As Pride 2025 is celebrated this June, the Makabayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan (Makibaka) expresses solidarity and pays tribute to members of the LGBT+ community. The revolutionary group urges the LGBT+ movement to integrate into the struggle for the Filipino people’s social and national liberation from imperialist US control.
“Only unity and direct participation in the national democratic revolution can truly and completely clear the path toward the full liberation of LGBT+ and the oppressed and exploited people,” Makibaka states.
In this spirit, the revolutionary group extends its “rainbow recognition and red salute” to the revolutionary martyrs from the ranks of LGBT+ who served as Red commanders and fighters of the New People’s Army. These include Wanda Gumban (Ka Waquin), Kevin Castro (Ka Facio), Jo Lapira (Ka Ella), Ciela Pacaldo (Ka Alena), Kal Peralta (Ka Rekka), Queenie Daraman (Ka Kira), and Dee Supelanas (Ka Dahlia).
Makibaka also honors other LGBT+ comrades who offered their strength, skills, valor, and lives for the masses and served in various fields of revolutionary work.
Pride Month is celebrated every June to commemorate the Stonewall Riots that occurred in Greenwich Village, New York City on June 28, 1969. In the Philippines and Asia, the historic and first-ever Pride March, called Stonewall Manila, took place on June 26, 1994, launched in Quezon City and led by the Progressive Organization of Gays in the Philippines (Pro Gay), together with the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC).
“The historic Pride in 1994 was held to raise the stance of Filipino LGBT against all forms of discrimination and oppression,” according to Makibaka. The march highlighted the LGBT’s fight against discrimination and their stand against the burdensome Value Added Tax (VAT), rising oil and commodity prices, and the exposure of anti-people policies of the then US-Ramos regime.
Reflecting its historical roots, Makibaka declares that the Pride March in 2025 cannot turn a blind eye to the worsening global crisis and ongoing wars that bring severe poverty and suffering to people worldwide. The group refers to the genocidal wars led by US imperialism in various parts of the world.
“The spirit of the Stonewall Riot must be revived—the spirit of a militant LGBTQ+ movement to end the domination of imperialist countries over smaller nations, to end the exploitation of the working class, and to end oppression and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people worldwide,” Makibaka asserts.
The revolutionary group urges the LGBT+ masses to raise awareness, organize, and mobilize beyond the period of Pride Month commemoration. “Merge this with the power of the people,” the group says.
