VP Robredo joins LGBTQIA+ community, advocates in celebrating Pride Month

In her statement, the Vice President also called for respect and equality of rights for all. (File Photo: Elyssa Fahndrich/Unsplash)

Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo is one with the LGBTQIA+ community both in the Philippines and in other countries, as well as human rights and gender equality advocates in celebrating the Pride Month this June.

On Saturday, June 29, Robredo said Pride Month is an opportunity for everyone to “celebrate humanity’s wonderful and awe-inspiring diversity” and “to recognize the fundamental truth that this diversity need not lead to division.”

“That our differences in the identities we claim for ourselves, in the people we choose to love, and in the lives we choose to lead, do not inevitably set us against each other, so long as we can act with openness and respect,” she said.

Pride Month is annually celebrated in the month of June to honor the Stonewall riots, a series of demonstrations by members of the LGBTQIA+ community in the said month in 1969 against a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, in New York City.

In her statement, the Vice President also called for respect and equality of rights for all.

“Let this celebration also be a moment for each of us to renew our commitment to upholding these principles, both through legislation – such as the Anti-Discrimination Bill – and in our daily interactions,” she said.

“Like all of you, I continue to dream of a Philippines, and a world, where all of us, regardless of differences, can act with respect, walk free from fear, and stand with pride and dignity. And every Pride Month, seeing firsthand the energy, the commitment, the courage, and the love, I am inspired in my belief: We will make it real,” she continued.

Also joining the LGBTQIA+ community in celebrating the Pride Month, Senator Leila de Lima vowed to support them in their fight for equality and in the unconstrained exercise of their rights.

“Mahalaga ang papel na ginagampanan ng sektor ng LGBTQ at hindi matatawaran ang kanilang kontribusyon sa pag-unlad ng bansa at ng ating lipunan (The role of the LGBTQ sector is important and their contributions for the development of the country are exceptional),” de Lima said.

The lady senator was a co-author of the anti-discrimination bill that prohibits discrimination of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression (SOGIE).

The members of the LGBTQIA+ community joined together at the Marikina Sports Center on Saturday to attend the 2019 Metro Manila Pride March and Festival.