#filipino queer

[rosebudprincess]

i take joy in speaking two languages, english and my mother tongue. there is truly no beauty like refering to your lover with terms of endearment in your native language. for me, it’s calling them “iniibig ko” (the one i love), “sinta ko” (my adored), or “giliw ko” (my joy/sweetheart).

[aro-bird]

Hey, I should've probably made a post about this when the controversy first started but it's better late than never I guess. There's been some discourse on twitter about this, mostly from non-native Filipinos, so I have to say: Stop trying to say that the Filipino sapphic McDonald's commercial was just taking advantage of Filipinos.

Look, I understand that it's so easy to try to go "rAinBoW cAPiTaliSm!!!" on companies when you see them creating content for the queer community especially if the company doesn't really have a good track record. Hypocrisy is absolutely a thing you should point out especially when companies trying to capitalize on the groups they refuse to support. But FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP TRYING TO SPEAK ABOUT SHIT YOU DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT

If you're not aware, the Philippines has an awful homophobic and transphobic culture where, like a lot of Asian countries, they would tolerate you being gay but wouldn't accept you. It's not uncommon for people to get their identities erased by their families, their queerness forced into the closet, and family making suggestions to force you to be cishet. Not only that, but if you were public about being queer, you would either be mocked or harassed with some incidents possibly escalating to violence.

This culture of bigotry has created a push to make laws to prevent discrimination against people based on their sexuality or gender identity in the form of the SOGIE bill. The thing is, this law constantly gets push back from religious groups and even some members of the cishet majority since they don't understand what the law entails and think that the gays just want to hurt the "nuclear family".

You wanna know how bad it's been for the SOGIE bill? An anti-discrimination bill was first officially proposed in 2004 and none has had approval since. In February 2023, there was a news report that even uncovered a large disinformation campaign that was trying to spread lies about the current SOGIE bill so people would be against it passing into law. These were mostly spearheaded by Christian Evangelical groups that had had a stranglehold on queer rights in the country for decades.

There has also been a constant pushback against queer people and loud discrimination against them even on a societal level. Stories like that of Gretchen Custudio Diez who was a transwoman that had been arrested for trying to use the bathroom may have been given a transphobic spin by the larger anti-queer disinformation campaign, but there's still so many people that either mocked and ridiculed her before they heard anything else about the story besides "transwoman gets arrested for using the bathroom." I vividly remember my otherwise pretty supportive mother making jabs at it and even spouting some transphobic rhetoric before I had to correct her, and she's not really the type to be obsessed over Facebook or Twitter.

McDo creating this commercial is controversial and yes, could be considered pandering, but you need to get it into your head that the Philippines has different cultures and social issues from the fucking west. The Philippines may be listed as "one of the most gay friendly countries in the world" but that is such a gross understatement of the truth here. The Philippines is gay-tolerant, not gay-friendly, and anything that tries to normalize any gay relationship outside of queers being used as a punchline or some emotional sideplot gets criticized to hell and back.

The amount of sapphic Filipinos and other queer Filipinos that found joy, comfort, and hope because of this commercial could also not be understated. I've seen so many tweets and posts about how happy and represented they felt even with such a short ad and you shitting on that is just such a dick move, especially if you yourself aren't a Filipino who grew up and/or lives in the Philippines.

As much as I hate capitalism, corporations actually showing public support for the queer community is extremely necessary here since it normalizes queer people. In this day and age where not only do queer Filipinos barely even have rights but the global queerphobic right has definitely been influencing the Filipino internet which may even endanger any bit of progress queer activists had made for the past few decades, corporations being on the side of the community is super fucking important.

If you haven't seen the commercial yet, here's a link to the video. McDo has also made a more subtle mlm commercial before that you can watch here.

[rosebudprincess]

genuinely, this is such a beautiful thing to learn and hopefully i discover more of this dynamic in a filipino context because i personally feel that femmebutch dynamics are a very western concept. i find that, especially in younger queers in the Philiipines and the fact that queerness isn’t readily accepted or understood, queer terminology isn’t properly understood nor is queer history actually researched and understood. with terms like Femme and Butch, these are perceived simply as feminine and masculine with no actual understanding of the history tied behind it (again, the concept itself is very western for a mainland filipino queer woman).

if not for my own personal research, i wouldn’t have realized i was actually a Femme and not just a feminine lesbian.

hopefully i can discover more spaces and media in the Philippines that show femmebutch dynamics 🫶

nothing will ever put into words how beautiful, rich and complex the history of butches and femmes is. the way these identities encapsulate the nuance of dyke gender, affection and the inherent longing to be seen - truly seen for who we are, in a world that often times, seems to have forgotten us.

thinking of those who came before us, how the ofos butches would curl a cigarette in their hands, and watch a femme from across the bar with long nails tap her glass, in anticipation of that one moment that tells them both it was all worth it. the gentle smearing of lipstick, the confidence from straightening out a tie. we have always performed for one another, and known each other far beyond the capability or understanding of anyone outside of our community.

i long to see the theatrics, the drawn out gazes filled with the possibilty of something more. the love letters adorned with perfume and spring violets, a gentle hand finding its way underneath the hem of a worn out vest. i long to love and be loved in the only way that we have ever known, with unbridled fervor spilling out at the edges, with the intimacy found beside candlelight and intertwined between satin sheets. the promise that we will always find each other.

[inkcurlsandknives]

Hi Tumblr I'm an Asian fantasy author fleeing the sudden death of all my other social media sites 👋 I've used Tumblr for years as a fandom lurker and rarely posted but in light of all my other communities imploding I guess I'll have to figure out how to be actually active on Tumblr and find bookish and writerly folks here 💜 say hi if that's you 🥺

If you love diverse filipino fantasy with bipoc leads, angry bi women clawing for space in a world that's always rejected them and soft boys who'd do anything for them, awesome elemental magic based on early Filipino shaman/ babaylan/katalonan mythologies and the Tagalog creation story, and the Bakunawa/Laho the 🇵🇭 sea dragon 🐉 and drowning colonizers then I hope you'll keep an eye out for SAINTS OF STORM AND SORROW coming in June 2024 from Titan Books

[motziedapul]

SUPPORT A QUEER FILIPINO ANIMATED FILM! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇵🇭

Do you wanna see more queer and trans animated films, especially from Filipino creators?

If you're following me I assume you do, so:

CHECK OUT THIS AMAZING ANIMATED FILM BY MY DEAR FRIEND AVID!

@misteravid

Zsazsa Zaturnnah is a Filipino icon; a queer comic book superhero who's spawned many franchises, including TV shows, films, and even a musical.

The original comics are by the legendary Carlo Vergara!

A shy gay male*** salon worker named Ada finds a magic stone and eats it, transforming into the bombastic bodacious superwoman Zaturnnah.

With her newfound superpowers, Zsazsa fights against the alien Amazonistas and their many monsters, from giant chickens to zombies.

It's a comedic, action-packed, heartfelt film from the wonderful and talented Animators in the Philippines, who've been animating American cartoons for years, but rarely get to tell our own stories.

***This would take a longer discussion about queerness in the Philippines, but there's a lot of overlap between gay men, transwomen, and drag queens in the Philippines, under the term "bakla". Very often, this identity is attached to an expression of femininity by someone assigned male at birth. Because pronouns are not gendered in the Philippines, whether someone sees themselves as gay, trans, nonbinary, etc, is up to the person, even if they're all "bakla". Ada is, in international discussions, referred to as a gay man; but it's important to note he shows an adoration for his feminine body as Zsa zsa that may resonate with transfem readers. I'll continue to refer to Ada as "he" and Zsazsa as "she", but it's important to note that this is due to the gendered nature of discussing this in English, and culturally, there are nuances in the Philippines around the fluidity of gender as a result of our non-gendered pronouns. Thank you!

THE FUNDRAISER IS SO CLOSE TO THEIR GOAL WITH ONLY 16 DAYS TO GO, SO PLEASE SUPPORT IT AND SPREAD IT AROUND!

For the sake of Filipino animation, for the sake of international, Asian, Pinoy queer rep, and for the sake of longtime fans like myself: HELP US MAKE THIS HAPPEN!

✨SUPPORT IT ON KICKSTARTER HERE✨

[bukomoon]

THE LOVERS — An animated thriller about the romantic tension between a seafood chef and a siren, set in a dark fantasy Philippines // (blood/gore tw) trailer

[gwydpolls]

Time Travel Question 60: 19th Century III and Earlier

These Questions are the result of suggestions from the previous iteration.

This category may include suggestions made too late to fall into the correct grouping.

Please add new suggestions below if you have them for future consideration.

[yourdailyqueer]

Sky Cubacub

Gender: Non binary (they/xe)

Sexuality: Queer

DOB: Born 1991

Ethnicity: Filipino

Nationality: American

Occupation: Fashion designer, activist, entrepreneur

Note: Doesn't give a lot of details but they consider themselves disabled.

[bengiyo]

I’ve just finished my rewatch of Go Ahead, a cdrama you will probably never watch because it’s het and mostly about family trauma. But it’s one of my all time favs and one of the best things about it is the strong found family theme—it’s essentially about three broken families and how they join together as one to support each other. It got me thinking about my fav found family narratives, and especially those that are explicitly queer, because there’s often added life or death stakes in those stories. What are your favorite found family stories in queer media?

This is an interesting question, and I think you qualified appropriately right away by bringing up the life or death stakes of this kind of narrative. I think I want to make a distinction between "finding your people" and "found family" because I think these things often get blurred in romance stories.

Favorite Queer Found Family Stories

For me, a good found family story has to be about the found family component of it. Romance can be a significant portion of the story, but the primary driving relationships need to be about the queers being each other's primary network. I think estrangement from your bio family is a critical component, because knowing you are all each other has is a big part of it.

POSE (2018-2021)

It's really impossible to establish what found family looks like without referring to a show about ballroom culture in NYC in the 90s. We were dying. We were being abandoned. The houses gave people a place to be and a sense of purpose. These kids called their leaders Mother for a reason. Every single queer character in this show was saved by another character in this show before going onto save another character in this show. No show has ever done it like POSE.

Despite their fighting and bickering, Elektra saved Blanca. Blanca would go on to form her own house and provide shelter and support for multiple kids. There is a desperation to queer found family for me that makes it so important. Pray Tell's final choices still resonate with me to this day.

Queer as Folk (2000-2005)

We remember all of the fucking in this show, but this is another show where the queers are their primary support network. Their families aren't really there for them. Justin is kicked out of the house and lives with Debbie for a while, and is nursed by his community after being bashed. Michael and Ben adopt Hunter. Brian donates for Lindsey and Melanie. Debbie housed Brian in the past. Emmett's family disowned him, so his friends are all he's got. The community rallies constantly to protect each other.

Part of what makes this show so special as found family, like with POSE, is how often these folks piss each other off and get into huge fights. They fall out repeatedly in this show over fundamental disagreements that are not easily solved. Some of those fights are ugly in a way only people who know you best can hurt you.

The Fosters (2013-2018)

There's no way I'm not including my favorite TV lesbians of all time raising all them kids on this post. These two public servants found each other, made the difficult choices to be together, and keep expanding their family with more fosters and adoptees over time because there's always more love to go around. This show tackled how important it is to be able to call people family, and what it means for that to be a choice over an obligation. These two always found a way to make it work for their complex family and gave a budding queer the space to grow and be a brat of a teenager after saving him from having the shit beaten out of him for wearing a dress.

Sense8 (2015-2018)

From the directors of The Matrix (1999) and the creator of Babylon 5 (1993-1998), few shows are as queer as Sense8. Eight strangers suddenly become connected to each other and cannot turn it off. Half of them are queer in some way, and it's about their adaptation to each other and looking out for each other as they're literally being hunted. This is one of my favorite sci-fi concepts of all time, and I love the way their relationships outside of their cluster play into their dynamics.

She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat (2022- )

This is a recent favorite for this, particularly because of Season 2. In Season 1, we know that Nomoto puts a distance between herself and her family because of the pressure to become a wife. In season 2, we learn that Kasuga has severed ties with her family because of the expectation that she surrender her own life to take care of her family. When she tells Nomoto this, Nomoto gets angry on Kasuga's behalf and they decide to commit to living together. They are also building their community around them, and I better see everyone in their new apartment in season 3.

Gameboys 2 (2022)

So much of what's going wrong for Gav in this season is that he doesn't feel connected to the rest of his bio family after his grandmother passed, and he's desperately holding onto all of the friendships he has because he's so lonely. It's why he's still close with both of his exes (Pearl and Terrence), and why he won't let them go. Also, he's falling apart and Pearl is the one making sure his bills get paid on time.

The Shape of Water (2017)

Shout out to my man Doug Jones for always playing creatures that everyone is attracted to. The way this movie is so much about undesirables choosing to love each other and saving each other. Go watch it if you haven't. This film is not about a sexual awakening. It's about loving inside of a white capitalist structure.

Not Queer But Good

Shout outs for my faves. Some have queer characters in them, but aren't inherently or explicitly queer.

The Golden Girls (1985-1992)

No one did it like them. A bunch of aging women living together and making the most of their lives still resonates almost 40 years later.

Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008)

All of these kids are estranged from their families, and are building out something that works over the course of the show.

The Good Place (2016-2020)

I really love that this is a show about people who didn't get it together in life getting it together in the afterlife because they decided to work together, and then to care about each other. When you're literally being tortured by devils, you're all you've got.

What Doesn't Fit?

This is where things can get a little bit wiggly, but why I want to draw a line on this. I think that shows about queer friendship are important, but I also think that there's a difference between "we are all we've got" and "these people are the most important to me." So we end up with shows like the following.

Noah's Arc (2005-2006)

I often call this the Black answer to Queer as Folk, but I don't think it had time to fully-develop the found family themes in a way that QaF did with its much-longer runtime. Noah and his friends are super codependent and absolutely there for each other, but I don't think the absence of their families is explicitly attributed to their queerness but rather a byproduct of the focus on their gay life dynamics in LA. I love this show dearly, but there isn't a desperation to this that belies the family angst necessary for found family.

For The Boys (2021)

In many ways a spiritual successor to Noah's Arc, this show falls into the same place. The friend trio at the core of this is the most important relationship in their lives, but this show doesn't have the necessary found family angst.

What about QL?

For me, the biggest problem with doing found family in QL is that the primary genre is romance. These shows prioritize the way these relationships will turn romantic in a way that detracts from the found family component even when it's present. Also, because QL focuses so hard on coming of age plotlines, there's an element more of "finding your people" that supercedes any found family dynamics.

I Promised You the Moon (2021) is a good example of this. The primary drama of this show is about the romance between Teh and Oh-aew and the complications they face once they leave Phuket. Oh finds his people there and blossoms from it, but this is a story about how he and Teh can't get over each other.

As much as I love What Did You Eat Yesterday? (2019- ), the only real component of that is in Wataru's character. Kenji gets along with his mom and sisters, and Shiro is working on repairing the relationship with his family the entire time.

With Thai BL especially, I feel like they're big on friend groups, but not as big on found family. New Siwaj loves big friend groups that love each other, evinced by Love Sick (2014-2015), Make It Right (2016-2017), Until We Meet Again (2019), EN of Love (202), My Only 12% (2022), etc. He's done some great work in the space with queer friends, but not really queer found family.

Cheewin, a former collaborator of New's, also loves friend groups that have each other's backs. Probably his best example of that is Secret Crush On You (2022) with that friend quartet. The closest I think he came to found family was Uea in Bed Friend.

Another example that comes close is the unit that forms on their road trip in The End of the World With You (2023). I often think about this group of queers and the kid they adopted screaming to the heavens that they want to live.

Something I love, but which doesn't count for me is Our Dining Table (2023). There are powerful family dynamics here, but like in WDYEY they're adding Yutaka to their family and Yutaka reconciles with his adoptive family. I don't generally think that adding a romantic partner to your family counts as found family. Besides, Yutaka has a stable job and housing.

Final Thoughts

For me, the stakes are pretty high with queer found family, and it really needs to have a queer basis for me to feel strongly about it. Going back to their bio family is not an option, and often times the terms we use for traditional relationships don't always fit properly (yet another reason why Unknown got so much right). I don't think it's queer found family when they're students in college whose families just aren't around because they're paying for their kids to go to school. Finding your queer community as an adult is a huge part of growing up, but a queer found family is there for the really ugly and desperate parts of existence that your friends might not see.

[artiodaktyl]

nice time to bring this back, happy lesbian week friends ☺️✨

[genderinvalid1]

made a lil meadowlark oc bc @yaelokre 's music has my brain in a death grip.

this is runo, hes a journal and story keeper and occasionally illustrates the stories told to him. also he has an opossum mask.

can you tell ive been fixated on the world yaelokre created for like. a month now.

i hope i can get new ohuhu markers soon to do a better ref of him and draw the other characters theyve made.

[cimmeria-writes]

(ID: A digital drawing of Keema and Jun from The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez. Keema has chin length brown hair, and is wearing a terra cotta colored shirt and purple pants. He holds a spear and looks over at Jun, smiling slightly. Jun is wearing a blue wrap shirt and black pants tightened at the waist and shins with cord. He holds a red demon mask. The background is teal, a thin crescent moon between them. The other images are close ups of their faces. END ID.)

[our-arospec-experience]

Filipino aros out there? Yall sick of our culture? Specifically about bebe time? Wdym we can't contact you at this hour bc you're going to spend four hours with some girl you found 2 weeks ago? Wtf? Hello????

.

[sololunes]

I feel your absence, we saw each other last week, three days ago, two hours ago, a second ago, but I can’t help but miss your warm presence.

[inkcurlsandknives]

Cover Reveal for Daughters of Flood and Fury! Book 2 of the Stormbringer Saga! Saints of Storm and Sorrow is a Duology!!

Coming July 2025 from @Titanbooks

Daughters of Flood and Fury will appeal to readers of The Wolf of Oren Yaro and Red as the Sea Deep as the Sky. A Codician Flotilla is amassing in Canazco. Lunurin and Alon must bring together the scattered Stormfleet before their hard won freedom is lost. Inez, newly named to tide-touched magic struggles to embrace her role as a healer, wrestling with old ghosts and newer rumors as the Codician attack grows nearer.

Add it on Goodreads and get your pre-orders in! Shout out to Miss Nat Mack my book designer whose epic vision keeps giving me spectacular book covers!!

[motziedapul]

It's the final countdown! 3 DAYS TO GO!

Please do check out our Kickstarter if you like sexy Filipino monsters 💜🙏🏾☺️ featuring Manananggal, Sarangay, Tikbalang, Sigbin, etc! All by Pinoy artists!

🇵🇭🔥🌟SUPPORT THE PINOY MONSTER LOVER ANTHOLOGY: AFTER DARK🌟🔥🇵🇭