This is part of #KaraniwangLGBTQIA, which Outrage Magazine officially launched on July 26, 2015 to offer vignettes of LGBT 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.”
Earlene Almanzor, 20 from San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, always knew she’s different.
“I was assigned male at birth. But I realized I’m a woman,” she recalled, adding that she knew when she was maybe five years old since “I liked wearing women’s clothes. I wanted to be like my female cousins and my sister.”
In a way, Earlene – the eldest of two kids – was lucky. “My family is supportive because other members are also LGBTQIA.
But all the same, “in the province, the biggest challenge is to get discriminated against. To be discriminated against, and be misgendered. They call you ‘brother’, or ‘sir’. Lots of people there are homophobic. I was teased a lot in primary school. Even parents teased me. This continued in high school. Of course it pained me since that’s not my gender. I just justify this by thinking they committed an honest mistake. I don’t confront them; I’m not that brave yet.”
Earlene is now a student at the University of the Philippines – Los Baños, and in a way, she now knows more about the LGBTQIA community. And so she knows there are numerous interconnected issues in need of attention – e.g. lack of health care services for transgender Filipinos.
“In the Philippines, not a lot specialize in trans health. And so a lot of people like myself do not know stuff about hormones. They just buy from Shopee, then consume it. There’s no knowledge about transitioning. No one guides us, so the young are put in danger,” she said.
Earlene, herself, self-medicated when she started to transition.
“I started to transition when I was 19 years old. I took birth control pills for women. I did not know it’s detrimental to the health of one assigned male at birth,” she said.
Earlene is single now, but she’s aware of the difficulties faced by LGBTQIA people when looking for love.
“Looking for love isn’t hard when talking about foreigners. It’s difficult with Filipinos. Foreigners are open-minded. When looking for a partner, you could also become a sugar mommy. You give your partner money, so people think the man is just using you. This pains me because of how small they see trans women. That before you are loved, you need to pay,” she said.
As part of the transgender youth sector, Earlene wants for the transnene (young transgender women) to have guidance.
“I also experienced how hard it is to transition. No one guided me. Let me say to young trans people that there are many trans people now. We will guide you as your ‘mothers’. Let me tell young trans people that it’s hard to transition. But once started and you persevere, it’s worth it,” she ended. – WITH ARTHUR ABAD NWABIA and ALBERT TAN MAGALLANES, JR.