Pride (In the name of love)

Pride (In The Name of Love) - U2

Like my fellow blogger Super G, I wasn’t able to attend the Manila Pride March this year. Obviously, being here in Phnom Penh prevented me from doing so. Super G, meanwhile, was too fashionably late and missed the march. I hope he didn’t miss the party that followed which, in my experience, can sometimes be more interesting than the parade itself.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, this year’s Pride March marks the start of simultaneous pride marches in Visayas and Mindanao, which are major cities south of Manila. According to an article posted in fridae.com, about 40 organizations–bringing their contingents, floats, and costumes, registered and participated this year. Making it the biggest Pride March so far. Not so sure about this claim, though. I have to verify this with my friends in Manila. One of the biggest pride marches in the past was in 1998,  I think, because it coincided with the celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Phillipine Republic.

Nevertheless, biggest or not, I’m sure this year’s parade is a huge media affair and an excellent platform to put forward important issues that affect Filipino LGBTs, like discrimination, access to health information & services, equal rights to education & employment, etc. Thailand used its Pride March in the same way. Now, even Hong Kong is poised to hold its first-ever LGBT Pride March this Saturday.

Unfortunately, this is not only the history-making aspect of this year’s parade. This year also marks the presence of church-based anti-gay protesters in the Pride March. A new phenomenon, this is. In all the years I’ve attended Pride Marchers, I have never seen this kind of protesters. The photos posted in fridae.com (which I am posting here, too) reminded me of Christian fundamentalists in the US protesting abortions clinics and LGBT pride parades.

And true enough, one photo showed a Caucasian guy, megaphone hanging from his shoulders, mouth contorted, rabidly pointing at someone outside the frame. What the f**k, I thought. I never thought I’d see it in Manila but there they were, in their full rabid glory. There’s something really creepy about these Christian fundamentalists. However, there’s also something funny about them. Of course, the way they interpret the verses of the Bible is funny enough, but everybody knows that. One thing that makes me giggle is the fact that whenever they make signs and placards, there are always some grammatical gaffs that occur. Case in point, the photo below. How can they expect to be taken seriously, when they’re not serious about the way they speak (or write)?

Responding only to well-written (or well-spoken) insults is one of my principles in life. But, hey, it’s just me.

It’s a good thing that the equally good people of MCC (Metropolitan Community Church) came up with a more witty retort, displayed in a gorgeous banner, to counteract these ignorant bible-thumpers.

Hay, reading the article really made me wish that I was in Manila in time for the Pride March. I would’ve loved to see my old friends and fellow LGBT activists, march around Malate in the afternoon sun, to be immersed in the sea of colors at Remedios Circle, and party all night. Next year, perhaps…

all photos courtesy of Laurindo Garcia and fridae.com