't add you on FB as well  baka makita FB ko
HER: oh yeah
HER: they all have FB pa naman
ME: onga eh... at least we're on twitter now
HER: yup! haha  no one in the family excepts us knows the beauty of it
ME: *HUGS*
HER: *HUGS*
ME: i cried watching Kurt come out to his dad! grabe!
HER: It was really a teary eyed moment!
HER: He was so strong!

KURT HUMMEL IS STRONG!!!!!!!! She actually gets it! And I'm as proud of her as I am with every "Kurt Hummel" out there!

Hello QUEERS and ALLIES!

Rainbows come out after the rain, right? So let's go out to help feed and clothe the Ondoy refugees.

This is for the refugees of Bgy. Valencia (near Broadway Centrum, Aurora Blvd.) There are about 100 families (about 250 people) that have been staying in the community basketball court since Ondoy struck last week.

Please contact MJ Yap (0917 8393741) or Ging Cristobal (09266843831)

GAMEPLAN:

Part 1: Preparation
WHAT: Repack goods we want to give / Cook arroz caldo and make bread with peanut butter
WHEN: Saturday
WHERE: Ging & Rose's House #14 Matulungin St. Bgy. Centrail near City Hall and Heart Center

Part 2: Execution
WHAT: Go to the venue
WHEN: no later than 11AM Sunday
WHERE: Pasig/Cainta (TBD)

NEEDS (whatever you can bring):
> rice, chicken, bread & peanut butter
> noodles - P575/box of 72
> canned goods - P15/can
> rice
> toiletries - soap, laundry soap, sanitary napkins, alcohol
> old clothes, towels, blankets, old mats
> non-disposable/reusable plastic bowls - for the arroz caldo and so we won't be littering; note that we will give these bowls away (Rose: "we can share money and buy plastic reusable bowls @6.00 per piece... Please let us know ASAP for those to be bought before Sunday")
> plastic bags - for whatever trash
> cars - for our ride and to load our stuff into; we've very limited cars for now (about 2-3 and not big ones) so please help out on this

PLEASE inform MJ (number below) on what you will donate so we'll have a list of that and be able to distribute properly.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH RAINBOW WARRIORS!

P.S. By this hour, we still lack: CANNED GOODS, NOODLES and BATH SOAP. Please prioritize those.

The following is an excerpt of my response to Julie Dorf of www.GlobalEquality.org regarding the recently retracted policy of non-cross dressing in IBM (Business Services and Solutions Delivery). It was retracted because it reached IBM's Global Diversity Coordinator and of course, something has to be done. After all, IBM does commit itself to progressive policies for our community, right? They should. I wouldn't work with them if they don't and they've been scoring a 100 on HRC's equality index! Props to Sass Sassot of STRAP (Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines) for her efforts in bringing this up to concerned individuals in IBM. I didn't know how to deal with that at all then. Thanks so much Sass!!! This is a great start! Thanks to the IBM Global Diversity Coordinator as well for hearing us out and working on this pronto! Thanks a lot!

I guess my point for posting this is to let people know that there is no excuse for us queers to be treated lesser in any way anywhere and we've got to reclaim our rights and our identities.

Excerpt:

"...[IBM's Global Diversity Coordinator] got in touch with me after Sass has informed her that IBM Philippines (particularly, IBM Business Services and IBM Solutions Delivery) have such policy. I have provided her the proof in the form of an email circulated to the employees. Fortunately, it has been retracted about 2 weeks ago. The rationale of the subsidiaries for including that, even if it's not at par with IBM's global diversity policy, is that of catering to the sensibility of the Filipino culture, which I personally find narrow and backwards and only reinforces the subjugation of gender experssion especially for trans people.

It is definitely a shoddy policy because IBM US prides itself for being one of the most progressive corporations in terms of LGBT rights, women's rights, differently-abled persons and others. For IBM Business Services and IBM Solution Delivery, both of which I have worked for and currently working for, the policy is evident with the total lack of trans individuals in the working environment. It is very ironic because they claim to welcome everybody and yet this policy, that they probably find mundane, is actually a significant component of the value of diversity. That brings me to the conclusion that first, there is an utter lack of understanding of the LGBTQ community and our needs. Second, a mother company at a certain location does not or cannot easily ensure that their supposed global policies that protect certain groups are being implemented elsewhere, which brings me further to the notion that such rights are still unrecognized or are ignored because of the lack of clamor.

The retraction of that policy is the first step but the LGBTQ IBM Philippines community still has to recognize each other and build itself, most possibly through EAGLE (Employee Alliance for Gays & Lesbians). I would like for that group to educate the IBM community in understanding our identities and needs and maybe translate some of those into policies that we may still lack. It's a long way to go but it's going to be the start and I hope that one day, we'll be at par with other more active EAGLE groups or maybe even lead in LGBT initiatives. The challenge really is on how to incorporate these initiatives into the corporate structure when there is an existing cultural mentality against LGBTs. I'd like to keep optimistic and idealistic that corporations that have progressive policies are not just doing it for the sake of better publicity and public opinion but are starting a trend that primarily comes from the zeal to, as trite as may be, make the world a better place."

"...I believe in taking each opportunity to make it better for the queers..."


There. Opinions? I'm not even sure if I should be posting that but really, my community comes first more than some policy that may prohibit me in doing this. In fact, it's a good thing that this misstep is recognized and communicated because we cannot keep silent about these things. We've been put in the dark too much already. We've always been told to just shut up and take it. We've been engineered to be complacent or worse, apathetic and wait for change. But we've just had about enough! We cannot sit around and wait for that. If no one will take a first step, nobody else will come forward.

IN PRIDE & SOLIDARITY.

Link

Imelda Marcos is the most ridiculous first lady. EVER. Would I vote for Bongbong if he runs for Senate? Maybe. But would I vote for him as president while his mother lives? No way. Besides, Bongbong looks like his dad so much it gives me the goosebumps, in the McCarthyism sense.

Link

I love lesbians.

And I love lesbian TV shows that are written with much promise, wit and reality but not too much reality. I mean, that's why we watch TV, right? So we can live out a fantasy world. However, it's resentful when the story goes on spiraling down the loo like say, season 6 of The L Word.

Now from the same woman who killed Jenny (or taught Sounder to kill Jenny), comes a reality show with, for and by lesbians. Now ain't that grand? Wasn't the demise of Season 6 enough? But given Ilene Chaiken's collaborators, The Magic Elves, who produced Project Runway, I so hope this show delivers and not just another self-aggrandizing opportunity for Ilene Chaiken (in case anybody doesn't know what I'm talking about, check out the Season 6 promotional photos and Chaiken's interviews for the 6th season)

Hmm... I wonder how the screenplay's gonna be like if anybody were to write...
THE REAL  L WORD: MANILA.

SEPTEMBER 27, SUNDAY 10PM @ ABS-CBN

WHEEE!!!

I was never fond of watching local TV until F came around on Studio 23 years ago. I loved that show so much! It was savvy, glamorous and fun plus it's got 3 beautiful hosts. I was so crushing on Angel Aquino during those F days (still do) and loved Cher Calvin's eloquence and wit.

They taught female urbanites to be independent, fashionable and empowered. Ok, so it may not be the Itty Bitty Titty Committee or the Women's Suffrage Movement but to feel good about yourself as a woman and feel like you can achieve so many things while strutting in Pradas, no less, after watching a TV show is something to me.

I will so tune in!

DANIA BEACH - Yes, couples in their 90s still argue occasionally.

Link

I'm still confused... Maybe I'll wait in a few more months or maybe next year...

VOTE NOW!

Link

News outlets are rushing to report what she recently said to UK gay magazine Attitude, which included calling Perry's hit "I Kissed A Girl" a 1cboner dyke 1d anthem for 1cstraight girls who like to turn guys on by making out or like faking gay. 1d

Ditto went even further, proclaiming:

I hate Katy Perry! She 19s offensive to gay culture, I 19m so offended. She 19s just riding on the backs of our culture, without having to pay any of the dues and not being actually lesbian or anything at all. She 19s on the cover of a f---ing gay magazine.

RIGHT ON BETH DITTO!

happy pride y'all!

Link

START OF THE FILM FESTIVAL SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOOOOOVE THIS BLACK EYED PEAS SONG! I never really liked Black Eyed Peas but this is awesome!!!!!!!! The video features a lot of queerness too, especially trans visiblity

Y'all make me a proud homo. Watch the video at the end. It's amazing.

=====================================

Singapore's gay community holds first-ever public rally

Not only was it the first-ever public rally to show support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Singapore, the turnout was also the largest of its kind since the government eased a ban on public demonstrations last year.

About 2,500 people heeded the organiser Pink Dot Sg's call to turn up in pink at Speaker's Corner at Hong Lim to make a pink dot 13 with reference to Singapore being a 'little red dot' 13 to celebrate diversity and equality and as a 1csymbol of Singapore 19s more inclusive future. 1d

Organisers say the turnout far exceeded their target of having 500 attendees. Roy Tan, a co-organiser of the event, said the success of the event is a 1cmilestone in the development of civil society in Singapore. 1d

1cIt is a testament to the fact that the Government sincerely wants us to be a more open society. We are grateful for the opportunity to make our case for the equal treatment of the LGBT community, 1d Tan told Fridae.

The 50-year-old health-care professional registered with the National Parks Board last September wanting to stage Singapore 19s first gay event last year to "set a precedent to make subsequent gay pride parades easier." The idea eventually became Pink Dot when more individuals volunteered to help organise an event.

With cultural performances and a parade of flamboyantly dressed dogs, the event resembled a mass picnic more than a political rally even as ambassadors Timothy Nga and Neo Swee Lin 13 both of whom are well known local actors and heterosexual - took to the mic to tell the crowd why they support the event.

Nga, said to a cheering audience, 1cWe need to stand up for what we believe in and I don't think that anyone of my friends who are LGBT - or anything else for that matter - need to apologise to anyone else for what they are. 1d

1cWe are born alone, we go to our graves alone but there is no reason why any of us should have to live alone in this life without love purely because of intolerance and judgment, 1c Neo told the crowd as she choked up.

1cI support the freedom to love because I believe in love. Too many of my gay friends have left these shores because of intolerance... Let's be the change we want to see. 1d She said quoting Mahatma Gandhi.

Although laws against oral and anal sex were repealed in 2007 after an extended public and parliamentary debate, Singapore continues to criminalise sex between men under Section 377A of the Penal Code which dates back to British colonial days.

Hong Lim Park

Hong Lim Park, a government-designated park for free speech and public assembly, is also a well known and documented gay cruising venue as early as the 1950s, according to Laurence Wai-Teng Leong who wrote in his paper "The 'Straights' Times: News media and sexual citizenship in Singapore" which was published in Journalism and democracy in Asia (2005, edited by Angela Rose Romano and Michael Bromley).

Roy Tan, a co-organiser of the event, recalled meeting his first boyfriend at the park in 1984, and where he discovered that 1cthere was such a thing as a gay community in Singapore, or at least, other gay men here apart from myself. 1d

1cI think holding Pink Dot at the park has a great symbolic significance for many gay men, including myself, 1d Tan told Fridae.

Although he did not recall any instances of police entrapment operations at the park, he remembers one complaint published in The Straits Times in the late 1970s, when casual park strollers chanced upon young men holding hands at the park.

According to the same newspaper, over a hundred men were arrested for solicitation in 1989 and 1990.

Recalling newspaper reports detailing police entrapment of gay men in the park, Alfian Sa 19at, a 31-year-old poet-playwright and co-organiser of Pink Dot, hopes for the community to remember that slice of the venue 19s history.

1c20 years later. Today, the youngest of those men who were arrested would be 45, the oldest, 71. Were they in the park with us on Saturday? Did they ever know of the event? Did they even imagine 20 years ago that a park which was used by gay men to seek each other out might host, in broad daylight, this tremendous gathering of LGBT and straight people, affirming the right to love, the right not to be harassed, not to be persecuted, for their sexual orientations? 1d

1cWe always say that we have a short history. But the truth sometimes is that we have short memories."

"I feel moved that I was standing on the very grounds where some lives were broken simply because of the application of unjust laws. As much as the event was a celebration of certain values we hold dear, I also felt that it was a commemoration, an attempt to find some healing for our community's bruised history. 1d

Today, the park is Singapore 19s only government-designated venue for public assembly and free speech where a police permit is not required; speakers however must be citizens and have to register with the National Parks Board prior to the event and must not speak on matters pertaining to race, language and/or religion.

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