This is part of #KaraniwangLGBT, 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 LGBT 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.”
“Siga ang tatay ko (My father is a badass/man’s man),” Janna said. “He even helped form a gang.” Because of this, “he did not like the idea of having a trans for a child.”
But while “galit siya sa akin noon, palaban din naman ako – kung hindi sa galaw, at least sa salita (he was angry with me before, I fought back – if not in action, at least by speaking up).”
Eventually, her parents just “accepted things as they are, so okay na ngayon (it’s now all okay)”
She thinks it may be because “they tolerate me. I can be me as long as I remain ‘respectable’. That is, unlike other transwomen they see, I supposedly behave,” she said.
Then, with a glint in her eyes, and with a laugh: “Hindi lang nila alam (They just don’t know what I’m up to)!”
