“Mas makulay ang buhay maging bakla. Yung mga kwento ng mga tao, iba’t-iba.”  Nariese co-owned FFTG, a café in Quezon City that quickly became a beloved haven for queer people to gather, connect, and enjoy drag performances. The café opened its doors in 2021, during the height of the COVID-19…

Nice to meet you, Ka-VOICE! Babaylanes, along with other Empowerment and Influencing grantees, met with VOICE at Baguio City last February 21-24, 2023, for the Outcome Harvesting workshop and Partners’ Circle. The bulk of the event was dedicated to learning about the Outcome Harvesting (OH) process and its specific application…

Congratulations Babaylanes Equality Fellows! The pioneering batch of the BEF program has now graduated. Last January 20-21, 2023, the BEF fellows met at the B Hotel Quezon City to attend culminating activities of the fellowship. On their first day, they underwent their last evaluation session to talk about their personal…

On 18-21 January 2023, the Legal Policy Change (LPC) Cluster of the Free to Be Me hosted the Strategic Communications Design and Consultation Workshop for the member organizations of the Communities of Action (CoA) at the B Hotel Quezon City.  Highlights of the workshop included a presentation on the history…

Written by: Ysabela Calderon The devolution of the Philippine Healthcare system in 1991 completely shifted the delivery of care for Filipinos. In the current system, the management of healthcare units has been transferred from the national level to the local, provincial, city, and municipal levels. While this gives power to…

Written by: Red Raz, Yami Torres, and Darell Bautista How do we describe the experience of an unexpected opportunity that we always knew we needed, but we thought would not exist? Writing about the Babaylanes Equality Fellowship (BEF) proves to be more challenging than getting into the program quite honestly.…

Babaylanes, through the Free to Be Me Communities of Action, participated in the 9th ILGA Asia Conference last 28 November to 02 December 2022 held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. With the theme “Our Trials, Our Triumphs, and the Future We Demand”, various LGBTQI organizations and allies from Asia…

From November 21 to 22, Babaylanes took part in the (IM)PART Partners Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand. During the event, Babaylanes talked about the LGBTQI situation in the Philippines and provided updates on the organization, as well as the DEI project that was implemented from November 2021 to October 2022 wherein…

Babaylanes, led by its Former President Mader Perci Vilar Cendana, facilitated a SOGIESC Forum & Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Consultation for the City of Olongapo last 29 November 2022 at the Subic Bay Travelers Hotel. In attendance are members of the Gay Association and People’s Organization (GAPO). During her Keynote Message, Councilor…

To formally commence the Communities of Actions (CoA) Project for 2023, Gayon Inc. gathered the CoA Members of Free to Be Me for a kick-off event at Legazpi City, Albay last November 14-15, 2022. As one of the three implementing partners of Free to Be Me, Gayon Inc. presided over…