The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the Philippines have a distinctive culture in society, and also have limited legal rights. Gays and lesbians are generally tolerated (if not accepted) in Filipino society, especially with the recent events that promote the rights, general acceptance, and empowerment of the community, but discrimination remains. Filipino gays are known as bakla, but are not limited to this term.

According to the 2002 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey, 11 percent of sexually active Filipinos between the ages of 15 and 24 have had sex with someone of the same sex.[2] According to Filipino poet and critic Lilia Quindoza Santiago, Filipino culture may have a more flexible concept of gender; kasarian (Tagalog for "gender") is defined in less binary terms than the English word;[3] kasarian means "kind, species, or genus".[4]

Gender crossing practices go back to the history of pre-colonial communities in the Philippines. The Babaylans are the priestess in native communities, whose position can also be taken by males who crossed genders, and were called asog, among many names. According to J. Neil C. Garcia, they were similar to women in almost all aspects, except for childbearing. The institutionalization of gender, and gender roles in the Philippines begun during the American colonization wherein education and mass media were used to regulate sexuality. This includes the widespread use of the ‘homosexual’, and ‘heterosexual’ distinctions in society.^[1]

Movements to promote the acceptance of the gays in Philippine society include, but are not limited to the establishment of the Home of the Golden Gays by Justo Justo, the 1980 Women’s Movement which focused on the lesbian struggle of Filipinas, the formation of The Lesbian Collective which was the first formal lesbian organization in the country, the organization of the First LGBT Pride March in 1994.^[2] Beyond this, there have been numerous efforts to spread awareness of the LGBT. The community has become generally accepted in society, and have continued to initiate efforts that move for the greater acceptance, protection, and empowerment of its members.

Bakla and bading are Tagalog words for a man who has feminine mannerisms, or dresses or identifies as a woman. Although the terms are not the equivalent of the English "gay",[5] the bakla are the most culturally visible subset of gay men in the Philippines. They are often considered a third gender, embodying femininity (pagkababae) in a male body.[6][7] Although bakla is sometimes used in a derogatory sense, bakla people have largely embraced it. In addition to this, lesbians in the Filipino community are called tibo or tibs, and are likewise often used as derogatory terms. However, lesbians too have recently embraced this terms, and have used these terms jokingly to refer to each other. But despite being used to refer to lesbians, the word tibo or tibs often refer to the more masculine lesbian, otherwise known as the ‘Butch’.

In the Philippines, the word "gay" is used to refer to any LGBT person. For Filipino gays the Tagalog phrase paglaladlad ng kapa ("unfurling the cape") or, more commonly, paglaladlad ("unfurling" or "unveiling") refers to the coming-out process. Some lesbians (butch and femme) use the words magic or shunggril to refer to themselves;[5] paminta describes masculine gay men. Neutral slang terms for gay men include "billy boy", badette , "badaf" and bading. Although many of these terms are considered derogatory, they are sometimes used casually or jokingly by the Filipino gay and lesbian community.

Main article: LGBT rights in the Philippines

Although legislation supporting same-sex marriage in the Philippines has been proposed several times in the Philippine legislature, none has been passed.[9] The Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) disqualified the Filipino LGBT political party Ladlad from fronting a candidate in the 2007 general election, concluding that the party did not have a nationwide membership.[10] COMELEC again refused Ladlad's petition to contest the 2010 elections on the grounds of "immorality".[11] However, on April 8, 2010, the Supreme Court of the Philippines overturned COMELEC's decision and allowed Ladlad to participate in the May 2010 elections.[12]

The Philippines has been ranked one of the most gay-friendly nations in the world and is the most gay-friendly in Asia. In a survey of 39 countries (only 17 of which had a majority accepting homosexuality), the Philippines were the 10th most gay-friendly.[13] The survey, "The Global Divide on Homosexuality" conducted by the US-based Pew Research Center, showed that 73 percent of adult Filipinos agreed that "homosexuality should be accepted by society" (up from 64 percent in 2002).[13]

The House of Representatives and their approval of the LGBT Rights Bill

It was during September 20, 2017 on a Wednesday when the House of Representatives approved on the LGBT Rights Bill. The Lawmakers had voted 198-0 in the approval of House Bill 4982, otherwise known as the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression Equality (SOGIE) Bill. Those who violate this bill are required to pay a penalty of PHP 100,000 - PHP 500,000 and imprisonment for one to six years. This Bill prohibits and penalizes any discriminatory acts against Lesbians, Gays, Bi-Sexuals and Transgender people.

The SOGIE Bill penalizes the following acts:

• Gender Profiling
• Denying or revoking a professional or other similar kind of license, clearance, except marriage license, issued by the government
• Denying access to public service, including military service including SOGIE as criteria for human resource action
• Refusing admission or expelling a person from any educational or training institution
• Denying a person access to public or private medical and other health services open to general public

Swardspeak, or "gay lingo", is cant or argot derived from Taglish (Tagalog-English pidgin) and is used by the Filipino LGBT community.[14] It uses elements of Tagalog, English, Spanish and Japanese, celebrities' names and trademarked brands, giving them new meanings in different contexts.[15] Words derived from local languages or dialects, including Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Waray, Bicolano and other Philippine dialects, are also used by LGBT communities.

A Swardspeak speaker could be identified as homosexual, making it easier for people in the LGBT community to recognize each other. This created a group of speakers, helping the community resist cultural assimilation and marginalization. Straight people have begun to use Swardspeak, particularly in gay-dominated industries such as fashion and film, but have become more widespread among the mainstream heterosexual in the recent years.

In the Philippines there are no laws pertaining to same-sex marriage or unions, but at least one church cites freedom of religion in sanctioning what it calls holy unions. These ceremonies are conducted solely for the purpose of celebrating love, and are officiated by the Metropolitan Community Center’s local chapter in the country, the Open Table MCC.[16] Same-sex marriage is gaining some ground in Southeast Asia, with Democrat parliamentarian Wiratana Kalayasiri leading an initiative in Thailand. She drafted a legalisation bill which would make Thailand the first Asian country to do so. The Filipino Ang Ladlad party, whose founders, leaders and core constituency belong to the LGBT community, was recognized by the government and participated in party elections in 2013.[17]

Transnational networks such as LGBT NGOs allow connected brokers in the Philippines to widely adopt goals and strategies that are cross-culturally recognizable, such as efforts to pass an anti-discrimination bill that prohibits using sexual orientation and gender identity as a basis for discrimination. Goals and tactics used in the Philippines such as emphasis on “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as a distinct part of the self, the idea of being “out”, and pursuit of rights-based remedies are hallmarks of transnational LGBT politics, opening the interpretation of whether these subjectivities adopted in the Philippines are “Western” or not.^[3]

Studies exploring links between LGBT advocacy and hegemonic geopolitics has also been increasing, given that the diffusion of LGBT subjectivities are affected by the shifts in the global system. An example is through the nonrelational diffusion though media, technology, and shifts in democracy and neoliberalism. According to Oscar Atadero, one of the organizers of the 1994 Pride in Manila, the decline of interest in a style of mobilization that is public and militant and the failure of mass movement in the Philippines can be attributed to “the sudden appearance of the Internet at the same time gays and lesbians were forming political movements.”

Geraldine Roman is the first transgender person to be elected to the Philippine congress.[18] She has been a staunch advocate of an anti-discrimination bill.[19] Entertainers Aiza Seguerra and Arnell Ignacio are the first LGBT-community members appointed as government officials; they were appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte chair of the National Youth Commission and vice-chair of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, respectively.[citation needed]

The Philippine media and show business scene--encompassing film, radio, and television--comprises a vital part of LGBT culture in terms of representation. Prominent celebrities including Vice Ganda, Boy Abunda, and Ricky Lo are all featured in major programs and are often tapped to endorse major products and services.

In 2004, the Republic of the Philippines Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) had disseminated a memorandum calling homosexual relationships—particularly lesbian relationships—an “abnormality of human nature”^[4], discouraging producers from broadcast any sort of portrayals that promoted these relationships. While there are still several LGBT personalities in show business as well as LGBT characters in films and television programs in the Philippines, notices such as this have limited particular LGBT portrayals in media.^[5]

For the gay Filipino man, two main stereotypes have been revealed in studies to be dominantly presented in media. There is the feminine gay who often cross-dresses, demonstrates stereotypically feminine actions and speech and is attracted to stereotypically masculine men. The following films have portrayals of the feminine gay:

• Markova: Comfort Gay
• Aishite Imasu: 1941: Mahal Kita
• Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros
• Petrang Kabayo

In contrast to this is the masculine gay portrayal, where the men still appear stereotypically masculine but are attracted to the same sex. A cited example of this is the film In My Life.^[6]

Lesbianism in Philippine media has also been studied with two common stereotypes emerging: the butch and the femme. The two are often seen in a butch-femme dichotomy, where in a lesbian couple one assumes the traditional roles of the masculine-male and the feminine-female, respectively. Femme-to-femme relationships, when depicted, have been shown more often as abused or ridiculed couples in a more heteronormative society.^[7] The following teleseryes are recent portrayals of femme-to-femme lesbian relationships in the Philippines:

• The Rich Man's Daughter (2015)
• Baka Bukas (2016)

Die Beautiful, a 2016 comedy-drama narrating the life (and death) of a transgender beauty queen, was entered into the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival and won two awards at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2016.^[8]

LGBT representation outside of television and films have been made through existence of gay beauty pageants such as Miss Gay Philippines. It is in this competition that all manner of gays, men or women, as well as transgender and bisexuals are eligible to enter, granted that they first meet the qualifications/requirements of the pageant. However, the organization of these events have been met with controversy in certain cases. For example, in 2013, at the 9th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival awarding, transgender woman Mimi Juareza was still considered under the “male” category as Best Actor and referred to with the pronoun “he”.^[9]

With the general tolerance of the country towards the LGBT community, its members have organized a number of events in the past years to empower the Filipino community in creating a safe space for the LGBT.^[10] Since the First Pride March in 1994^[11], the LGBT community has continued to celebrate this event on the month of June.

The more recent Pride Marches have become more visible to the public with it's organizers’ use of social media to promote the advocacy, and the event.

More Recent Metro Manila Pride Marches

2015 - Fight For Love

The 21st Metro Manila Pride March in 2015, entitled Fight For Love, was held on the 25th of July. The turnout of the event was an estimated number of 2,000 participants.^[12]

2016 - Let Love In

The following Metro Manila Pride March was themed Let Love In. There was an uncertainty whether or not the event would take place due to the Orlando Nightclub Shooting, but the event still pushed through. The march began at Luneta Park on the 25th of June 2016.^[13]

2017 - #HereTogether

Pride March in 2017 was entitled #HereTogether. On the 24th of June that year, members and supporters of the LGBT Community gathered at Plaza de los Alcaldes, Marikina to begin the 2017 Metro Manila Pride March.^[14]

2018 - #RiseUpTogether

The most recent Metro Manila Pride March, which took place on the 30th of June 2018 and began at Marikina Sports Center, was themed #RiseUpTogether.^[15] Compared to the previous year with about 7,700 participants, this year’s Pride March round up to 20,000 attendees.