EDUC8, LIBER8, CELEBR8: The 8-Campus Rainbow Tour

I am happy to announce the start of EDUC8, LIBER8, CELEBR8: The 8-Campus Rainbow Tour, a free symposium on LGBT human rights (see poster above). It will have its first stop at the College of Saint Benilde (CSB) on 29 September 2010. Below is a write-up of this historical initiative.

TrueColors Publishing Inc., the makers of Ketchup Magazine, the only Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) magazine in the Philippines in keeping with its thrust to promote social awareness of LGBT issues, proudly presents Educ8, Liber8, Celebr8: The 8-Campus Rainbow Tour.

This Rainbow Tour brings together noted leaders of the LGBT community to conduct a free symposium targeting students in 8 colleges and universities in the Metro Manila area in an 8-month period from September 2010 to April 2011.

The symposium, which covers various issues including LGBT Politics, Spirituality and Sexuality, Gender Identity and Human Rights & Media Activism, is designed as a “crash course” on human rights and the Filipino LGBT community, their needs and concerns and the advocacy work they carry out in their pursuit of equality and dignity.

The symposium seeks to provide a venue where students can:
a) deepen their understanding of the human rights issues facing the LGBT community in the Philippines (EDUC8)
b) free themselves from damaging, stereotypical and incorrect notions about LGBT people & culture (LIBER8)
c) and affirm & respect the inherent dignity of all human beings including themselves (CELEBR8)

By hosting this symposium, colleges and universities bring themselves on par with leading higher education institutions in the world that advance human rights education. They also affirm their role as bastions of a truly international, liberal and liberative education by giving their students an opportunity to critically engage with pressing issues confronting civil society. As well, they take part in a change-making project to promote greater social equality and equity. The symposium also provides students, faculty and staff a venue to explore research ideas and interests.

The 8-Campus Rainbow Tour is organized by TrueColors Publishing in collaboration with 4 leading LGBT organizations. Speakers include Atty. Germaine Leonin of Ang Ladlad Partylist, Rev. Ceejay Agbayani of Metropolitan Community Church Quezon City (MCCQC), Vic Alba of Ketchup Magazine and Ms Naomi Fontanos of the Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP).

LGBT Filipinos, Unite! Attend the Ang Ladlad General Assembly on Saturday, 14 November 2009

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has just denied the petition for accreditation of Ang Ladlad Partylist to be able to take part in the 2010 elections and represent Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Filipinos in Congress. The COMELEC, in its 7-page decision, claims that Ang Ladlad advocates sexual immorality and thus the COMELEC is protecting the youth from “moral and spiritual degradation” by denying Ang Ladlad’s petition.

In light of this COMELEC decision, Ang Ladlad is calling all its members, allies, friends and supporters to a general assembly on 14 November 2009, Saturday, 9am-12nn at the Seminar Room 108 of the University Hotel, UP Diliman. For directions, call the University Hotel at landline 926.1975/926.1953 or mobile 0920.471.0111.

It’s time to get up and stand up for our rights!

Call for writer & translator

Below is the call for writer and translator of the Yogyakarta Principles (YyP) Project of Ang Ladlad, the national organization of LGBT Filipinos. One of Ang Ladlad's campaigns for the year is to popularize the Yogyakarta Principles, an international document that applies human rights standards to issues pertaining to sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. After launching the YyP in the 2008 Manila Pride March and releasing a primer which I wrote and my friend Sass laid-out, now Ang Ladlad plans to translate the YyP into Filipino to make it more accessible to more people who want to know about LGBT human rights. The YyP translation is envisioned to contain cases of LGBT discrimination to demonstrate the 28 principles of the YyP. This is going to be an important document in LGBT civil rights advocacy in the Philippines and if you are or anyone you know is interested to be a part of it, please read the call below and submit the requirements to the email address specified. Thank you.

Job Title: Writer/ Translator

Project: Yogyakarta Principles

Duration: July 1-31, 2009

Job Description:
1. To summarize the key points of the Yogyakarta Principles in Filipino in a concise and readable manner;
2. To write the summary with the common, general reader in mind;
3. To provide examples of discrimination of LGBT Filipinos in the summary (can be sourced in the Ang Ladlad website);
4. To revise the summary and incorporate editorial suggestions of Ang Ladlad; and
5. To help in proofreading the text in layout form.

Requirements:
1. Submission of CV and Project Proposal;
2. The writer should have experience writing reports and summaries in Filipino;
3. The writer should be able to incorporate human-interest examples in the report;
4. The writer should be conversant with the issues and concerns of LGBT Filipinos; and
5. The writer should be able to meet deadlines and incorporate editorial suggestions.

Time Frame: Deadline for submission of CV and Project Proposal = June 24
Awarding of contract = June 29
Deadline for submission of first draft = July 21
Deadline for submission of second draft = July 31.

Supervisor: The Core Group of Ang Ladlad

Writer’s/Translator’s Fee: P25,000 net of taxes. Fifty percent down payment upon signing of the contract. Fifty percent final payment upon delivery of the report/summary in both hard and soft copies.

Please submit CV and Project Proposal to Ms. Bemz Benedito, Secretary of Ang Ladlad at her e-mail address: myinsidebemz@yahoo.com