ON June 22, 2024, Pride PH in collaboration with the Quezon City government organized the most grandeur event of the year for the LGBTQIA+ community— the “Love Laban 2 Everyone” Pride March and Festival in celebration of the Pride Month.
There were several planned performers and guests for the event including Vice Ganda, Marina Summers, Miss Jade So, BINI, Denise Julia, GLOC-9, Janella Salvador, and more. Considering the star-studded stage, the event expected 150,000 to 200,000 attendees to celebrate Pride Month and be one with the protest of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Other than the reported cancellation of the show due to the extreme rainfall that occurred, there were several complaints from the attendees about the following: (1) the homophobic police force, (2) the questionable “ally” guests, and (3) the ineffective organizational cues by Quezon City.
But the issue that has gotten the ire of attendees who were actually part of the LGBTQIA+ community, was the straight homophobic cis-men who took over the event.
Several attendees expressed their disappointment that there were a lot of straight cis-men who spread around the crowd and screamed homophobic comments to the dressed-up members of the community.
They shouted specific demands like how the program should switch to BINI’s performance onstage instead of the “badings” who were speaking about gay rights. They also booed those who expressed affections as a queer couple.
The members of the police force who were present also reportedly made several homophobic comments to the attendees, stopping members of the community from going inside the event including performers and their dancers.
The guards and police around the area would scream statements like: “Paalisin niyo na yung mga bading!” “Padaanin yung sasakyan para makauwi na [ang] mga bakla!” Imagine hearing those horrible comments in an event that was made just for you and your community.
It was also reported that most of the straight homophobic cis-men were there for BINI, that they attended it because it was a free concert of their favorite artists, disregarding that the event was more than just a concert.
The Annual Pride March is a celebration of the timeless flow of love from the community and the milestones that they are reaching. More than that, it was a protest for LGBTQIA+ rights.
According to the Metro Manila Pride Organization, the Metro Manila Pride March is an annual “public demonstration and expression of joy.” It is a celebration of love and self-expression/self-identity, but it should not be forgotten that it is a mass protest.
A protest that screams the recognition that the previous generations of the LGBTQIA+ community deserve for the sacrifices they have made to challenge today’s norms.
More than that, it is currently a protest for the delay in the passage of the SOGIE equality Bill in the senate. The latest update was that the bill passed through the Senate Committee and that the majority of the senators have signed the said report.
However, it is still an arduous process with the senatorial debates that have been happening lately. Not to mention that the SOGIE equality Bill is not being prioritized, considering that it was filed in 2000 by the late Miriam Defensor Santiago and was only tackled inside the Senate in 2016 upon Sen. Risa Hontiveros’ request.
Considering this long journey of the SOGIE equality Bill, it is understandable to protest for such an advocacy—which to be honest, is a bill that provides the bare minimum protection that the LGBTQIA+ community deserves.
So, the disappointment that the community feels with the Pride event being gatecrashed by straight cis-men who talked trash about the members of the community is one that you would not only empathize with but will feel furious about as well.
To be in a space where you expected to feel the sense of belongingness that you have failed to experience in your daily life, and then having uninvited people ruin the freedom that the event has granted for you for a moment—one can only imagine how gravely upsetting that is.
This is our cue to remind people that the Annual Pride event is not just a “free concert”—it’s a protest. You are not supposed to go there merely to support your favorite artists but to protest with the LGBTQIA+ community in their long fight against the heteronormative society.
To the straight homophobic cis-men who believe BINI would eventually like them for gatecrashing such an event, BINI Jhoanna has a message for you from her X account:
With reports from Ashley Kristieanne Ignacio
