True Colors Coalition is a political LGBT organization based in the Philippines; we are a member organization of the Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (Movement for National Democracy). Established in January of 2015, TCC started campaigning for the justice for Jennifer Laude defined as one of our major campaigns. Though we are still in the process of building the organization, we were able to have some activities to continue calling for justice for Jennifer Laude through mobilizations, candle lighting events, and continuous discussions about the case. We were able to develop a module for a Gender Sensitivity Awareness focusing on the LGBT community and right now, we are on the process of disseminating the training to all the members, and allies. As a political organization, TCC believes that the whole LGBT struggle is a political struggle. It is beyond the gender-based and health-related concern; we firmly believe that the LGBT struggle goes through the gender, class, and national oppression. It doubles as our being part of different sectors in the society like how LGBT workers are one of the firsts to be fired from companies every time they want to or how the grassroots LGBT get to be denied of their rights for health cares and being discriminated due to their being LGBTs and them being poor. Lastly, as Filipino LGBTs, we are one of the most vulnerable people in terms of how the third world countries are being treated and viewed by the capitalist powers – let’s take the case of Jennifer Laude for example. With that being said, TCC steadfastly stands on various LGBT and other sectoral concerns like:
The Anti-Discrimination Bill that will criminalize all discriminatory acts against the LGBT people, in the last few years, the LGBT community have experienced numerous hate crimes – especially the trans community, this bill will help in addressing our safety concerns and will reaffirm our rights to live free from prejudgment and prejudice based on our SOGIE;
The HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness in the country as we believe that the government has the responsibility to comprehensively address this matter in terms of preventing the spread of the virus, more so, wipe out the stigma about the virus and the thinking that it is a “gay disease”;
The legalization of marriage equality, TCC believes that it is our human, political, and civil right to enjoy the rights and benefits of legally married couples like employment and health benefits, legal adoption as married couples, and other conjugal properties that heterosexual couples have as they get married;
We also believe that labor contracting policy will make the workers’ lives harder and more difficult as this denies our right to job security;
TCC stand against the commercialization and privatization of the education, that it is a right of everyone to have equal access to education;
We are also against the continued presence of US Military Forces in the Philippines, the joint Balikatan (Shoulder-to-shoulder) Exercises between the Philippines and the US put women, children, and LGBTs in danger as they continue to have us become victims of militarization and exposing us more to sexual, physical, and other abuses;
TCC aims to have the LGBT community, especially the Filipino LGBTs, to go back to basic, meaning to have every LGBT know that the whole people’s struggle is our struggle. We want to have the LGBT involve in the fight for a society with equality and free from all kinds of discrimination – a society with no people’s oppression.
