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Abstract

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How is the Filipino family values discourse leveraged to hinder or critique policies promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ+) rights? And in contrast, how does the local government in Quezon City navigate these challenges to persist with their policies and programs for the LGBTIQ+ community? Anchored in the literature on Asian values and Filipino values, these are the two questions that we will attempt to answer in this article. In doing so, we used Quezon City as our case study, with an analysis of key political figures as a secondary method, and complemented by the auto-ethnographic insights of Ging Cristobal, the second author. She is a member of the LGBTIQ+ community, an activist, an advocate, and collaborator of Quezon City’s current Mayor, Joy Belmonte. We conclude that despite challenges, the Quezon City local government remains steadfast in its support for the LGBTIQ+ community, driven by committed collaboration, ethical political maneuvering, and the nuanced interplay between national and local policies. To support this practice on the ground, we propose to theorize to reclaim and recalibrate the almost ‘holy family’ (Joseph–Mary–Jesus) imagination of the Filipino family using decolonial scholarship.

Keywords

Family values Filipino LGBTIQ+politics

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The Quezon City pride: Tug of wars and triumphs in LGBTIQ+ rights

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