MANILA, Philippines — Several members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA+) community took to social media to express their disappointment about the recently held Pride event that caused clamor about the real essence of the pride march for the community.
Over the weekend, social media users dominated both the headlines and various platforms to call out participants of the “Love Laban 2 Everyone Pride PH Festival” at the Quezon City Memorial Circle, who had appeared heedless of the reason behind the purpose of the Pride march.
Some users argued that most, if not all of the participants only attended the event to see the All-Filipino girl group Bini and not really to rally behind achieving equality for the members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
A social media user took to X (formerly Twitter) a viral TikTok video calling out a content creator who said it was “unfair” as they lined up for hours to see the girl group only to be canceled later on due to the weather conditions.
“Pumunta sa pride march para sa bini pero hindi para makiisa sa protesta?” he said.
“For those people who came to march and protest, hindi sayang ‘yung event,” he added.
Another social media user said that a number of LGBTQIA+ community members and its allies failed to infiltrate the venue since several attendees flocked to the concert venue.
Organizers issued a statement about the incident and vowed to address the issues confronting the event.
“Humihingi ang Pride PH at mga organisasyon nito ng paumanhin at pag-unawa para sa aming mga pagkukulang. Nakasisiguro kayo na aming papakikinggan, iimbestigahan, at dagliang hahanapan ng solusyon ang mga hinaing ng mga dumalo upang matugunan ang mga ito,” Pride PH said.
“Nananatiling buo ang ating loob na ang mga nakamit nating tagumpay sa Pride ang magiging armas at kalasag natin upang harapin ang higit na malaking laban para sa pagsasabatas ng SOGIE Equality Bill,” it added.
In a sit-down interview, the girl group said that even though they were not able to perform during the event, they would still stand and support the community.
“Hindi man nakapag-perform ang lahat ng artists po, hindi magbabago yung stand namin na Bini, we support this community, we love this community po, so be proud, be bold, be gay,” Bini member Jhoanna Robles said.
Encircling bigotry, homophobia
Apart from the chaos inside the Pride event, a now-deleted Facebook post went viral over homophobic remarks toward the attendees of this year’s Pride march.
“Grabe iyak, puro bakla n naman mabo-booking, event pa ng mga bading sa Quezon circle,” Loreto Gabejan Jr. said in a community group intended for riders and passengers of ride-hailing app Move It.
Social media users were quick to screenshot the post and called out both the ride-hailing service and the driver for the latter’s behavior.
Move It issued a statement saying the incident won’t be tolerated by the ride-hailing service.
“We take this report seriously and rest assured that necessary corrective actions will be taken,” Move It said.
‘Boycott Move It’
Following the incident, although a number of social media users quoted the post and called to boycott the ride-hailing service, several social media users said that Move It has to craft measures to stop these from happening again.
“No. Hindi kasalanan ng Move It na may mga riders silang homophobic. The reason we are trying to let Move It know that these kind of riders exist ay para makagawa rin sila ng hakbang sa end nila. Hindi kailangang madamay ng ibang matitinong riders,” Keno Violetto said.
