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The Making
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It was all inspired with a question, "Bakit wala pang LGBT org dito sa COC?" And unlike with other schools, they have their own delegates because they already established organizations for their LGBT community. Imbued with love and pride, Janggo, one of its founder, it was last year's Metro Manila Pride March when Kasarianlan was formed.
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Together with Christian, Mel, and Dave, they all have the same vision to create a safe place for the LGBT community within the College of Communication (COC), wherein they could be able to express their own self without any boundaries and to create a support system for the community.
Kasarianlan was coined from the terms, Kasarian and Kasarinlan. With that, it means freedom from gender.
Accomplished Projects
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During their first year, they were able to accomplished their first ever project which was the last year's PUP-COC Pride Week. The project was in partnership with PUP-COC Student Council, wherein they held focus group discussions on SOGIE 101 and HIV 101. In addition, there were drag performances of Lady Gagita and etc..
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Following the said celebration was the PUP Pride March. In collaboration with the College of Arts and Letters (CAL), the Kasarianlan spearheaded the celebration with a theme "March with Pride for ADB." This was a call for the legislators of our country to pass the 18 years pending of Anti-Discrimination Bill. With that, the group was overwhelmed with the number of presence of the PUP community, including faculty members, to the event.
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It was also the same year, wherein the group went to the House of Representatives and Senate for Congresswoman Geraldine Roman's privileged speech and Senator Rissa Hontiveros' reading and interpolation of the Anti-Discrimination Bill, respectively.
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In addition, PUP had their contingency in the recent Metro Manila Pride March which happened in Marikina City.
And lastly, the group was recently recognized by the Pink Sona or Student's Network by Lagablab Network, wherein members of the group were sent out for a three-day convention about empowering and challenging the young leaders of the LGBT groups in pursuit of equality.
The Struggle
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"There are people inside our University who don't accept us, who don't feel that we are equal, or who still feel that we are below them just because we are gays." (Jan Melchor Rosellon)
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One the group's vision is to empower the members of the LGBT community in the University. And creating a safe space for the community is what they needed – in a society wherein there is not yet a complete acceptance of the LGBT community.
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"We feel like they are not woke enough sa issues ng LGBT."
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With that, the group organized focus group discussions on issues like gender sensitivity, discrimination, feminism and, etc.. This was to enlighten not only to the members of the LGBT community but also to other people – making a more inclusive space for the society.
Future Plans
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One of the goals of the group is to institutionalize and make it a legitimate organization, aiming PUP a more gender friendly community. And building a help desk for the student in cases of discrimination, sexual harassment, and bullying was also their project.
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In addition, the group aims to include gender sensitivity training for students under the Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS) of the National Service Training Program (NSTP). This will include the basics of SOGIE, human sexuality, feminism, and etc. in politically correcting the stigma and discrimination against the LGBT community.
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Lastly, it aims to expand its network through making external project or collaborations with other organizations within the community. One of it was the creation of the Manila based student network to support the recent filling of the Anti-Discrimination Ordinance of Manila.
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With that, Kasarianlan keeps on enlightening the PUP community in introducing new and different spectrums of life of their diverse members - in bringing love and respect for one another.
KARASINLAN: A Spectrum of Pride and Love
"We try to combat hate with kindness." (PUP-Kasarianlan)
Kasarianlan marks its first anniversary in creating safe space for the members the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) group in the Polytechnic University of the Philippines since July 2016.
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Beaming with confidence, they kicked off their celebration by joining their first Metro Manila Pride March, this last June 24, with their rainbow flags to condemn discrimination and press for equal rights to the members of the community.
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Different color of spectrum showcasing diversity
Jeremiah Lopez | 19 years old | Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations
She’s proud.
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“Hindi siya actually pag-come out kasi it came out naturally.”
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Jeremiah Lopez is a 19-year old college student who knows where he belongs at the early stage of his life. People would call him “Miah” and sometimes “Jerry” because he didn’t lose his feminine and masculine side.
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At early age, Lopez claimed that his family already knew his sexual preference even when he doesn’t know it yet himself. He used to watch Power Puff Girls and Power Rangers and then one day, he told his mom that he wanted to dress up like a girl.
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Taking this hint, Lopez’s mother questioned him. “Anak kapag magkakaron ka ng crush, sing gusto mo?”, her mother asked of him. “Si Sam Milby po,” he replied. After hearing this, his mother just gave him a nod. “That’s good, keep it up.”
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Lopez didn’t understand it then, so he asked his mother about the meaning of her statement. “Basta maging crush mo lang si Sam Milby.” his mother said, affirming, as if answering the question that boy Lopez didn’t seem to come up yet.
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When Lopez entered Highschool, he got himself a girlfriend who’s a lesbian. It’s went like a normal heterosexual relationship, he recalled. His mother, an open supporter of LGBT community, approved with his decisions.
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Later on, her mother asked Lopez when will he introduce someone new. “’Yung talagang maf-feel mo kung sino ka.” Lopez quoted his mother.
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“Nagkwento siya sa’kin ng mga stories na bata pa lang daw ako alam na niya na kung ano ako. Hindi siya actually pag-come out kasi it comes out naturally. Si mama kasi alam na niya talaga na bata pa lang ako I’m gay,” Lopez told the interviewers, “and she’s proud."
Christian Vergara | 19 | Bachelor of Arts in Journalism
I’m just me.
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“I didn’t officially come out, parang wala akong sinabi na ‘Ma, Pa, I’m not straight but I’m not gay either. I’m just me.’”
A 19 years old pansexual, Christian Vergara preferred to be called ‘Watson’ because that’s what he perceived as “a cooler name.” He’s a versatile person who doesn’t look at genders in choosing his significant other.
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“Pan is a Greek word for ‘all’ which means I don’t choose or I don’t look at genders,” he said when asked about his sexual identity. He told us that his ‘coming out’ story went swiftly, unlike most of harsh coming out stories we hear almost too often from the community.
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Vergara’s parents took his sexual orientation smoothly. He told us a story when there came a time that he brought a girl to his house and introduced her to his parents with, “Here’s my girlfriend,”; and some years after that, he came home with a guy who he later introduced as his ‘boyfriend’, and his parents didn’t lose their minds.
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“They want me to be happy; and having either a boyfriend or girlfriend makes me happy. They’re okay with that.”
Although Vergara’s parents accepted his identity, they still wanted their kid to have a normal ‘Nuclear Family’— a husband, a wife, and their biological child. Vergara expressed his refute by saying that at the end of the day, his parents don’t have a choice of whom he will fall in love; whether it will be a girl, or a boy, or an inanimate object, “edi go”, he jokes.
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“If you’re happy with that, go. Just be safe.”
I felt home and at peace with that
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"All my father needs was confirmation from me. Somehow, I felt at home and at peace with that."
An open homosexual person, Jan Melchor Resollon preferred to be called "Mel" and was called "Chor" in his home town, Laguna. He is 19 years old and currently taking Bachelor in Arts of Communication Research.
Back in Laguna, Resollon told the interviewes that people in his area didn't have a 'diverse' understading in the LGBT community. For the people in there, you are gay if you cross dress and act like girl, and you are a lesbian if you wear clothes and hair for boys; there are no any other distinction in between.
"Walang 'diverse' representation [of other members of the LGBT community]; like everytime, 'yun [typical gay and lesbian stereotype] lang 'yung nakikita nilang representation." Resillon explained, trying to make a sense of his people's perception.
The communication student told us how even when he's still a kid, his relatives and family knew that he was gay. Growing up felt like home because he never had to explain who he was and he never experienced any kind of abuse.
The conflict began when he encountered different set of people.
When he transferred school back in his second year in highschool, he became frustrated because of the pressure his adviser, also a pastor, gave talks about how 'being gay' was an abomination.
"Hindi ginawa ng Diyos ang bakla," Resillon's adviser used to preach. Being the only 'out' gay kid in his school, he felt a heavy muck of frustration, pressure and feeling of being lost in his shoulders. Out of peer pressure, he felt that he should changed his identity.
"I had no one to look up to, I had no one to talk to." he expressed. "Blinur nila yung concept ko of who I am," he added.
So, he changed.
He tried to be a heterosexual man who society perceives as 'normal', but in his mind, it didn't feel much so. "I felt like I was violating myself. I wasn't happy, and I felt like I was pretending."
Out of so much confusion, pressure, and social judgment, Resillon's father came to his aid. "Ayaw niya ng ginagawa ko." he said, and with that, he came out with self realization that he is gay, "No one can change that. Nothing will change the fact that I'm gay." "All my father needs was confirmation from me. Somehow, I felt at home and at peace with that.
"I told him I'm gay," and after that, Resillon said that his relationship with his father became closer.
Jan Melchor Resollon | 19 | Bachelor of Arts in Communication Research
ENTERTAINMENT
KASARIANLAN
FOR THIS PROJECT:
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WRITERS:
CARLO SALUYA (KASARIANLAN) (ALSO THE INTERVIEWER)
ARJANE MAE SAYSON (COMING OUT STORIES
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CONTENTS:
GIA CATIMBANG (VIDEO)
VIANCA GAMBOA (RESEARCHER)
ARJANE SAYSON (ILLUSTRATOR)
BEA PATRICE VILLA (RESEARCHER)
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