Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines
A Natural Evolution
By Mikee dela Cruz
PUBLISHED: JUNE 2010
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF STRAP

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When the Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (formerly the Society of Trans and Gender Rights Advocates of the Philippines) was founded in 2002, it was a “response to the need of an organization that would focus on the issues, concerns, and needs of the transgender community in the Philippines,” Dee Mendoza, former chairperson of the group, earlier said to Outrage Magazine. 

"Our advocacy against transphobia and discrimination and marginalization based on gender identity and expressions remains our primary guiding principle.” NAOMI FONTANOS

But the group that “attracted a very diverse membership (and) was a full representation of the whole transgender community: male-to-female transsexuals, female-to-male transsexuals, heterosexual cross-dressers, and intersexed people” was more than a social group – it was also “conceived to be a revolutionary organization wanting immediate change in society and in law,” with missions including to “act as a support group for girls and women of transsexual experience (whether pre-op/non-op, post-op), as well as to those exploring the possibility that they may be transsexuals; to reclaim our dignity and identity, thus, the name/identity of transpinay; to gather local resources and information beneficial to Filipina girls and women of transsexual experience; to promote compassionate understanding of transsexualism; and to promote positive and empowering images of Filipina transsexuals,” Mendoza said.

Eight years on, and STRAP has established itself as a force to be reckoned with in Philippines’ gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and ally (GLBTQIA) community.

FOCUS ON THE PEOPLE

“STRAP’s bottom line is its people,” says Naomi Fontanos, who now chairs STRAP.
With this focus, “before the New Year came in, membership was starting to surge and I am proud to say that we have been attracting the best of the best. Our membership now is truly diverse and they come from all walks of life. I think that this diversity will prove to be an asset to STRAP because that means its reach has become extremely broad and what it stands for now resonates to a wider demographic.”

This development, though, says Fontanos, is but natural.  

STRAP focused its initial efforts on strengthening its membership by holding educational discussions about human rights, gender and sexuality and transgender advocacy. “We wanted to make information available to all and arm our members with the knowledge to engage in informed and thoughtful activism. We wanted to mentor our members so that each of them could represent STRAP well and embody STRAP’s work through their individual initiatives,” Fontanos says.

Changes were bound to be introduced, nonetheless.

“I believe that getting (where we are) is part of STRAP’s natural evolution as an organization. When the new set of officers took over, immediately we held a meeting to consolidate our vision for the organization. Thankfully, we were all of the same mind that STRAP must go to the next level – that is, it should be recognized by the SEC (Securities Exchange Commission), have its own bank account, be self-sufficient financially, be strong internally with more formal processes and structure, engage more with government institutions and agencies, and (to) build chapters outside Manila and the Philippines,” she says.  “This May, the officers have reached the halfway mark of their term and are on the right track. We are finished with our SEC registration and are set to open a bank account — something very important for any nongovernment organization (NGO). We hope to also reach our other goals in the next six months. It will take a lot of effort and hard work but I am confident that with the help of all, we will be able to do what we set out to do as volunteers of the organization. We are not getting paid for what we do but we do it for the love of it.”

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