Gays, Lesbians Hit Gov’t Inaction on Killings

“June has always been a ‘pride month’ for gays and lesbians all over the world, but this time around, Filipino lesbians and gays cannot afford to be celebratory when our freedom-loving brothers and sisters are facing threats of murder and state terrorism,” Julie Palaganas of the Lesbians for National Democracy (Lesbond) said.

BY NORTHERN DISPATCH
Posted by Bulatlat

BAGUIO CITY  — Lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBTs) in Baguio City (246 kms north of Manila) are protesting political killings all over the country, saying these are ultimately violations of their civil and political rights and even their gender rights.

Clad in black with their faces painted in the colors of the rainbow, progressive LGBT groups in Baguio City marched through Session Road on June 28 protesting political killings all over the country as LGBT communities worldwide celebrated Stonewall Uprising’s 37th anniversary.

In a joint manifesto, different LGBT organizations here hit the Arroyo administration for failing to address political assassinations and repression. They also criticized President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s all-out-war policy, saying it is not the solution to the country’s present crisis.

Since the imposition of martial law, there has been no such blatant and outright display of brutal force against government critics, the LGBT groups stated in their manifesto. “The killings and persecution has a strong effect on the recognition and exercise of our basic political and civil rights as lesbians and gays. It reinforces the culture of violence which denies us of our rights to express our opinions and freely organize and assemble,” the manifesto read.

“June has always been a ‘pride month’ for gays and lesbians all over the world, but this time around, Filipino lesbians and gays cannot afford to be celebratory when our freedom-loving brothers and sisters are facing threats of murder and state terrorism,” Julie Palaganas of the Lesbians for National Democracy (Lesbond) said.

Palaganas also urged local and international human rights groups to look into the political repression and the murder of political activists.

The LGBT groups stated that during the Stonewall Uprising on June 27, 1969, some 2,000 lesbians and gays fought around 400 police after a series of raids in gay bars in the Greenwich Village in New York. After this, LGBTs actively organized and participated in militant activism denouncing not only discrimination and homophobia in the United States but also unemployment, violence and war.

Members of Lesbond, Progressive Gays of the Philippines (Pro Gay), Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP), Bisexuals for National Democracy (Bind) under the Gays and Lesbians for the Immediate Tsugi of Gloria (Galit-Gloria), Men in Purple (MIP), Gabriela Youth (GY) and some advocates joined the said protest action.

Meanwhile, lesbian and gay organizations and individuals in premier cities as Quezon, Davao, Baguio and Cotabato, launched a signature campaign calling on all gays and lesbians to join the bandwagon condemning the disturbing political killings in the country. Northern Dispatch / Posted by Bulatlat

© 2006 Bulatlat ■  Alipato Media Center

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