Rappler and Inquirer feature LGBTQ+ voices in Pride Month reports

CHEERS TO Inquirer.net and Rappler for joining the annual celebration of Pride Month. Other media organizations followed Pride Month only with routine coverage of events but Inquirer.net and Rappler went the extra mile through insightful reports on issues relevant to the LGBTQ+ community and its members’ rights. 

The in-depth reports presented interesting data by conducting thorough research and multiple interviews, which built up both the background, context and human interest in the pieces. They provided space to fresh stories and new perspectives, such as those drawn from the regions, hence creating greater public sense of the LGBTQ+ community’s wealth of experience and its diversity. 

By looking at the experiences of LGBTQ+ people through different lenses, the pieces were able to convey the collective challenges they face as individuals. 

Two pieces featured insights from LGBTQ+ activists. They recalled the history of the Philippine LGBTQ+ rights movement starting with the first Pride March in the country and in Asia in 1994, which gave value to their advice to fellow LGBTQ+ activists: 

• Inquirer.net’s report “PRIDE MONTH: The memory of Stonewall Riot lives on;” and
• Rappler’s episode “The decades-old fight for equality” from its “36 Years” podcast. 

Other reports highlighted the unique experiences of LGBTQ+ Filipinos, such as mental health concerns related to being openly LGBTQ+ and the challenges faced by LGBTQ+ storytellers in the media industry. Diving deep into the personal, the stories shared their aspirations, struggles, and hopes for the future with compelling honesty and truth. Such authenticity opens windows to a reality that is part of, and essential to the fullness of humanity. 

• “Being gay in PH: Living life to the fullest” and “Dark reality: Gay people struggles persist after coming out” from Inquirer.net; and
• The “LGBTQ+ in the media” episode of Rappler’s “Voices from the Regions” series.

Legislation to insure respect for its rights, or the lack of it, provides a most important lens with which to understand the issues of the community. One report used the “Gay Travel Index” and its assessment of anti-discrimination laws per country in comparison to the state of LGBTQ+ rights in Philippines. The reports also took up calls to pass the SOGIE Equality Bill and examined existing anti-discrimination policies in the country:

• Inquirer.net’s report “Ideal countries for gay travel: PH ranks low;” and 
• Rappler’s reports on local anti-discrimination ordinances in Cebu, the Cordillera Region, and Iloilo.

Pride Month presents a prime opportunity for media to provide meaningful coverage of LGBTQ+ issues. But media should sustain coverage of the community as a staple in the news agenda, not merely occasioned by ceremonial milestones. 

Journalism must extend the range of issues it covers, using all the tools at its disposal to promote much needed inclusivity and genuine recognition and acceptance, not just tolerance, for those considered “different.” It is after all these differences that make us all more perfectly and completely human.