As support to Philippine literature and the Filipino LGBT community, The UP Center for Women’s Studies has released “Buhay Bahaghari: The Filipino LGBT Chronicles”.
Edited by longtime lesbian advocate and the Philippine Online Chronicles’ Pinoy LGBT channel editor-writer Eva Callueng, this queer anthology gathered openly out and closeted LGBTs to share their collective thoughts on varied issues concerning their personal and professional lives as LGBTs in the Philippines.
“The meeting at the LGBT Community Dialogue held in June 2013 paved the way for the birth of these chronicles. It was Prof. Eric Manalastas who proposed the idea of collecting Filipino LGBT stories that is somehow similar to the Pinoy LGBT channel of the Philippine Online Chronicles. Being the first of its kind, I fell in love with the idea and so after the event, I immediately emailed friends and leaders of the community to write their stories,” said Callueng in the book’s introduction.
Originally scheduled to be published during the International Human Rights Week in December 2013, the response from the community was overwhelming despite the rigid deadline.
The articles in the compilation are grouped into four categories representing the four different struggles that LGBT people usually face. These themes describe the struggles LGBT people encounter in them, in their relationships with the people around them, their struggles in love, and finally the challenges they face in the community and society as a whole. The essays are written in Filipino and English.
Contributors include longtime queer advocates Fr. Richard Mickley, Chris Jo Salvatierra, Ging Cristobal and Bruce Amoroto; corporate professionals Fire Sia, Mel Abutin and Allan Carreon; development worker Miel Feria; former and current college professors Mikee Inton, Argel Tuason and Lorna Israel; National Youth Commission’s Percival Cendana and Ernest Lucas; and Carlos Palanca awardees Shakira Sison, Libay Linsangan Cantor and Jhoanna Lynn B. Cruz.
“These stories are mere drops in the ocean that is the Filipino LGBT community. We may have achieved some victories in the past but there is still much to be done. It is our hope that these articles serve as an inspiration to those who are still in the process of finding themselves, give strength to those who are in the fight, and give hope to those who have been there since the start,” Callueng ended.
The suggested retail price of the book is PhP300 and is available at https://www.facebook.com/upcws/info.
