Boy Abunda

that mirrors the lives and concerns of LGBT people in the country. It industry that continues to sidestep the LGBT presence.

also won the award for being a brave and trustworthy online source of LGBT stories, editorials, and opinions in the Philippines. It has become a virtual archive, a repository of various narratives in the social media era, standing up to issues that matter to the LGBT community. For being the leading mouthpiece of the LGBT people and its struggles in the digital world, publishing personal stories, political and social commentaries through its online publication, this magazine has surely stood the test of time.

Global shoe brand Nike brings home the BALA Award for breaking the molds of patriarchal, consumerist-centered corporate mentality and making a bold statement in favor of the LGBT community. Nike terminated their endorsement of over-the-hill boxer Manny Pacquiao after he made homophobic remarks that said that LGBTs are worse than animals. Nike also bolsters LGBT advocacy by highlighting gender equality in their ads and actively supporting LGBT Pride through special merchandise.

The Philippine Educational Theater Association, or PETA, gets the nod of Boy Abunda for championing the LGBT causes through their plays and artistic productions that question the status quo, educate the audience, and create critical conversations about LGBT issues. Its remarkable plays

(a full-length play in 1974 written by Orlando Nadres) and (a musical performed in 2011) bravely tackle sexual orientation, gender identity and expression or SOGIE.

Our deepest thanks should go to Dr. Boy Abunda and the brilliant Ms. Bemz Benedito for this award, reminding us that LGBT advocacy work through the years, done at great cost to the advocates’ time and even to their pockets, were not done in vain.