SINILANG SA SILANGAN

the visiting forces agreement (VFA) grants US military personnel exceptional legal status within the philippines, and effectively shields them from any legal consequences for their crimes in the philippines. the enhanced defense cooperation agreement (EDCA) also exacerbates this by extending the stay of US military personnel as well as allowing them to build facilities on US military bases. these are systematic tools of US imperialism that implicates many of our women in areas where there are US bases, as in the case of jennifer laude.

moreover, LGBTQ+ activists in the philippines are being silenced, not only because of their resistance against patriarchal gender and sexuality norms, but for drawing clear connections between anti-imperialism and their liberation.

for us, there can be no "queer liberation" without anti-imperialism, because we are first and foremost victims of imperialism. every law, agreement, and system made to benefit the US over our own people exacerbates all the problems that we already face. the issue of LGBTQ+ liberation is not just an issue of combating patriarchy, but of combating the systems which affect all of us.

so just remember, who is your enemy, USAmerican queer? the US military or the LGBTQ+ people of the world the US military oppresses?

Broken objects, beyond repair.

Or: You thought I was over Imperial Radch? I’m never not going to be emotional about Sphene’s tea set being a metaphor for Everyone’s Trauma.,