Earlier this year, the Quezon City government announced that it was forming an LGBT Pride Council to "oversee the integration of all city programs and projects for the LGBT community". And while we have a large number of LGBT groups active in the country, there are very few cases when a city government actually takes steps to get involved and it's definitely a big reason I'm glad that I'm a QC resident.
The Pride Council is led by movie and television director Soxie Topacio and the rest of the group consists of an interesting mix of LGBT advocates and government officials. But of course the real question about this whole initiative is what they're actually going to do to help the Quezon City LGBT community.
Beyond operating a one-stop QC protection center for victims and survivors of gender-based violence and abuse in the city, their first major project for the year is putting together Quezon City's first major pride activity. Called the World Pride Festival, the month-long event promises to be a pretty exciting celebration of the LGBT community and its allies.
This first QC World Pride Festival is themed as A Celebration of Love. The month long celebration provides a wide range of activities for people to participate in and help raise greater awareness for the LGBT community and its rights.
First up is Ilog Mo, Ilog Ko - Buhay Ko! - a creek clean-up drive at the San Francisco Creek in Barangay Del Monte on November 9. This is definitely a nice way to give back to the community and remind fellow QC residents that LGBTs are active participants in community building.
Then there's an LGBT Summit for Advancing LGBT Rights in QC, which hopes to get about 300 participants among the LGBT community and its allies to discuss LGBT rights in the city. This will take place at Amoranto Multipurpose Hall on November 16. The summit will also include HIV awareness discussions and on-site testing and counseling.
For more culturally inclined folks, there will be a Visual Arts Exhibit at the Quezon City Inner Hall that will be open to the public. More than 20 artists are expected to participate and you can check out their pieces from November 18-22. In addition, QC will also host InQCity Independent Pride Film Festival that will run from November 27 - December 3 at select cinemas at TriNoma.
And finally, the culminating activity for this year's QC World Pride Festival will be the Pride Parade and Awards Night. The Parade is stated to start at Tomas Morato and will end at the iconic Quezon City Memorial Circle. If things do push through, this is definitely going to be one of the longest Pride Marches that we've had in Metro Manila.
You can see the full poster of events below:
This first QC World Pride Festival is themed as A Celebration of Love. The month long celebration provides a wide range of activities for people to participate in and help raise greater awareness for the LGBT community and its rights.
First up is Ilog Mo, Ilog Ko - Buhay Ko! - a creek clean-up drive at the San Francisco Creek in Barangay Del Monte on November 9. This is definitely a nice way to give back to the community and remind fellow QC residents that LGBTs are active participants in community building.
Then there's an LGBT Summit for Advancing LGBT Rights in QC, which hopes to get about 300 participants among the LGBT community and its allies to discuss LGBT rights in the city. This will take place at Amoranto Multipurpose Hall on November 16. The summit will also include HIV awareness discussions and on-site testing and counseling.
For more culturally inclined folks, there will be a Visual Arts Exhibit at the Quezon City Inner Hall that will be open to the public. More than 20 artists are expected to participate and you can check out their pieces from November 18-22. In addition, QC will also host InQCity Independent Pride Film Festival that will run from November 27 - December 3 at select cinemas at TriNoma.
And finally, the culminating activity for this year's QC World Pride Festival will be the Pride Parade and Awards Night. The Parade is stated to start at Tomas Morato and will end at the iconic Quezon City Memorial Circle. If things do push through, this is definitely going to be one of the longest Pride Marches that we've had in Metro Manila.
You can see the full poster of events below:
For more information about the QC Pride Council, you can visit their website at http://www.qcpridecouncil.com/. You can also get social with them on Facebook or on Twitter.
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