With flying colors
Standing up for LGBT rights is more important than ever.
Though many strides have been made in the fight for gay rights, it’s clear that we have a long way to go. One year after the Pulse nightclub shootings in Orlando, USA, and in the thick of our own country’s crazy political situation, the act of celebrating who you are as an act of resistance is now more necessary than ever. Enter the Metro Manila Pride March and Festival, which takes place at Plaza De Los Alcaldez, Marikina City Hall tomorrow.
This year’s theme for the Metro Manila Pride March and Festival is “Here Together,” to celebrate the simple fact that the LGBT community can feel safe and unify in Pride. The event also doubles as an incredibly large safe space where the LGBT community and their allies can convene, and a stage, to show the ignorant and uninformed that queer realities and experiences deserve to be acknowledged, on a large scale.
The opening of the street fair is scheduled for 12 noon, to be followed by speeches in the late afternoon by Marikina Mayor Marcy Teodoro and Senator Risa Hontiveros, and then the main event, the march, begins at 4 p.m.
MMP is currently in its 23rd year, which means that the organization, throughout the decades, has committed itself wholeheartedly to being on the right side of history. The only thing the pride and festival can do is get bigger, with more new faces in the crowd, more bodies in the march, and more people joining the fight.