The Quezon City government is trying to combat discrimination against members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and in question community through the conduct of a film festival.
Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte urged film audiences to participate in the Quezon City International Pink Film Festival which will run until Nov. 25 in selected cinemas.
“As a gender-fair city, this film fest allows us to fight for our advocacy to promote awareness about LGBTQ issues, to promote diversity and equality, to combat discrimination, stereotyping and stigmatization, and to promote our city as a city of tolerance,” she said.
“At the same time, we also want to remind our brothers and sisters in the LGBTQ community that they are just the same as anybody else. We are all equal here, and public service is given to all,” she added.
A project of the Quezon City Pride Council in partnership with the Quezon City Government and the Philippine Initiative on LGBT Pride Advocacy Inc, the QCIPFF is the only LGBT-themed film festival in the Philippines.
“I’m really happy that we started doing this since we passed a gender-fair ordinance a few years ago. Since we passed this ordinance, 25 other cities have passed gender-fair ordinances as well,” Belmonte said.