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.”
Ritz, 28 from Cebu, started doing sex work late in her life. “Nag-start ko 2021 (I started in 2021),” she said, “kadtong nag-transition ko (that’s when I started to transition).”
She was, prior to this, working for an LGBTQIA organization, particularly focusing on rendering HIV-related services to people serviced by this same NGO. Her way of seeing changed, when she started noticing the people they served (many she also considered as friends) as more financially secure than her.
“Akoang mga friends successful na kaayo karon kay naa na jud silay mga kuwarta ug kanang ilaha na jung na foreigner ba (My friends are successful now as they have lots of money from their foreign partners),” she said. “So na-engganyo ko na musulod nila. Nagpatudlo ko nila na unsa na site, then unsaon pag-entertain sa foreigner para makuha nimo sila (I was persuaded to enter the sex industry. I asked them to teach me which sites to access, and how to entertain foreign men to attract them).”
These sites include: Pinalove, Taimi, and DateinAsia. “First, videocall via WhatsApp or Viber. Then if, magka-okay na sa presyo, sa venue, adtuon na dayun ang client (if you agree on the price and the venue, you then meet the client).”
Growing up trans
Ritz is the youngest of seven kids, and she had an “okay experience” with her family. That is, “kabawo na man sila nga di jud ko straight (they always knew I’m not straight).”
And so, while she noticed that her parents – in particular – were shocked, they eventually were okay with how Ritz turned out to be. “Initially, atong maya-maya ang peg, then since ni-transition ko as a woman (initially when I expressed myself as a cisgender gay male, and then when I transitioned as a transgender woman),” she said. “Okay lang man pud nila kay since bata kabawo na man sila nga di jud ko straight (It was okay with them since they knew even when I was a child that I’m not straight).”
Here’s the thing, though: as an LGBTQIA person without her own family, Ritz was “tasked” to look after their sickly mom. And this also had an impact on her decision to do sex work – e.g. easy money, shorter working hours, and somewhat full control of her time.
Still hard for an experienced service provider
In a way, her experience in HIV advocacy proved helpful to Ritz.
“Dili ko mahadlok kay… kabalo ko sa mga safety protocols. Like for example, condom ug kadtong bag-ong gi-release nila nga tambal, kadtong PrEP (I am not scared since I know the safety protocols. Like for example, condom and the newly-released medicine, PrEP).”
In fact, when she needs safer sex supplies, she just has to text a former colleague, who prepares the condoms and lubricants she needs, which she then picks up.
Interestingly, though, Ritz also exemplifies the problem with PrEP efforts in Cebu City – i.e. key affected populations like trans sex workers are excluded, so that even those who (used to) work in HIV advocacy have a hard time accessing PrEP.
Even now, “Until now wala man jud ko kasuway nga natagaan ug PrEP (Until now I have yet to try PrEP),” she said, adding that her main source of information regarding this life-saving medicine is Twitter/X even if she still has friends working in HIV advocacy. “Wala ko kabalo kung nag-rollout ang DOH diri. Kay go with the flow ra man jud mi (I don’t even know if the Department of Health already rolled this out. We just go with the flow here).”
Looking forward
Ritz does not know if: she’d stop doing sex work anytime soon, or if she intends to return to HIV advocacy (and make a living in that field) at all. “Relying on a grassroots advocate’s salary is not realistic,” she said. “And so yeah… mas mabuhi pa ta sa SW (doing sex work is more sustainable).”
And so, she said, there’s no “disconnect” with what she did before with what she’s doing now. “Nakatabang pa gani ang nabal-an (What I learned from the past is helping me now),” she said.
Because in the end, “we do what we have to, to survive,” she said. There are those who won’t understand, which “shouldn’t matter since wala man ta nila gi-suportahan (they don’t support us anyway).” And so “padayon ra ta (we just continue). Like me, one HIV counselor who ended up as a sex worker.”
