GALANG (Philippines)’s Tatsulok Komiks
Tatsulok is actually a brainchild of GALANG (Philippines) co-founder and member of the Board of Trustees Lala G. Ravacio. Edited by lesbian activist and GALANG executive director Lim, with the assistance of Daisy Mae T. Caber, the first volume was written by multi-awarded playwright and film writer Bonifacio P. Ilagan.
The likes of Boy Abunda, Chocoleit, John Lapuz, Jun Encarnacion, Ricky Reyes, et cetera highlight how – whether their representations are good or bad/wanted or unwanted – gay men get all the attention. Or, to be more apt by qualifying that statement, well-off gay men get all the attention. The lack of good representation of gay men may, it can be argued, be partially blamed to the very apathy of gay men who have been afforded some positions of power (to influence public perceptions, for example, about gay representations) to take more proactive roles in promoting gay issues.
It is the neglect of others in the LGBT community (i.e. LBTs, though also including gay men who live outside metropolitan areas) that is what’s glaring. And those who continue to have no voice are the focus of GALANG (Philippines), a lesbian-initiated, lesbian-run feminist human rights organization that works with lesbians, bisexual women, and trans men (LBTs) in Philippine urban poor communities.
It is aligned with this – providing voice to the neglected in the LGBT community – that drove GALANG (Philippines) to develop Tatsulok Komiks, a five-part series anchored on the themes of Equality and Non-Discrimination in Principle 2 of The Yogyakarta Principles.
FACING LESBOPHOBIA
The first volume of Tatsulok was entitled Ang Pakikipagsapalaran ni Pamboy D’Tomboy (The Adventures of Pamboy, the Tomboy), which came out in September 2010. It introduced Pamboy and Melody, Tatsulok’s lesbian protagonist and her love interest, and their friends from Barangay Sta. Elena, a fictitious urban poor community in Metro Manila.
Basically, volume one “walked us through the concepts of lesbophobia and discrimination and their various forms which affect urban poor LBTs,” said Anne Lim, executive director of GALANG (Philippines). “Through Tatsulok and our other popular education (PopEd) materials that promote positive images of LBTs, we hope to contribute to improving the life skills and self-confidence of urban poor LBTs and help them cope with pervasive homophobia and discrimination.”
The second issue, released in December 2010, discussed the significance of National Lesbian Day (December 8) and International Human Rights Day (December 10) against the festive backdrop of Christmas in the Philippines. The third and latest issue, released in March 2011 in time for International Women’s Day (March 8), celebrated lesbian love and underscored the importance of protecting lesbian rights as women’s human rights.
The story of Pamboy’s adventures will culminate in two more issues of Tatsulok’s maiden volume which are set to come out in 2011.
UPHOLDING RIGHTS
Tatsulok is actually a brainchild of GALANG (Philippines) co-founder and member of the Board of Trustees Lala G. Ravacio. Edited by lesbian activist and GALANG executive director Lim, with the assistance of Daisy Mae T. Caber, the first volume was written by multi-awarded playwright and film writer Bonifacio P. Ilagan (who has received numerous writing accolades, including the prestigious Don Carlos Palanca Awards for Literature, the Catholic Mass Media Awards, the Film Academy of the Philippines, and Gawad CCP; and whose plays are featured in the CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art as major works in Philippine theater). Issues 1 and 2 were illustrated by multimedia artist Aletheia Prife C. Rio; and the latest issue was illustrated by artist Franz C. Garcia, who has done animation for Marvel Comics, Disney, and MTV.
Tatsulok is made possible with support from institutional partners Fund for Global Human Rights, Global Fund for Women, and Mama Cash.
Tatsulok as a title was chosen because, as the Filipino word for “triangle”, it “serves as a grim but poignant reminder about the importance of upholding and protecting lesbian rights as human rights. Lesbians and other social deviants who were tortured and killed in Nazi concentration camps during World War II were forced to wear black triangles on their clothes to shame them and make them easily identifiable,” Lim said.
CONFRONTING ISSUES
The Tatsulok series is written in conversational Filipino, as it intends to “reach a wider audience base of LBTs in the country, and to help address the dearth in indigenous Filipino literature written about lesbian lives.”
While the series is intended primarily for LBTs in GALANG (Philippines)’s partner communities, complimentary copies have been made available in the libraries of many universities, colleges, and NGOs in Metro Manila to “strengthen partnerships and alliances with advocates of the sector to push policies in support of LBT human rights at all levels across sectors.” Copies of Tatsulok are also available at Popular Bookstore in Tomas Morato and in the GALANG (Philippines) office in Loyola Heights, with a minimal amount of PhP20.00 per copy collected to defray printing costs.
Tatsulok is but part of GALANG (Philippines) attempt to contribute to the attainment of social and economic equity for Filipino LBTs by confronting the issues of homophobia (both external and internalized) and violence against LBTs. “At the core of our work is the identification and development of a cadre of local LBT leaders in poor communities nationwide who have sufficient self-confidence and capacities as LBT human rights advocates,” Lim said. “Toward this objective, GALANG (Philippines)’s capacity building activities are focused on equipping urban poor LBTs with the skills to analyze and articulate the rights and issues of their constituency, organize and mobilize their peers to support advocacy for LBT human rights, and influence policy makers to develop policies that advance these rights.”
Galang is, of course, the Filipino word for “respect”, signifying “respect for human rights and human diversity, which lies at the core of our struggle for equality and justice,” Lim said.
“In the long run, we hope that our effort to confront the cross-cutting issues of sexuality and poverty will result in a richer, more representative LGBT discourse in the Philippines where the voices of urban poor LBTs can be heard above the din of a largely middle-class dialogue,” Lim ended.
For more information, visit www.galangphilippines.org or search for “GALANG (Philippines)” in Facebook.
