Beauties demand rights
A transgender woman from the Philippines recently won an international beauty competition, but Filipina trans rights advocate Naomi Fontanos tells Gay Star News there's more to transgender life than looking beautiful
14 November 2012 | By Anna Leach
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/beauties-demand-rights141112Transgender women are nearly as visible in the Philippines as they are in Thailand, but does that mean the have a full bill of rights? Far from it, says Naomi Fontanos, founder of transgender rights group GANDA (Gender and Development Advocates) Filipinas. She talks to Gay Star News about health and legal advocacy, using contraceptives as hormones, the Catholic church and beauty pageants.
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Do you know anything about the history of transgender women in the Philippines?
There are documents that are called the Babaylan Chronicles that were written by Spanish priests who came during the colonisation of the islands [late 16th Century].
According to these documents, there were male-bodied individuals in pre-colonial tribes and communities who lived as women - some temporarily dressed as women and others did full-time in the female role. Many of them acted as priestesses and they were known by various names.
So using modern precepts it's probably safe to say they were the precursors of the modern transgender community.
