ONE BIG Pride (OBP) returns to campus after two years online. 

From October 11 to 28, the University Gender Hub, Loyola Schools (LS) Gender Hub, and Sanggunian Commission on Gender Equality (CGE) will facilitate various online and onsite events to promote gender inclusivity and unity in the Ateneo. Notably, flagship initiatives like the annual Pride March return onsite on October 11.

In a show of the Ateneo’s broadening support for the LGBTQ+ community, the entire University community, including Ateneo Junior and Senior High School (AJHS and ASHS) students, are invited to participate in the OBP. 

HAPPENING NOW: The Sanggunian Commission on Gender Equality commemorates “One Big Pride 2022: Stand With Pride” at Xavier Hall. | via @Isa_TheGUIDON pic.twitter.com/ObvewY79gO

— The GUIDON (@TheGUIDON) October 11, 2022

A slate of initiatives

To kickstart onsite OBP celebrations, the University Gender Hub hosted a Pre-Pride Gender Hub Open House, creating opportunities for participants to mingle and prepare before the March. Later on October 20 and 28, the University Gender Hub will also host onsite viewing parties in a project called Art-to-Heart, featuring LGBTQ+ drama series Heartstopper to the University community.

In a bid to promote safe online spaces as well, the University Gender Hub will conduct Rainbow Connections: Online Kumustahan Sessions with AJHS and ASHS students and faculty on October 17 and 20. 

The CGE will complement the University Gender Hub’s efforts to facilitate gender inclusivity by holding its first-ever onsite Gender Sensitivity Training (GST) workshop on October 12. Throughout the month, the CGE is also set to launch daily installments of Chromics, a comics series of coming-out stories from LS students.

Planning the march

Amid the numerous projects, arguably the most anticipated event is the Pride March. 

While LS community members were a majority in previous marches, AJHS and ASHS students also conducted their own mini-pride march this year—walking from their campus towards the LS to join the main march and ceremony.

The CGE’s plans for this University-wide OBP began as early as June 2022.

“For me, personally, there’s a sort of looming pressure to live up to whatever expectations people may have, especially since this is the first OBP onsite since the pandemic,” CGE Co-Commissioner Julia Quilatan noted. 

CGE Co-Commissioner Thirdy Sanchez said that the first difficulty encountered in planning for OBP was the lack of manpower. This motivated the CGE to recruit incoming freshmen for volunteer work, which was initially exclusive to sophomores, juniors, and seniors during their Intersession period. 

However, with the increased manpower, the CGE was able to finalize the projects for each department in the project team and began contacting partners for events by early August.

Contingency plans

Anticipating that the onsite return of their flagship event would garner significant attention, the CGE put several measures in place to avoid homophobic messages from outside organizations and instead boost participation within the Ateneo community.

Moreover, Sanchez mentioned that some students expressed their wish to participate in the Pride March “without the fear of [their sexuality] being exposed.”

To solve this, the CGE’s Human Resources and Strategic Communications Departments developed a colored wrist-band protocol. Through this, marchers were able to acquire purple and pink wristbands at Xavier Hall to signify that they do not feel comfortable being documented. 

Moreover, in anticipation of conflict or harassment during the march, the CGE partnered with the Sanggunian Commission on Anti-Sexual Misconduct and Violence, a unit of the Sanggunian that specializes in providing relief for gender-based violence.

Meanwhile, for cases of online harassment, Quilatan admits that the CGE does not have any “official” contingencies to prevent hate speech in place. Instead, through the OBP activities that they have prepared alongside other organizations, they aim to promote solidarity among students.

“This (hate speech) isn’t something that you battle with processes or systems. It’s not fighting back in like a negative or in a violent way. […] It’s standing together and overpowering those hateful comments with comments of support,” she said.

One big project

Beyond initiatives such as pride marches and sensitivity workshops, the CGE encourages LS faculty and students to “emerge and take a stand.”

In line with this, Quilatan and Sanchez said that although much focus was placed on the One Big Pride celebration, the CGE still continues to work on its major long-term project: the establishment of an LGBTQ+ sector in the LS.

However, establishing this sector is a long process. Sanchez admitted that the Commission is still in the first step: gathering research on the reasons why the sector is needed in the University. Once this is accomplished, he said that the CGE would move on to the next step of acquiring the signatures for a petition to support the sector’s establishment.

According to Sanchez, this second step would prove to be the most difficult as many students would prefer not to sign the petition for fear of being harassed. Furthermore, should the sector be finally established, another problem that it faces is that its initiatives could overlap with the CGE’s.

“If the LGBTQ sector happens, […] there’s a possibility that they will dissolve the Commission. And personally I think it would be fitting to dissolve the commission once there is representation in the Central Assembly. Although we do a lot, I think the power and reach of a sector will be better,” Quilatan said.