UP Pride 2017: We love equality

The University of the Philippines Diliman celebrates diversity, inclusion, and equality for the LGBTQ+ community with “UP Pride 2017: We Love Equality” on Sept. 12 to 15, 2017.

UP Pride is the annual Pride celebration of the LGBTQ+ community of the flagship campus of the Philippines’ national university.

In June 2008, UP Babaylan, the premier and longest-existing duly recognized LGBTQ+ student organization in the Philippines and in Asia, held the first Pride celebration in UP Diliman.

“UP Pride 2017: We Love Equality” is the 10th UP Pride celebration, and is on its second year of being recognized as an official university event. For the past five years, more than 1,000 people have participated in each highly-anticipated UP Pride March.

As UP Babaylan also celebrates its 25th foundation anniversary, it has partnered with the UP Diliman Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, the UP Diliman University Student Council, the UP Diliman Office of Student Activities, the UP Diliman Gender Office, the UP Center for Women and Gender Studies, the UP Diliman Office of Anti-Sexual Harassment, and with other organizations to further promote acceptance within, and even outside of, the University.

Historic Rainbows

To mark “UP Pride 2017: We Love Equality,” the UP Oblation, a symbol of offering one’s self to the country, has the first ever giant rainbow arc behind it, signifying the hope of acceptance, inclusion, and equality in the Philippines.

UP Pride 2017 also features the first Rainbow Pedestrian Lane in Metro Manila and the first University Rainbow Pedestrian Lane in Asia, located across the West Wing of Palma Hall, along the UP Academic Oval.

‘We Love Equality’

“UP Pride 2017: We Love Equality” campaigns for the passage of the Anti-Discrimination Bill (ADB) into law. It has been 18 years since the first ADB was drafted, and the Philippine government has repeatedly failed to recognize the importance of a law that protects its citizens from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression (SOGIE) and upholds their right to self-determination.

Whether LGBTQ+ or not, one’s SOGIE should not be a hindrance to realizing one’s potential. The exercise of human rights and civil liberties in school, at work, in the general public, and even in our homes, is the core vision of UP Babaylan’s campaign. ‘We Love Equality’ encourages everyone, regardless of their SOGIE, to fight for pride, diversity, and humanity.