Embracing All Women
By Yuki Asato and Carlos Diego A. Rozul In the 1980s, women in the Philippines had a pivotal turn in society. Countless women joined in the movement to make the Philippines a more inclusive country among the many rallies against the administration at the time. Before the women's movement, queer women felt ignored. Lesbian concerns were being tucked under women's and feminist studies, which were heterosexual in nature at the time. Even during the gay movement, lesbian women were seen only as female versions of homosexual men. Discontented by being silent, the lesbian community wanted their voices to be heard among the fight against the dictatorship. Eventually, the underground women's organization MAKIBAKA released a position paper that included sexual orientation as part of the gender equality movement. The inclusion of the queer women in the conversation about equal rights for women spurred a cascade of change. Later in the 1990s, gender and sexuality was a major concern i...