Believing that the current LGBT organizations in the country are not as “connected” as they all should be, LGBT Pinoy was established as a Facebook group in September 2013 to try to remedy the situation.
This push seemed to have pulled a chord in some people, as the Facebook group already has more than 2,000 members.
“Most of the existing LGBT organizations today are very selective with its members. If it’s a gay organization, and a lesbian or a bisexual or a transgender person expresses interest to join the group, he or she will not be allowed to join. But, what if he/she wants to help and be a member of that group? That’s why we started an online group that doesn’t discriminate anyone,” Tep Señeres, project head of LGBT Pinoy, said.
LGBT Pinoy’s goals include: to educate the general public and the entire community on the what their rights, responsibilities, and privileges are; create and support programs that will bring out the talents of LGBT people; build a strong LGBT foundation in the country; and empower the community to live the Filipino way of “kapatiran” and “bayanihan” by standing up for each other.
Although other existing organizations that have been in the movement for quite some time now are eyeing the same goals, LGBT Pinoy aims to do things differently. For starters, it wants its group to be one of the mediators of the community, and for it to make sure that there is a “balance among LGBT people”.
For now, though, the group is mainly an online group, though “we’re hoping to expand eventually and become an (actual) organization,” Señeres said.
It is succeeding in reaching out, nonetheless, with “some of our members (coming) from overseas – in Abu Dhabi, Taiwan, and from other countries. And through their help, including our members here in the Philippines, we get donations that we use for our events. And I think that it’s pretty sustainable for us to achieve our projects,” Señeres said.
LGBT Pinoy now plans to organize outreach programs in the coming months.
“Our group is not just about having a good time or parties, we want to be proactive. And we’re here to reach out to organizations to connect with each other so we can succeed with our goals,” Señeres ended.
For more information on LGBT Pinoy, visit their Facebook page.
