The rainbow flag rose in Cebu City for the first Visayas-wide Pride March, held here as part of the 1st Visayas LGBTQI Pride Festival that coincided with the 4th LGBT National Conference.
In spreading the “rainbow message”, the dream, said Michael David C. Tan, publishing editor of Outrage Magazine, has always been for every locality to have its own Pride. This is “to ensure the localization of Pride.”
In the case of the Visayas group of islands, Pride-related celebrations have already been held in the likes of Iloilo and Tacloban.
However, Tan added, “every now and then, unifying the LGBTQI-related efforts as a show of number, thus strength, is also helpful (in advancing LGBTQI issues). And here, the first Visayas-wide Pride in Cebu (was) a good way to unify – thus galvanize – the efforts.”
This Pride also tried to highlight the issues of the so-called “minorities in the already minority LGBTQI community”, including senior LGBTQI people, differently-abled, Indigenous Peoples, those with different faiths, and the intersex community, among others.
Co-organized by Bisdak Pride Inc., the event had the backing of the UNDP, Cebu City Anti-discrimination Commission (via Ms Magdalena Robinson), and Office of Rep. Geraldine B. Roman.
