This weekend TFP announced that it was cancelling its 2013 Metro Manila Pride Celebrations for undisclosed reasons. As much as I have been critical of the group in recent months (specifically regarding how they handled their initial marketing for this event) and my history as a volunteer for the group, at the end of the day this is sad news. After 18 years of working to promote LGBT pride in Metro Manila through the annual Metro Manila Pride March and other activities, this marks the first year that TFP will not have an event.
In addition, the closing paragraph inviting others to take on the mantle of leadership for the group is a little unsettling and in itself hints at some of the possible reasons that the event is not pushing through. I'll leave it to all of you to discuss among yourselves.
At the very least, we still have the first Quezon City World Pride Festival to look forward to this year. Among Metro Manila cities, this is the first city-aligned Pride event ever and with luck this may become a model for future pride celebrations in other cities in the Philippines. With TFP's future looking a little uncertain, we may have indeed reached that point when city-level interest and awareness is needed to take the fight for LGBT rights to a more direct level in terms of talking to our local government.
What is important is that we always continue to fight for LGBT rights in the Philippines and celebrate the diversity of who we are.
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