In Search of the Pink Peso
By M.D. dela Cruz Tan

Arguably, the Internet is the best source of information – as well as corroboration – of the growing recognition, at least elsewhere, of he pink market, and its currency, with numerous sites focusing on the LGBT community, e.g. PlanetOut.com, which was founded in 1995 by Tom Reilly as a portal serving online gay and lesbian communities; 365Gay.com, which started as a daily news source, though has now grown to include other contents on health, ravel, entertainment, et cetera; and GayWired.com, which pioneered gay retailing online, offering gay and lesbian themed videos, music, calendars, et cetera to these communities.

Fortunately, although slow, some moves are already happening locally. 

PINK PESO? Glamorizing the existence of the pink currency hasn't helped the gay struggle, as companies only start seeing the members of the community as cash cows.

For one, there are already three publications specifically catering to the LGBT market – though even this claim is, of course, contentious, since the LGBT community is not defined yet in the Philippines, therefore the publications only respond to a some in the diversified community (e.g. gays exposed to the Western concept for Icon and GP magazines, and the stereotypical gays for Valentino), thereby failing to unify LGBTs (and, arguably, even alienating the members from each other). 

Secondly, Circuit Asia, for example, organizes a series of parties, as is done overseas for Filipino gays (the target market, as well as their token fag hags and other non-homosexual friends), with the ticket prices ranging from over P500 to well beyond P1,000, which is a somewhat substantial amount in a country with under P350 as the minimum daily wage. 

Thirdly, there is an emerging theme of gay-related discourses in cinema and theater, with the likes of Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros and Zsazsa Zaturnnah: Ze Muzikal getting raves, and actually doing well in the (mainstream) box-office.

All the same, the pink peso – if the concept of pink dollar is to be followed – is nowhere near visible, but is often incidental.

BEYOND THE MONEY

And this may be the case for a while yet because of various factors, including the still big influence (even if the influence is unjust, and even inhuman) in the predominantly Christian country of the Roman Catholic Church, which continues to openly ostracize LGBTs (while covering up heterosexual sexual acts of erring church officials); the “conflict” of the members of the LGBT community (segregationist tendencies of the straight-acting or pa-mhin and the effeminate or pa-girl), which continues to prevent it from forming a unified group; and the expectations from the Filipino families’ non-marrying members (to support their families instead of “wasting” their money elsewhere, e.g. indulging oneself, et cetera, which are the usual activities made by LGBTs in other countries).

Thus, while going to the gym is a normal activity of gay guys in, say, the US, the same is not necessarily true to gay Filipinos, who, because they are not married anyway, are expected to spend their money on their unmarried siblings to help the parents out (though, admittedly, this is the same expectation from unmarried non-homosexual siblings, though they are somewhat freed of the expectation the moment they marry).  Also, while gay Britons or Europeans can afford to book a cruise ship to travel to, say, Seychelles, gay Filipinos can only gather in mainly domestic destinations, such as Puerto Galera – and, for that matter, still without necessarily self-identifying as traveling gay guys.

In an earlier interview, Ferdie Buenviaje, who used to head TLF Share Collective, a non-government umbrella of gay organizations, said that it is understandable for companies to have apprehensions when it comes to targeting LGBTs because it is difficult to segregate a predominantly invisible market.  “It is unrealistic to lump all members of the gay organizations to come up with a representative number of gays here because memberships are very fluid,” he said.  “(So) openly targeting the gay market is economically risky.”

It is thus interesting to note that, overseas, the concept of the pink currency is already moving in different directions.  Among others, there are those who advance the concept as nothing but just a myth.  MV Lee Badget of the University of Maryland in the US revealed in her study that “some gay and lesbian people are wealthy, some are poor, and most are somewhere in the middle along with the majority of heterosexual people.”  And, already, there have been backlashes in the use of the pink currency to advance gay rights.  According to the Hobart-based Community and Family Rights Council, “compared to women, the disabled, elderly and indigenous Australians, homosexuals as a class seem to be economically, socially and politically successful according to their own publicity, and do not qualify for legal protection.”

The Philippines is, however, still far from having to discuss the pros and cons of using the pink currency as a means to attain political ends that will rally the LGBT community’s rights.  Therefore, while outside the Philippines there are already calls to “put the pink (currency) in perspective,” locally, the struggle remains more basic – the identification, and subsequent acknowledgment, of the existence of a gay market.

But whether the pink peso exists or not, said E. Lopena, who owns and runs beauty salon Top Touch in Cotabato City in southern Philippines, should be “inconsequential.”  “May pera man sila o wala, hindi mawawala ang mga bakla,” he said.  Thus, in his experience, although he has the money to spend on whatever he wants, money “is not necessarily the issue, but on whether it helps advance our rights.”

For now, that (the advancement of LGBT rights), too, is as evasive as the pink peso.  So AdCong’s 29 year-old athletic gay guy who owns P1.3 million may, indeed, walk down a beach boardwalk with his newfound geeky boyfriend – but they are definitely not walking into the sunset.