an excerpt from a text (or why I don't think much of my being a lesbian)

Thanks to cable TV, the internet, overseas work and the growing affordability of travel, gayness in the Philippines is being reconstructed. Where once there was only the “bakla” and the “tomboy” and the rest invisible, nowadays the short key LGBT (for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals or transgendered people) is slowly being appreciated. In Manila and provincial cities where gender consciousness has touched shore, more and more trans people come out to distinguish themselves and identify with either the male or the female sex. The transits, or more accurately, the evolution from one sexual identity to another has not been easy, however. Some politically conscious gay men, for instance, do not take well to the emergence of the “transsexual Pinay”, viewing it as impertinent, maybe a repudiation of a caste. Among unpoliticized butch lesbians, there is also a strong prejudice against those who do not dress the part and there exists a stubborn demand to play roles, i.e., imitate heterosexual patterns of behaviour, with one partner playing masculine and the other playing feminine. Androgynous types who do not fit the binary roles are an object of jest and dubious interest and may be harassed for double-crossing or for being phony wannabes. There is too the tendency among middle-class and urbane lesbians to dissociate themselves from what they contemptuously call the “generic” butch —an ascription that has more to do with class and lifestyle rather than one’s sex.

Generally, lesbian presence are taken for granted in dirty and low-paying occupations as bus conductors, security guards, janitors, cannery workers, porters, cart pushers and tricycle drivers. But in white-collar jobs like teaching, banking, lawyering and the like, lesbians are ostensibly less visible. Recognition and respect, it appears, is up to the heterosexual world to confer or deny, not for the minority sex to obtain on demand. Even organizations like the party-list Ladlad has to face widespread condemnation for daring to question the dominant norm of the traditional family and heterosexuality. Within gay associations and butch camps that privilege machismo, sexism and misogyny are yet to be confronted.  

The gay scene in the Philippines is maybe among the liveliest in Asia, although as in most other continents, the country’s “sexual minorities” were hardly ever part of its political life. Gay and lesbian activists first came out in the 1990s, buffeted by the strong wave of feminist consciousness that came with the pouring in of aid money for women and gender-related projects. A strong albeit small segment of the women’s movement in the Philippines would later give birth to a feminist lesbian perspective which supports pro-women legislation, including reproductive health, sexual rights and violence against women. This segment distinguishes itself apart from, and is critical of, the gay-dominated LGBT activism of the 2000s which is perceived as having little or no roots in feminism and as such, does not adequately represent the interests of women-identified lesbians. The party-list organization Ladlad, which at the moment is the lone contender in the country’s electoral politics in so far as looking after the specific interests of the minority sexes is concerned, has yet to galvanize gay and trans vote for it to earn a seat in Congress. With inter- and intra-organization conflicts very much alive as each player seeks to compete for turf, funding, and political resource, it may still be a long way before it can command the following of a broader contingent. 

Gay issues reinvigorated in the Philippines in 2007, after Ladlad’s application for accreditation to join the elections was rejected by the Commission on Elections. Ladlad seeks to represent the interests of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders. When the Commission on Elections initially denied the party’s application on grounds of “immorality,” the resulting indignation prompted the discrete and otherwise disunited LGBT communities in Manila and nearby cities to rally for a common cause. With congressional representation via the country’s party-list system unrealized and several anti-discrimination bills still pending in Congress, the LGBT community has every reason to unite around this organization. Ladlad’s work among non-gays is however spotty. For lesbian organizations with provincial issues, support for this LGBT organizations is lukewarm, non-committal.