Mindanao Pride awarded as one of ten accomplished youth organizations in PH

Out of more than 933 project entries and aspiring organizations from all over the Philippines, youth-led LGBTQIA+ Organization Mindanao Pride is recognized as one of the Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) Philippines of this year.

In a close call, the organization was announced last, “Now, the tenth TAYO award goes to an organization who with all courage shares their truth. The TAYO award goes to Mindanao Pride from Cagayan de Oro City.” TAYO Awards Executive Director Patricia Matute said.

The national awarding was held on December 11, 2020 live via TAYO Facebook page. Twenty national finalists gathered online to award the ten accomplished youth organizations for this year. Mindanao Pride was represented by its Founder and President Hamilcar B. Chanjueco Jr.

“Hindi araw-araw na ang isang LGBT organization ay kinikilala ng TAYO kaya isang malaking karangalan para sa aming lahat ito..Mabuhay ang Kabataang Pilipino! Mabuhay ang LGBT community!” Hamilcar Chanjueco said in his short acceptance speech.

The 19th search for the Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) Awards was launched last July 1, 2021, with applying youth organizations going through field validation, regional finals, and the national finals.

Mindanao Pride was also given a Special Award - Georgina P. Nava Leadership Award.

“This year, I would like to acknowledge the youth organization who wants the community to be more accepting, more loving, and more inclusive. With pride, I would like to announce that the Gorgina P. Nava Leadership Award goes to Mindanao Pride.“  Jordan Barbara Nava said during the presentation of the special award.

Besides Mindanao Pride, two other Mindanaoan finalists also made it to the top ten organizations: Tabang Sikad and Kabasalan National High School YES-O.

This year’s TAYO awardees are FHMoms (South Signal Village,Taguig City), Kristiano-Islam Peace Library Inc. (Holy Spirit, Quezon City), Tabang Sikad (Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental), Farm Box (Calaca, Batangas), Kabasalan National High School YES-O (Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay), San Agustin Golden Eagle Esports (General Luna, Iloilo City), Sulong! Philippines (Ugong, Pasig City), Alliance of Public Health Advocates (San Pablo, Laguna), Project Smile and TheraWEE (Cainta, Rizal) and Mindanao Pride (Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental).

Mindanao Pride’s project entry, #KulturaSaGugma (Culture of Love), was launched in June 2021 as a campaign that uses social media storytelling as an approach to share real-life narratives of Mindanaoan LGBTQIA+ individuals and their inspiring stories of acceptance, individuality, and self-love to counter norms that discriminates sexual and gender minorities. The campaign was also a response to the LGBTQIA+ issues that arised during the pandemic; Transgender woman barred from using the women’s shower room in a beach resort in Samal Island, Davao del Norte and a community in Ampatuan, Maguindanao that publicly shaved the heads of six women between the ages of 16 and 20 for being lesbians.

The Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO)  is Philippines’ only award-giving body that recognizes and supports the outstanding contributions of youth organizations to the country. The Search aims to recognize, reward, and encourage youth organizations all over the country with programs and projects that help their communities.

Mindanao Pride is a youth-led organization composed of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer individuals in Mindanao working on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Expression and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) and Human Rights issues

For more information, you may email secretariat@mindanaopride.org or visit Mindanao Pride on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @MindanaoPride. (PR)