Mark the date: December 1, 2021, when Outrage Magazine launches a must-watch weekly show that eyes to extensively tackle issues of LGBTQIA Filipinos.

“We say: ‘Anong petsa na (What year is it already)?’ in the coverage of LGBTQIA stories,” said Michael David dela Cruz Tan, editor in chief of Outrage Magazine. This is because “it may already be 2021, but even now, LGBTQIA issues particularly in the Philippines continue NOT to be extensively covered by mainstream media; instead, our issues are still only surfaced to mark ‘special’ occasions – from June for Pride month, to December 1 for World AIDS Day.”

For Tan, this is “extremely limiting; it fails to provide the LGBTQIA community proper avenues to discuss the various intersectional issues affecting us beyond the ‘palatable’ or otherwise controversial, clickbait topics.”

With “Bahaghari Talks”, “we eye to discuss issues LGBTQIA Filipinos should be aware of” via in-depth talks with those who expertly know about these issues.

Is sex work ALSO an LGBTQIA issue, and should we consider legalizing it? Are HIV efforts in the Philippines neglecting seniors, considering most (if not all) of existing efforts target the under-35 MSM population? Is the local LGBTQIA community discriminating against bisexual Filipinos and intersex community members? Does asexuality exist; or is this a Western “imposition” in the Philippines? These – other timely topics that should interest LGBTQIA Filipinos – will be covered by “Bahaghari Talks”.

Tan will be co-hosting Bahaghari Talks, along with co-hosts Aaron Moises Bonete, Stephen Christian Quilacio, and Albert Tan Magallanes, Jr.

New episodes will be uploaded every Wednesday, 7PM, at the YouTube channel of Outrage Magazine; with an accompanying article uploaded on Outrage Magazine.

“Bahaghari Talks” is the second weekly show of Outrage Magazine. For #KaraniwangLGBTQIA, new episodes are uploaded every Saturday, also at 7PM, to showcase the stories of everyday LGBTQIA Filipinos.

To inform LGBTQIA community members of a town in northern Mindanao about SOGIESC basics, the local rainbow organization there – named LGBTQIA Community of Binuangan, Misamis Oriental – is hosting a four-part workshop.

Discrimination of LGBTQIA people continues to be reported in these parts of the Philippines, said Jacob Salvana, founding president of the LGBTQIA Community of Binuangan, Misamis Oriental. Meaning – arguably – this is “one of the most difficult issues (we continue to) face here.”

Based on the reports reaching them, there are LGBTQIA people there who get discriminated based on their gender expression (e.g. some of them are catcalled), while others are deprived of employment opportunities because of their gender identity.

Sadly, Salvana said, “the lack of LGBTQIA empowerment programs are apparent”, meaning “we are left to our own devices to confront hate.”

The SOGIESC workshops are intended to empower the local LGBTQIA community members by localizing still-largely Westernized SOGIESC (and LGBTQIA) concepts, thereby “making them self-assured when discussing this issue,” Salvana said. Hopefully, “they will be empowered to confidently face society (even through a small effort like this).”

Added Stephen Christian Quilacio of Outrage Magazine and Bahaghari Center for SOGIESC Research, Education and Advocacy, Inc. (Bahaghari Center), there is acknowledgment that LGBTQIA communities outside metropolitan areas are often neglected in mainstream discourses. “And yet – to be honest – not many activities are being developed to actually include them, thereby empowering them to raise issues very specific to them/their contexts.”

For Quilacio, therefore, “such projects that eye to – to start – inform the LGBTQIA people about basic concepts affecting them; and then inform them what they can do when facing issues thrown at them because of their SOGIESC are truly empowering.”

“We’ve (actually) been given info on the basics of HIV,” admitted Prime Truya, a local Deaf LGBTQIA community leader from Davao City, “but past efforts have been limited to ‘basic knowledge’ sharing.”

With this, select members of the Deaf community in Mindanao were trained not only on the basics of HIV, but also on community-based HIV screening.

This endeavor – part of a project by Bahaghari Center for Research, Education an Advocacy, Inc. (Bahaghari Center), backed by collaboration between Youth LEAD and Y-PEER (Asia Pacific Center), which eyes to address Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) needs of Young Key Populations (YKPs) In Asia and the Pacific – is the first to actually teach the Deaf about actual screening/testing.

The goal, said Disney Aguila of Bahaghari Center and Pinoy Deaf Rainbow, Inc., is not just to “inform them that this issue is just as important to them. It is also to equip them with the actual know-how on what to do to become solutions in dealing with this issue.”

This project is also a follow-through of the public service announcements (PSAs) developed in Filipino Sign Language (FSL) to specifically tap the Deaf community.

PSA on HIV basics released in Filipino Sign Language

PSA on getting tested for HIV released in Filipino Sign Language

PSA deals in Filipino Sign Language what happens after rapid HIV test

Aguila lamented that “the Deaf community is often left behind in HIV-related efforts. Not surprisingly, we have a lot of catching up to do.”

In Davao City, for instance, at least prior to the Bahaghari Center project, none of the Deaf community members were trained to screen/test others for HIV. This “approach of not empowering us makes us dependent on Hearing people,” Aguila said, adding that this dependence is not always good because “it disempowers us in dealing with this issue.”

Aguila admitted that the Deaf community will continue to have “an uphill battle in fighting HIV exactly because of this playing catch-up,” she said. “But every effort than can be done now should already be done now.”

The community-based HIV screening trainings are provided by The Red Ribbon Project, Inc.

Other supporters of the project include: Outrage Magazine, Fringe Publishing, Pinoy Deaf Rainbow, TransDeaf Philippines, Deaf Dykes United and Pinoy Deaf Queer.