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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HELPING HANDS

To date, STRAP has partnered with various organizations to greatly further STRAP’s causes, with collaborations made with Ang Ladlad Partylist, Gay & Lesbian Activist Network for Gender Equality (GALANG),  International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO), International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans & Intersex Association (ILGA), Isis International, Rainbow Rights (R-Rights) Project Inc., Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC), Task Force Pride (TFP) Philippines, TLF Sexual Health and Rights Educators’ (TLF SHARE) Collective, The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Rights (RSFL), Transgender Asia Research, Trans Iceland, UP Diliman Center for Women Studies (CWS),  and the UP Diliman Gender Office (UPDGO).

“We are happy to have a working relationship with these organizations fighting for the human rights of sex and gender diverse people and look forward to building linkages with more. With the help of these organizations we have been able to reach more people to tell them about STRAP, its work and what it stands for. They have also helped us attract more members and served as our role models in doing good advocacy work in the Philippines,” Fontanos says.

It is also because of the allies that STRAP established the Sybil Award, which intends to honor “allies who promote transgender equality and acceptance. It is the first of its kind in the Philippines and STRAP will be the first sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) activist organization to give out an award like this.”

GUSHING THROUGH

Internationally, major developments have been happening to the TG community – e.g. in February, France became the first country in the world to remove transsexualism from its official list of mental disorders; and in the US, transgenders have been appointed by President Barack Obama into key government posts.

Fontanos laments that “here in the Philippines, the prevailing notion of transsexuals is not that they have a mental disorder, but that they are an extreme version of homosexuals.”  Thus, while international developments “do have a bearing on transpinays/pinoys,” she says, “we are working in a context where sexual orientation and gender identity are conflated.”

To this end, “STRAP (has) joined the global campaign to depathologize transgender and transsexual identities,” says Fontanos, who believes that “even if psychiatric institutions in the country are weak, we recognize the influence and reach of American psychiatry in Asia; so, of course, if strides are made outside the Philippines, that will definitely help the local struggle.”

There are more immediate goals to be accomplished, though – i.e. finding a permanent place for STRAP (“We are growing steadily and I feel the burden of not having our own office,” says Fontanos, who is looking at finding a venue before her term ends.  “Hopefully we will find a space big enough to function as a halfway house for transpeople in need – I want an office that also serves as a center for the transcommunity where they can go to for education, advocacy and fun.”); overhauling of STRAP’s Web site [“We want a more dynamic Website (that will) showcase our own members and celebrate their successes”]; and developing STRAP’s own publication mechanisms (“We want to be able to publish booklets and primers on trans and related issues, and create a conduit for our research work”).

“We are all fighting for the right to self-determination, to define who we are, on our own terms,” Fontanos says.  “What is good is that STRAP is there and has set its own agenda for change.”

And so, the struggle continues.

Get in touch with the Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP) by visiting www.tsphilippines.com; or emailing diabolllique@yahoo.com.