KARAPATAN is in full solidarity with our member organization Bahaghari and the LGBTQ+ community as they launch Stonewall Philippines, a gathering that references the series of militant protests by the gay community in the US triggered by a violent police raid on June 28, 1969 on the Stonewall Inn, then a popular bar in New York City. Out of these protests against State-instigated homophobic attacks grew a more organized LGBTQ+ rights movement in the US and worldwide. The annual Pride marches in different countries during June, Pride Month, are held to mark the historic Stonewall Inn protests.
In the Philippines, Pride is an expression of protest when LGBTQ+ rights are trampled upon, especially when this takes the form of hate crimes, gender-based discrimination and violence, and when State violence is inflicted. Bahaghari, a progressive movement of the LGBTQ+, asserts that discrimination and homophobic violence form one facet of the prevailing repressive social order and that the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights cannot be divorced from the broader movement for social change.
KARAPATAN pays tribute to members of the LGBTQ+ community, including its very own human rights workers, who are among those killed and/or persecuted for being fearless advocates of social change. They are:
- Ali Macalintal, a former political prisoner and torture survivor and former deputy secretary general of Karapatan-Soccsksargen, who was killed on June 22, 2025 in General Santos City after being incessantly red-tagged, harassed and subjected to surveillance by State forces.
- Ryan Hubilla, a young and dedicated human rights defender of Karapatan-Sorsogon who, at 22 years old, was killed in broad daylight on June 15, 2019 in Sorsogon City by motorcycle-riding gunmen.
- Kaliska Peralta, a former student leader who joined the New People’s Army and who, on April 10, 2024, was accosted unarmed by elements of the 48th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army in Purok 8, Barangay Butong, Quezon, Bukidnon. Being unarmed and under military custody, she was hors de combat and entitled to protection under international humanitarian law. She was nonetheless tortured and summarily killed, with the AFP Eastern Command falsely claiming that she died in an encounter.
- Jayvee Apiag, former secretary general of Karapatan-Southern Mindanao, who courageously led fact-finding missions even under the most repressive conditions of martial law. Like many other human rights defenders, he was red-tagged, harassed and arrested for a slew of trumped-up cases. He is currently detained at the Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in Malaybalay, Bukidnon.
- Cultural worker Alvin Fortaliza who was arbitrarily arrested in 2019, and has remained in detention in Bohol on trumped up charges.
KARAPATAN reiterates its call for justice for Ali Macalintal, Ryan Hubilla and Kal Peralta, as the alliance calls for the urgent release of Jay Apiag, Alvin Fortaliza and all political prisoners. We denounce the Marcos administration whose military bigots and mantle of impunity effected the killings of Macalintal and Peralta and the arrest of Apiag. We decry the hypocrisy of Vice President Sara Duterte in holding a Pride event, when LGBTQs are among those who suffered under her father’s regime and have demanded accountability for her misuse of confidential and intelligence funds.
KARAPATAN is one with the LGBTQ+ community and people’s movement in the struggle for genuine gender equality and social liberation.