Baguio Pride goes way back in the year 2006. Yet, its first lacked the hue their flag exudes. In June of that year, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) group donned the pride month, clothed in all black with a rainbow paint on their faces. This, in their way, was to protest against political killings and series of violations of their civil and political rights. 

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The beginning of what turned as a yearly tradition in the city is reminiscent of the militancy of the pioneers of gay rights and activism who challenged and fought back against state-sponsored attacks on the LGBTQ+ community. The more than a decade of yearly commemoration on queer militancy, however, was tarnished in November 2022.       

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The Metro Baguio Pride in November last year was lead by the police force, composed of the Philippine Military Academy band, Philippine Army, and the Philippine National Police. 

 

While the local government unit (LGU) may have thought of police involvement as solidarity with the community, authentic companionship goes beyond display. The long history of violence the institution has inflicted among members of the LGBTQ+ only ends one way—when all forms of attacks and discrimination end. Because what good is joining the march when men in uniforms fail to internalize the fact that they are part of the problem? 

 

To pose as allies of the very people you persecute is no ‘serving and protecting the people’. It is not reflective of the years-long struggle the community holds. It was the police that led to America’s first gay pride parade, the 1970 Christopher Street Liberation Day that stemmed from the 1969 StoneWall riots. It was also a military who drowned transgender woman Jennifer Laude for being trans in 2014. It was also state forces who killed LGBT member and Lumad teacher Chad Booc for accusations of allegiances with the New People’s Army in 2022. 

 

How then, will the community trust their supposed protectors when the bloodbath of hate crimes keeps coming? 

 

In the Cordillera, Kankanaey Sarah Dekdeken of the Cordillera People’s Alliance said in 2019 that discrimination in indigenous communities of the region originate from traditions of procreation and male dominance in power structures. The lack of awareness among IP groups proves how the struggle for freedom is still going to take a long while. 

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The state forces joining the pride march is nothing but for the sake of optics. This  will never solve the cases of harassment and violence rampant among the LGBTQ+ community. What they need is not a tokenistic approach, rather concrete manifestations to safeguard the LGBTQ+ community. 

 

Since 2000, the passage of an anti-discrimination bill has long been stalled, faced with several contradictions. This bill remains a holy grail for many.  

 

The opposition fails to understand  that, discrimination happens even with just one’s sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sexual characteristics (SOGIE). The continuous denial of the harsh reality the LGBTQ+ community experiences will forever delay the emancipation of genders from hatred and abuse.

 

The long-sought for law that has been pending is the only way to recognize and respect the truth the LGBTQ+ live by. The existence of a national law will not only prohibit discrimination but it will also afford them better access to health care, education, job, security and other public services.  

 

In the local setting, the City of Baguio is one of the few LGUs with an anti-discriminatory ordinance (ADO).  Although enacted in 2018, the ADO is not yet enforced because of the absence of its implementing rules and regulations. The ordinance was left ineffective. 

 

The absence of national legislations and lack thereof in the local setting is why the LGBTQ+ continue to bleed not of rainbows but of red. 

 

The urge to carry on with the legacy and militancy of pride in streets is due to the myriad of struggles they encounter in the everyday life. So long as fear emanates from a queer person, even those in remote places, pride will find its way to march on and fight for the rights and safety of every single person in the rainbow spectrum.

 

Pride neither starts nor ends in June. It is not a one-month celebration that merely passes by but a constant reminder that the call for autonomy in a society that likes it black and white will forever make the streets bleed rainbow. Until freedom ultimately feels like one, the struggle goes on.