Jun 30 2021 04:04 PMMANILA — "Bakit kami inaaresto?" Rey Valmores-Salinas asked cops as she and a few other activists were being pulled out of their car and into a police mobile one morning in June last year.
Just a couple minutes earlier, Salinas, a transgender woman, was on the streets with several LGBTQ demonstrators and allies from different progressive groups to hold a protest for Pride month.
It was June 26, 2020, and Metro Manila was just weeks fresh out of the toughest virus quarantine classification. But despite the risk of contracting the new coronavirus, compounded by fear of state violence, the group insisted that Pride month is not merely a celebration, but a protest.They followed protocols: 3 columns, 3 people per row, 1 meter.