About the Event
The University of the Philippines Diliman celebrates diversity, inclusion, and equality for the LGBTQ+ community with UP Pride 2017: We Love Equality on September 12 to 15, 2017.
UP Pride is the annual Pride celebration of the LGBTQ+ community of the flagship campus of the Philippines’ national university. In June 2008, UP Babaylan, the premiere and longest-existing duly recognized LGBTQ+ student organization in the Philippines and in Asia, held the first Pride celebration in UP Diliman. UP Pride 2017: We Love Equality is the 10th UP Pride celebration, and is on its second year of being recognized as an official University event. For the past five years, more than 1,000 people have participated in each highly-anticipated UP Pride March.
As UP Babaylan also celebrates its 25th foundation anniversary, it has partnered with the UP Diliman Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs (UPD OVCSA); the UP Diliman University Student Council (UPD USC); the UP Diliman Office of Student Activities (UPD OSA); the UP Diliman Gender Office (UPD GO); the UP Center for Women and Gender Studies (UP CWGS); the UP Diliman Office of Anti-Sexual Harassment (UPD OASH); and with other organizations to further promote acceptance within, and even outside of, the University.
UP Pride 2017 Events
The UP Pride Exhibit Launch on September 12, 2017 (Tuesday), 12 PM at the Palma Hall Lobby marks the beginning of the week-long celebration. UP Diliman Chancellor Michael Tan, with National Youth Commissioner for Luzon Percival Cendana, and Dinagat Islands Representative and #EqualityChamp Congressperson Kaka Bag-ao are invited to grace the event.
On September 13, 2017 (Wednesday), 5 PM at Palma Hall Room 400, the UP Diliman University Student Council (UPD USC) conducts its semestral Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression (SOGIE) Caravan, an accredited Gender Sensitivity Training for the recognition of various UP student organizations.
#EqualityMatters: A Forum on the Anti-Discrimination Bill (ADB) and Anti-Discrimination Ordinances (ADO) in the Philippines on September 14, 2017 (Thursday), 5 PM at the School of Economics Auditorium tackles the urgent need for a law to protect Filipinos from SOGIE-based discrimination. Senator Risa Hontiveros, the author of the ADB in the Senate, discusses the bill and the importance of an Anti-Discrimination Law. Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte talks about the local ADO of Quezon City, and Prof. Jean Encinas-Franco from the UP Department of Political Science discusses the politics of the ADB and the ADO.
Given the rapidly growing number of HIV cases in the Philippines, UP Pride 2017: We Love Equality aims to raise HIV/AIDS awareness and to lower the stigma attached to HIV through Breaking the Stigma: Free and Confidential HIV Screening on September 15, 2017 (Friday) from 9 AM to 4 PM at the AS (Palma Hall) Parking Lot.
The highlight of UP Pride 2017 is the UP Pride March, where LGBTQ+ individuals and their allies, gather to celebrate pride and diversity in the University of the Philippines Diliman, on September 15, 2017 (Friday) from 4 PM to 6 PM at the Oblation Plaza (Quezon Hall). The 10th UP Pride March is open to all, with the passage of the Anti-Discrimination Bill as its primary campaign.
Completing the list of UP Pride 2017: We Love Equality events is the Pride Concert on September 15, 2017 (Friday), 6 PM onwards at the Melchor Hall Steps. The Pride Concert is a culminating activity featuring performances from celebrated drag performers, singers, dancers, spoken word artists, among others.
Historic Rainbows
To mark UP Pride 2017: We Love Equality, the UP Oblation, a symbol of offering one’s self to the country, has the first ever giant rainbow arc behind it, signifying the hope of acceptance, inclusion, and equality in the Philippines. UP Pride 2017 also features the first Rainbow Pedestrian Lane in Metro Manila and the first University Rainbow Pedestrian Lane in Asia, located across the West Wing of Palma Hall, along the UP Academic Oval.
‘We Love Equality’ UP Pride 2017: We Love Equality campaigns for the passage of the Anti-Discrimination Bill (ADB) into law. It has been 18 years since the first ADB was drafted, and the Philippine government has repeatedly failed to recognize the importance of a law that protects its citizens from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression (SOGIE) and upholds their right to self-determination.
Whether LGBTQ+ or not, one’s SOGIE should not be a hindrance to realizing one’s potential. The exercise of human rights and civil liberties in school, at work, in the general public, and even in our homes, is the core vision of UP Babaylan’s campaign. ‘We Love Equality’ encourages everyone, regardless of their SOGIE, to fight for pride, diversity, and humanity.