Equality Philippines

CSWCD, UP Diliman -- The Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP) , the pioneer transgender human rights organization in the Philippines, makes history as they send off a communication to the United Nations (UN) that calls attention to state responsibilities of the Philippine Government as a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to pay careful attention to how the justice system updates itself with current developments in international human rights law in its understanding of gender identity through the lived experiences of transsexual women. "The launch of this historical and important communication to the United Nations comes at a very opportune time what with the recent hurtful pronouncements made by the mother of Congressman Manny Pacquiao. Mommy Dionisia has made comments about transsexuals and their use of the pill showing the widespread ignorance about transsexualism in the Philippines," says STRAP Chairwoman Naomi...

Eight years ago, Amazing Philippine Beauties was conceived to be the leading transgender pageant in the Philippines that would attract the most beautiful and talented transgender/transsexual Filipinas (transpinays) who can then become part of an elite group of performers. Eight years later it still holds that distinction. STRAP is honored to declare solidarity with Amazing Philippine Beauties and on its 8th year at that—truly an auspicious year! Eight years of showing the world amazingly beautiful transpinays has certainly brought not only luck to the girl who gets to wear the crown each year but also joy to their supporters, loved ones and communities. Indeed Amazing Philippine Beauties has played an important part towards building a unified Filipino transgender community. Coronation night always brings hundreds of transgender and gender-variant people and those who love them together in the spirit of high-level pageantry. For sure on pageant night (on November 26 at the Manila Film...

Every girl dreams of being treated like a Princess. But in Cebu, they can actually dream of becoming a Queen. The Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP) congratulates the organizers of Queen of Cebu on its sophomore year. Envisioned as an alternative pageant, Queen of Cebu has proven not only to be a grand showcase of the beauty, talent & splendid uniqueness of the Cebuana transpinay but as well as a magnificent platform to advocate for respect of gender diversity & the right to determine one’s gender identity. Thank you to those who put together Queen of Cebu & for setting a very high bar indeed. As has been said, excellence is the best deterrent to sexism. Now our Cebuana transpinay sisters have another prestigious pageant that they can not only be proud to be a part of & call their own but as well as to use to break down barriers of prejudice. May dreams come true on pageant night (6 November 2010, Saturday, 8 pm, Waterfront Hotel Cebu)! May all ...

With just two weeks before June (Pride Month) ends, our beloved sorority, STRAP , decided to increase our fans on Facebook. The STRAP girls who have Facebook accounts (I don't) made profile pictures of themselves with the STRAP logo (see above) and encouraged all their friends to like STRAP's fan page. It was really sweet and I appreciate all the girls who took part in this mini-project. My lovely ladies, you rock! I do not think that we'd be able to reach our target of having 1000 fans by June 30th. At any rate, it was truly a valiant effort. Still, we have four days to go. So just in case you love STRAP as we all do, please be our fan on Facebook. Also, tell all your friends? Thank you so much. Just in case, you can see the STRAP Facebook Fan Page here . Happy Pride Month to all!

Dear friends and allies, May 20 marks the official foundation date of the Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP) . On our 8th year, we proudly present the The Sybil Awards honor those who have promoted transgender visibility, equality, acceptance and dignity. The Sybil logo has three elements: a silhouette of a woman in a dance pose with raised arms, an oversized S that covers parts of her body and the name of the award and the year that it is being given. The woman with outstretched hands represents the gallae, a cult of priestesses who dedicated their life to the worship of the goddess Sybil in ancient Greece and Rome. The gallae were assigned male at birth but transformed themselves by means of castration. During the festival honoring Sybil, the gallae danced wildly in veneration of the Great Mother. They are recognized as precursors of modern transgender identity. The oversized S, aside from standing for the S in Sybil, represents the female garb that gallae wore....

This May 2010, the Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP) celebrates 8 years of struggle, standing up and successes as the first and, as yet only human rights advocacy and support organization for transpinays (transgender/transsexual Filipinas). In line with our 8th year anniversary celebrations, it is our pleasure to present the following events: GLBT FLOREZ DE MAYO 2 May 2010 (Sun), 7 pm Bgy.Bagong Pag-asa Covered Court, Quezon City The Flores de Mayo is a Filipino cultural tradition that celebrates the blooming flowers of May. The festival culminates with a procession that depicts the finding of the Holy Cross by Queen Helena, mother of Constantine the Great. On 2 May 2010, selected STRAP ladies will serve as sagalas and parade in Bgy. Pag-asa in Quezon City in the first Gay Lesbian Bisexual & Transgender (GLBT) FlorEZ de Mayo. This event is brought to you by EZ Lubricating Jelly in cooperation with the Metropolitan Community Church Quezon City (MCCQC), Progres...

Today, I came across news related to a story that came out in early January about Filipino transsexual women entering Japan with fake passports bearing the identity of non-trans women from the Philippines to marry Japanese men with whom they have had long-term relationships. You can read the news item here or below: Philippine transsexuals nabbed for illegally entering Japan Three Philippine nationals have been arrested in western Japan for entering the country on forged women's passports after undergoing sex change operations, local media reported on Tuesday. The three had the illegal passports made by forgers in the Philippines using women's identification so that they could live in Japan as the "wives" of Japanese men they had met, Kyodo News said. While working at nightclubs in Fukuoka, they secured spouse visas from local authorities, said Kyodo and other news reports, quoting local immigration authorities. They were quoted as telling investigators they wanted t...

In celebration of International Women's Day, STRAP is holding a Day With Rica Paras , the first transpinay on the hit reality TV show, Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) at the University of the Philippines Diliman Gender Office (UPDGO) this coming Thursday. See poster below. Hope to see you there!

On Monday afternoon, 14 December 2009, I along with three other STRAP members went to the House of Representatives (see pic above). The Lower House was in joint session with the Senate that day to deliberate on the President's Martial Law declaration in Maguindanao following the now infamous massacre there orchestrated by the powerful Ampatuan clan, said to be very close to the President. The Maguindanao massacre where almost 60 people were murdered in broad daylight including women, journalists and innocent passerby, is now being touted as the defining moment of the morally bankrupt rule of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA). It trumps the other scandals that rocked her administration including the corruption allegations regarding the building of the Macapagal highway , named after her father, the Hello Garci scandal , the ZTE scandal and so many others. While we have rallied against GMA, it was not because of her that we were in Congress last Monday. We were there to have a brief a...