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.”
Chelsea Banag, 20 years old from Cavite, was still young when she knew she’s different. “My awakening happened when I was in Grade 4 since I went to an all-girls school,” she said in the vernacular, adding that she was attracted to her classmates then, but at that time, “I couldn’t identify myself as a lesbian… in the past, I only knew you could only be gay or lesbian.”
Now a student in the University of the Philippines–Los Baños, Chelsea is more aware, and is now able to self-identify.
As the only child, she is lucky her parents accept her. “I didn’t come out. But they talked to me when we had dinner. They said they accept me. They were just waiting for me to say something.”
She knows she’s fortunate, too, that she did not experience discrimination, particularly since she came from an all-girls school, where people were “more open-minded”, and where “there were many members of the LGBTQIA community” so that “that’s my comfort place while growing up.”
Chelsea considers the forced invisibility of bisexual people as a big issue. “Sometimes we get labeled as queer-baiting, since there are people who do not believe bisexual people fall in love with same-sex people. They think you’re just in it because it’s trendy. It’s challenging for me because I really want to express myself but I also don’t want people to say I’m just doing this to be trendy.”
She admits, though, that there are people who are into queer-baiting. And so there are also people who think that being bisexual is just a fad, “when in fact, it’s actually a part of you and it’s a part of your identity. It should not be considered a trend since someone’s personhood is involved here,” she said.
And for Chelsea, self-love is very important. “You don’t have to come out if you’re not comfortable. You know who you are, so just love yourself. At the end of the day, only you can love yourself. If you want others to accept you, start this with yourself.”
And for LGBTQIA haters, Chelsea said it’s time to stop misrepresenting God’s teachings. “You’re not God, so why are you saying that our love is sinful? God is love. You’re not God to say that God doesn’t love us, too.” – with ARTHUR Abad NWABIA and ALBERT Tan MAGALLANES, JR.