This is part of #KaraniwangLGBTQIA, which Outrage Magazine officially launched on July 26, 2015 to offer vignettes of LGBTQIA+ people/living, particularly in the Philippines, to give so-called “everyday people” – in this case, the common LGBTQIA+ people – that chance to share their stories.
As Outrage Magazine editor Michael David C. Tan says: “All our stories are valid – not just the stories of the ‘big shots’. And it’s high time we start telling all our stories.”
Even as a child, bisexual-identifying Lester Patinga, 19 years old from Las Piñas City, preferred non-masculine stuff, from playing with dolls to being dressed up as a girl.
“My mom used to leave me with my godmother, and she used to dress me up like a girl,” Lester said in Filipino. “That’s when I had some sense about my sexuality.”
One of four kids, Lester said they’re complete – SOGIESC-wise – in the family. Also, he has relatives who are LGBTQIA+, so that coming out was easy.
“The eldest is a girl, followed by a boy. The second girl is a lesbian. And then there’s me, the youngest, who’s gay or bi,” he said. “The eldest cousin is gay; there are four of us (in the clan) who has diverse SOGIESC. We also have lesbian relatives. So everyone’s open about this.”
The community is not as accepting, however – e.g. Lester can still recall being bullied in school for being effeminate.
Lester knows that there are people, including LGBTQIA+, who doubt the very existence of bisexuality. But they should not decide for bisexual people, according to Lester.
“Don’t pre-empt what the sexuality is of any person,” he said. “To begin, we did not decide for you your sexuality.”
Lester already had jowa before. And he believes that looking for a partner as a bisexual person isn’t hard… at least for the beautiful and the moneyed.
“If you’re good-looking, you meet a lot of people… or they go to you. But if no one likes your looks, you are ignored,” he said, adding that money can help, too.
For Lester, haters of LGBTQIA+ people should just accept that we’re also humans.
“God made us all. God made us equal. There’s no reason for you not to accept us,” he said.
And for younger LGBTQIA+ persons, Lester said they should learn self-acceptance first.
“Don’t be ashamed to accept yourself,” he said. “Only you can accept yourself, no one else will.”
