pride as protest
Manila, 30 June—It rained hard all day on Asia’s biggest Pride Parade but it did not matter to the 70,000 people who trooped to the Marikina Sports Center to participate in this year’s Metro Manila Pride March.
Check that: Seventy thousand gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender persons, queers, allies, plus plus plus—that’s almost three times last year’s record-breaking turnout of 25,000 persons. I remember how it rained last year, too, and I remember how steadfast the crowd had been, singing and dancing under the downpour.
This year’s celebration, headlined Resist Together, puts pride as protest front and center—and the crowd that showed up to stand up for equal rights, for justice, for an end to discrimination is bigger than ever.
According to the organizers, this celebration peaked at over 70,000—which is insane. To illustrate, the Mall of Asia Arena’s sitting capacity is 15,000, while the Araneta Coliseum can seat just a little less than 16,000.
One thing is for sure: We’re gonna need a bigger venue next year :)
I always go home from these events feeling grateful that I lived long enough to see and join a movement of this magnitude. It’s so so refreshing and frankly very touching to be in a place where you see yourself in the faces of the people you’re with.
Looking back, I wondered if my journey as a young lesbian would have been different if I met an immediate community—if I saw myself more clearly in others instead—as against latching on to the one queer attraction that lorded over the second half of my college life, and letting myself be defined by that cycle.
I remember how hard it was, looking for someone or something I could see myself in, something that rang true to who I was. There were almost no TV shows or movies that depicted queer characters with interesting journeys, much less celebrities who openly celebrated their queerness in real life. This wasn’t even so long ago; this was just in the last 15 or so years.
Which is why I love how Pride is so out there, or at least accessible enough to encourage some 70,000 mostly young queer people to brave the rains and traffic on a Saturday afternoon. I think that’s a great big feat.
Anyway—nowhere to go but up from hereon. Did you know that the fundraiser also raised over half a million pesos in roughly a month??? Amazing stats for which I have absolutely no words. I suppose we could just say the gays wanted a party, they bought it for themselves and then they attended it in droves.
Happy Pride, guys! See you next year, hopefully in better weather.
And so we live in hope,
K
P.S. My girlfriend took this photo. This is our first Pride together. :)