As a move to give recognition to people who assist in the struggle for equal rights by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Filipinos, Outrage Magazine has launched the Bahaghari Awards. Part of this is the Bahaghari Media Awards, which will be given out for the first time this 2013 to highlight the important role that select media personalities play in informing/educating the public about LGBT-related issues, thereby aiding in bettering the plight of LGBT people.
Outrage Magazine is the only publication for the LGBT community in the Philippines. Established in 2007 by Michael David C. Tan, it initially focused on simply providing coverage to LGBT-related issues in the Philippines. To date, the publication has on average over 570,000 monthly hits, averaging over 8,000 unique hits.
Since 2010, however, Outrage Magazine has moved beyond simply publishing as it attempts to be more proactive in its approach to effect pro-LGBT changes. And as it continues to push for equal rights for LGBT Filipinos, the publication saw the necessity to recognize those who help in achieving this.
“Saying that giving credit where it’s due may now be considered cliché, but the thought remains the same: best practices need to be emphasized as they could help influence other endeavors attempting to do good,” said Tan. As such, “Bahaghari Media Awards is Outrage Magazine’s attempt to do this (that is, giving of credit where it’s due).”
More particularly, the Bahaghari Media Awards gives recognition to media personalities whose work/s: highlight the plight of LGBT Filipinos; help inform/educate Filipino public about LGBTs; aid in pushing for LGBT issues to be recognized; and assist in whatever way in the struggle for equal rights by LGBTs.
Bahaghari Media Awards winners are selected using the following criteria: fairness, accuracy and inclusive representation/s, which attempts to feature efforts of media practitioners to include the diversity of the LGBT community in their reporting; daring and originality, which looks at the groundbreaking approach and, hopefully, the groundbreaking effect/s of the media practitioner/s’ effort/s in pushing for LGBT rights in the Philippines; and impact, which focuses on the effects – perceived or actual – that the media practitioner/s’ media-related effort/s have in the promotion of LGBT rights in the Philippines.
“While the media gets criticized for often failing to promote the common good, we believe instead in highlighting how it can help in advocating for what’s right,” Tan said. As such, “the Bahaghari Media Awards is a (huge first) step for us to honor those whose works we believe do not only showcase LGBT diversity, but – by doing so – promote the acceptance of this diversity.”
The winners of the Bahaghari Media Awards 2013 will be announced this December.
