In the November 11, 2009 2nd Division and the December 16, 2009 en banc decisions of the Philippine Commission on Elections, Ang Ladlad LGBT Party was denied participation in the upcoming May 2010 National Elections on the grounds that “petitioner tolerates immorality which offends religious beliefs” and that “homosexuals are a threat to the youth”.
The party has now filed a case at the Supreme Court questioning the ruling and the Court has issued a temporary restraining order telling Comelec to include, for now, Ang Ladlad in the official list of partylist candidates but overall the Court has yet to release its final ruling on the case. In the meantime, while the Philippines does not have laws criminalizing same-sex desire and conduct, because of religious intolerance and the recent rise of religious fundamentalism, there has been a great need to raise people’s consciousness about the stigma, discrimination and violence against (Filipino) lesbians, gays, bakla, bayot, bantut, bisexuals, tomboy, transgenders, transsexuals, intersex (LGBTI) and other sexual and gender minorities (SGM) and to mobilize the LGBT community into action against discriminatory views of society and the world.
Philippine Forum on Sports, Culture, Sexuality and Human Rights (TEAM PILIPINAS) is a registered non-profit organization working on social change for and by young Filipino LGBTIs and other SGMs from the grassroots. The organization believes that Philippine society’s view on LGBTIs and SGMs as either being mentally disordered, freaks of nature, sinners or immoral people is clearly wrong, blatantly oppressive and totally unjust and that there is a need to raise people’s awareness on these issues and to mobilize public action against such discriminatory views.
I AM NOT IMMORAL Pictures (link courtesy of Niccolo Cosme of The Lighthouse Studio)
I AM NOT IMMORAL Video 1
I AM NOT IMMORAL Video 2
The ‘I AM NOT IMMORAL!’ Photo and Video Project, through the collaboration and creative inspiration brought by indie filmmaker-producer Jethro Patalinghug, celebrated fashion photographer Niccolo Cosme and social entrepreneur Francis Baraan, is part of TEAM PILIPINAS’ multi-level strategy in championing the equal human rights of Filipino LGBTIs and other SGMs. Aside from attending hearings for the passage of the Anti-Discrimination Bill–a bill that has been pending in Congress since 1999, TEAM PILIPINAS is campaigning (mostly online for now until our resources allow) to convince the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the United Nations to sign statements that Affirm the universality of Human Rights and Protect the equal human rights of Filipino LGBTIs and other SGMs
http://www.causes.com/affirmuniversalityofHumanRights
We are sharing these videos with you in the hope that you will be able to partly understand the struggle of Filipino LGBTIs and other sexual and gender minorities and help us campaign for the passage of the Anti-Discrimination Bill and for the affirmation of the universality of human rights at the United Nations. For questions regarding the I AM NOT IMMORAL! Photo and Video Project and the work of TEAM PILIPINAS, you may contact us at teampilipinas.org@gmail.com.com .
I LOVE P.R.I.D.E. / I LOVE Pinoys who Respect Rights, Identity, Diversity & Equality
