The National Democratic Front of the Philippines in Southern Mindanao celebrates the month of Pride with all members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community in solidarity and the spirit of struggle. On this gay occasion, we pay highest tribute to our martyred comrades in the region, among them Valerio Mante, Jr., Alvin Rey Santiago, and Wendel Gumban, who, in their respective times in the bases and guerilla zones, proudly wore their colors as gay men and women as they stood and fought the enemy alongside the masses of peasants, Lumad and workers.

The LGBTQ community cuts across all exploited classes, as there are peasants, workers and petty bourgeoisie who identify as either lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer. We find them spread throughout factories, industries, farms, plantations, schools, offices, and elsewhere. Like all cisgender and straight masses, LGBTQ men and women are being subjected to the worst forms of oppression and silenced through the most fascist means of repression. And like all exploited masses, they, too, are resisting.

To celebrate Pride not only means to assert our inherent sexual orientation and preference, but also to be cognizant of the history of struggle that made our hard-won rights a possibility. Gay men and women have always been part of all resistance movements in the country and worldwide.

Most recently, during the height of the US-Duterte regime’s criminally incompetent, militaristic and corrupt response to the Covid-19 pandemic and heightened fascism in response to legitimate dissent, it is worth noting that LGBTQ activists were one of the first organized sectors that mobilized its forces. Despite being taunted as “weak,” LGBTQ activists have proven their mettle against Duterte’s tyranny and negligence.

The revolutionary movement stands firmly on the side of the struggle of the LGBTQ community and against discrimination. The Communist Party of the Philippines takes pride in the distinction of being one of the first, if not the first, non-state party in the entire world to accept out gay men and women into its ranks and recognize same-sex marriage. Organs of political power and mass organizations across the archipelago have LGBTQ members and officers who help build socialism in the countryside, as well as promote the welfare and empowerment of their community.

The New People’s Army admits gay men and women, regardless of their sexual orientation, as Red fighters and allows them to be out and proud in waging guerilla warfare. In Southern Mindanao, many LGBTQ men and women have risen to the ranks of unit commanders, political officers and other positions. While the vestiges of homophobia and gender biases are still an inevitable reality within the organization, the cultural struggle remains alive, as straight and gay cadres and fighters strive together in ideological remolding.

On June 30, the incoming illegitimate regime of Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. will officially lord over the ruling clique of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal system. Members of the LGBTQ community harbor no illusion that the Marcos II reign will be any different from the misogynistic, homophobic and transphobic tyranny of Duterte. Because it is illegitimate and inherits a rotten reactionary system that plunged the country into misery and privation, the Marcos II regime is bound to wield fascism in order to thrive. It has no choice but to remain tyrannical. The LGBTQ community must therefore stand with the rest of the Filipino people to fight the illegitimate regime. It is the legacy of the worldwide LGBTQ struggle to resist tyranny and fascism, as its members bravely did more than 50 years ago in the Stonewall riots in the streets of New York City.

We urge LGBTQ activists to continue exposing and opposing the new illegitimate regime, which by all indications is set to perpetuate the semi-colonial and semi-fedual order. Revolutionary forces who identify themselves with the LGBTQ community likewise face the challenges of manifesting their creativity and resilience in confronting and resolving the practical problems of arousing, organizing and mobilizing the masses in their respective areas of responsibility.

Pride month is above all a reminder that the struggle of the Philippine LGBTQ community is part of the class struggle against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. It demands everyone of every gender to mount all resistance against tyranny and oppression and unite in the line of the national democratic revolution.