‘SPREAD LOVE, NOT HATE’: Iloilo Pride Team re-echoes call vs gender-based discrimination

By Emme Rose Santiagudo

June is Pride Month to recognize and appreciate LGBTQ+ communities all around the world.

Through the years, Pride Month has served as the avenue for campaigns for equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community and protest against gender-based discrimination and violence.

When a series of videos made by so-called vloggers (video bloggers) bearing discriminatory statements against members of the LGBTQ+ community made rounds on social media, the Iloilo Pride Team could not just sit back and tolerate the culture of hate and discrimination being spread.

Iloilo Pride Team, a group pushing for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, condemned the videos made by vloggers for insensitive, vulgar, and discriminatory content.

The group was referring to the videos that surfaced across the internet as part of the “Diskarte Nyu Boys”/ “Diskarte Nyu ‘Gi” challenge which was started by vlogger Avy Sola in his Facebook page, “Avy Thoughts.”

According to Justin Francis Bionat, Iloilo Pride Team spokesperson, the challenge was an exchange of comments and rebuttals between a group of gays and men, mocking each other with the use of vulgar and discriminatory words.

Days after, more or less 15 videos surfaced online in response to the original video challenge.

“Several videos have surfaced online from different vloggers as a form of rebuttal to the first few videos. It carried discriminatory words and ironic kay we are celebrating Pride Month and alarming because mga upod man namon sa LGBTQ+ community ang nag-umpisa sina,” Bionat told Daily Guardian.

Among the vloggers who responded to the challenge were Edmar Calubo Vlogs, Dodoy’s Vlog, and Bangkiling Viner.

“Last May 30, vlogger E Calubo posted a video depicting discriminatory statements against the LGBT community, allegedly released in jest, but at the expense of hard-won victories against discrimination in Iloilo City, spread like wildfire. In a matter of six days, it reached a total of 15,000 shares,” Iloilo Pride Team said in a statement.

One of the rebuttal videos made by another vlogger, Mamen TV, garnered 23,000 likes, 9,000 shares, and 349,000 views as of June 9, 2020.

“Teh ako na higko, pero ngaa ginkaon mo akon b***. Ikaw gani feeling tinlo pero may tulo tapos makaon b***,” part of the video said.

According to Iloilo Pride Team, the insensitive vlogs only promoted internationalized homophobia and discrimination against the LGTBTQ+ community.

On June 5, one of the members of the Iloilo Pride Team, Miles Hollingsworth, called the attention of the vloggers responsible for the videos but was met with vilification and bashing.

The group tried reaching out to the vloggers and demanded them to take down the videos.

The Office of the LGBT Affairs in Iloilo also conducted a dialogue between the Iloilo Pride Team and the vloggers on June 8. It was agreed that the vloggers will take down their blogs and instead produce content that will promote love instead of hate.

Apart from taking down the videos, some of the vloggers also issued public apologies on their respective Facebook pages.

“Salamat sa tanan nga nalipay kag sorry sa mga na-offend sa vlog ko. Wala ko intensyon nga i-put down ang mga sisters and brothers ko sa LGBTQ community especially sa Iloilo. Kung makita niyo ang original video wala man kami may ginbuhat nga malain kay realidad man to ang ginhambal namon pero ginarespect namon inyo reaksyon and opinyon,” Avy Sola said in his Facebook post.

But Bionat said damage was done despite the gestures of the vloggers.

According to Bionat, it should be a lesson to all content creators, vloggers, and online media personalities to be responsible of their actions and to be sensitive of the LGBTQ community.

“It doesn’t mean nga kay gin-delete nila, the issue is finished na. As content creators and influential persons, they should strive to make more positive content. As someone nga may ngalan and may power to influence people in the society, dako ila roles. Apart from their responsibility as vloggers, they are also part of the LGBTQ+ community, dapat indi sila mag-contribute sa pagkaguba sang imahe sang amon komunidad,” he emphasized.

Since 2015, Iloilo Pride Team has been instrumental in advocating equal rights for LGBTQ+ community in Iloilo City.

The group was among the first to push for the passing of the anti-discrimination bill in both the city and the province of Iloilo.

Iloilo Pride Team has also been staging the famous “Pride March” every October. Last year, it gathered more than 5,000 participants and was even attended by Senator Risa Hontivero.

“The LBGTQ+ community in Iloilo is already on the map being acknowledged even at the national level. We made waves and we wanna keep doing it. The content being made by these vloggers…instead of going up we are just going back down,” Bionat said.

As we celebrate Pride Month, may we recognize the contributions of the LGBTQ+ community and join the calls of the Iloilo Pride Team to stop gender-based discrimination may it be in your homes, workplaces, and online.

With the power of social media, one click and one share can go a long way. Choose to spread love instead of hate.