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For the Cebu Pride Movement, pride includes helping shape a city where everyone feels they belong
CEBU, Philippines – Hundreds of LGBTQIA+ advocates and allies marched the streets of Cebu City on Saturday, June 28, to celebrate Pride Month and push for equality for their community.
The event started at the Plaza Independencia in the heart of the queen city and moved along the downtown area along Dionisio Jakosalem Street and Mariano Jesús Cuenco Avenue.
Many attendees came in with rainbow-themed outfits and drag, showcasing their glamor and creativity in crafting costumes. Allies also attended with their own placards with messages in support of the LGBTQIA+ community.
“From one proud step to thousands of fearless strides, we filled the streets with color, courage, and community. Even when the rain poured, we never faltered,” the Cebu Pride Movement (CPM) said in a Facebook post.
This isn’t the first time Cebu City had a pride march held in its streets. As early as 2015, LGBTQIA+ activists, even students from the University of the Philippines Cebu (UP Cebu), held pride marches in the province’s capital.
The city has come a long way in support of the queer community. In 2022, the Cebu City council unanimously passed the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) Equality Ordinance.
The ordinance specifically prohibits and penalizes SOGIESC-based acts of discrimination and violence. It also requires the local government to establish a SOGIESC Pride Empowerment Council (SPEC) and fund programs that would help LGBTQIA+ individuals.
Cebu City is the second city to have its own law that empowers members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Mandaue City had already passed its LGBT Code in 2016.
By 2023, Lapu-Lapu City joined its neighboring cities with its anti-discrimination ordinance. In the province of Cebu, the towns of Poro in Camotes Islands and Carmen have their own local laws against SOGIESC-based discrimination.
“Pride doesn’t end here. It lives in how we build safer spaces, how we show up for one another, and how we shape a city where everyone feels they belong,” CPM said.
– Rappler.com
