UnivLink: Inclusion of LGBT Students of Eastern Samar State University (ESSU) Campuses project empowers LGBT students through rights awareness, creation of safe spaces, and organised campus involvement. Without legal protection at the national level, Philippines’ LGBTs remain a marginalised and stigmatised minority group prone to discrimination that adversely impact their lives, including their education. Schools, which are supposed to be safe environments, are among the institutions where LGBT discrimination occurs. Unsupported and unorganised in this hostile environment, LGBT students are unable to stand for themselves. Becoming organised and duly accredited by the school, and connected with supportive agencies at the national level will enable LGBT students in the ESSU system to feel safe, assertive of their rights, become participative in students’ political sphere, and generally thrive academically and socially in their campuses. This project responds to these concerns through: This project responds to these concerns through:

• Enhancing San Julian Pride’s organisational capacity cognisant of its being the only organisation of its kind in the Samar region;
• Catalysing ESSU LGBT students to organise themselves based on situation analysis;
• Orienting them about protective laws and their rights as students;
• Equipping them with basic leadership and organisational skills;
• Supporting them in forming an ESSU inter-campus network of LGBT student organisations; and
• Building sustainability measures that will support the longevity of the campus organisations.

Organizing LGBTQI students in university  

The nascent LGBTQIA rights movement in Eastern Samar, Philippines has found a leader in San Julian Pride.  San Julian Pride has been working towards forming a truly province-level organization. Their UnivLink event called “Rampa Este” was the first province-wide Pride event in Eastern Samar and was SJP’s initial attempt towards the goal of creating a provincial LGBTQIA organization.  UnivLink complemented this goal because the students in the three ESSU campuses project sites are from at least 15 out of Eastern Samar’s 23 municipalities and 1 city.  These students take the utmost pride in having been able to organize three university-based LGBTQIA organizations whereas before there were none. Through their efforts, rightsholders’ groups realized that they can get organized and that they can introduce change through organizing and mobilizing. They now have a better understanding of SOGIE concepts and that helps them better understand their own and others’ identities.  

Additionally, SJP is now more confident that they can implement projects of this scale.   Overall, their target groups said that UnivLink was a transformative experience for them. According to them they became open minded, it gave them motivation to work more for the success of the organization, and it was an avenue for them to express issues affecting their sector. The SJP VOICE project team also mentioned that their participation in the Linking & Learning activities broadened their appreciation of the array of courses supported by the Voice community, thus strengthening us with the realisation that there are resources in the network that can be tapped.  

“Baa, maupay ko. Marisyo ngan halata naman nga nag-enjoy kami. Dako an nahibulig han orientation dara kay damo an akon nahibaruan. Sugad nala it nga kanina la ak hibabaro hita “intersex” – nga kun diin iton bata nga ipinanganak mayda duduha nga organ, an kifay ngan nota. Nahibaro liwat ak about authentic leadership – authentic means being genuine; in leadership being genuine implies that we are embodying our true selves into our leadership role. Iton authentic leader dapat mayda TRUST hit iya co-member, FAIRNESS or equal treatment among members, RESPECT and ACCOUNTABILITY. Thanks, SJP Advocacy Group Inc.! #RuralAndEqual!” 

“I really enjoyed it, it’s obvious we all enjoyed it. The workshop was helpful in so many ways, for example, I got to learn for the first time about the term ‘intersex’ – wherein a person is born with both male and female sex organs, vagina and penis at the same time. I also learned about authentic leadership – authentic means being genuine…”  – Jocer Jargue, Project Participant 

 “As we are in the pilot phase of the project (engaging 3 out of 5 ESSU campuses in Eastern Samar), our plan is to submit a proposal to Voice. If approved, it will enable us to scale up UnivLink to include the remaining 2 campuses – ESSU Borongan and ESSU Guiuan. Only then can we say that we have been able to support the organizing of LGBT ESSU students for inclusion and empowerment.”  San Julian Pride 

SJP plans to continue lobbying for the passing of municipal and provincial anti-discrimination ordinances (ADOs). The experiences of students who participated in UnivLink can be tapped to strengthen SJP’s lobbying position.  

It   is   imperative   that   work   in inclusion, diversity   and representation in rural areas such as Eastern Samar must continue. For SJP, the next logical phase would be to strengthen the three campus organizations that have been started and to include the two remaining campuses (ESSU Guiuan and ESSU Main –Borongan). 

Photo  

https://app.box.com/file/810166052989 

https://app.box.com/file/810160085285 

https://app.box.com/file/810164705102 

https://app.box.com/file/810164594688 

Links to outputs 

First IDAHOT celebration for and by the students: https://voice.global/blog/our-first-idahot-for-students-by-students/ , https://app.box.com/file/810168163040 

First Pride crosswalk in Eastern Samar, piloted by SJP, which gathered international attention: https://voice.global/blog/louder-and-prouder/