ON the night of June 27, 1969, New York police raided a gay bar in Greenwich Village, New York, called Stonewall. While homosexuals were slowly coming out in the United States in the late ?60s, there was still much discrimination in jobs, schools and families, as well as harassment from police.

Gay men took these raids passively as part of the risks associated with being gay. The United States was in ferment, with different groups ? notably women and blacks ? marching through the streets fighting for their rights. A gay rights movement was developing but was not yet as visible in the streets.

As the police herded several Stonewall clients ? mainly drag queens or cross-dressers ?into a van, to be brought to the police station, something unexpected happened. The arrested clients and their friends resisted and fought back. For the next six days, more protest actions took place against the police and are now referred to as the Stonewall Uprising.

Stonewall gave birth to ?gay lib,? as more and more homosexuals chose to come out of their closets. The month of June is marked by many gay pride activities throughout the world, including the Philippines. The movement spread, not just geographically but across different segments of the marginalized population. I still remember how it would be ?gay men,? and then ?gay men and lesbians,? and then ?lesbians and gays.? Today, people talk about the LGBT movement, which refers to ?lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders.? Lately, the term ?sexual minorities? has been used more and more as a generic term.

Homosexuality (or, to be more precise, homosexual acts) was never illegal in the Philippines and both Filipinos and foreigners often generalize that there?s much tolerance here, pointing to the cross-dressing baklas (and, lately, the very young baklita) swaying down the streets. But discrimination does exist, sometimes accompanied by violence inflicted even by fathers and brothers. Lesbians who are out have also been victimized, sometimes even raped with the perverse reasoning that once a lesbian has ?tasted? a man she would change her sexual orientation.

Gay bars in the Philippines tend to be associated with macho dancers and commercial sex, much like beer houses catering to heterosexual men except that they?re more vulnerable to periodic raids and, as in the pre-Stonewall era in the States, the raids are taken as part of the risks of a gay life.

Organized groups of Filipino gay men and lesbians have existed for several decades now but mainly for social activities. In the 1990s, the HIV/AIDS epidemic catalyzed the emergence of LGBT groups with a more political agenda, as gay activists argued that men and women were getting infected and dying because social discrimination was preventing them from accessing HIV education and treatment.

Today, groups like Lagablab and Pro-Gay are working for laws to protect gay rights. Lagablab has even talked about fielding candidates in the 2010 elections.

Even before this gay activism though, Filipinos were slowly becoming more educated about LGBT issues, in part because so many lesbians and gay men were working in mass media, the arts, theater and film. From directors to script writers, lesbians and gay men have made their presence felt. It?s interesting that in the same year as the Stonewall riots, the Philippines had its first full-length film about a bakla, ?Facifica Falayfay? played by Dolphy. While the bakla was still the object of derision, with a conversion at the end of the film (and which gave rise to another film in the 1980s, ?Anak ni Facifica Falayfay?), ?Facifica? did make the bakla more visible.

In the 1970s, Orlando Nadres? one-act play, ?Hanggang Dito Na Lamang at Maraming Salamat,? staged by PETA at Fort Santiago, again brought gay men out in the open, this time with defiance.

Sympathetic ?breeders? (as heterosexuals are sometimes called, partly in jest) like Dr. Margarita Holmes, talk show hosts and other mass media people have also helped by correcting many misconceptions about homosexuality which have stoked bigotry and prejudice.

It?s helped too that there?s an upwardly mobile LGBT segment of the population wielding economic power so businesses are now trying to get their share of the pink peso with all kinds of products, from glossy gay publications to swanky gay clubs that police wouldn?t even dare enter, much less raid.

Problems remain, certainly. Religious conservatives continue to label homosexuality as ?unnatural? and ?sinful,? vehemently opposing any kind of gay rights legislation. Many Filipino LGBTs also face new challenges as they join the diaspora, working in countries where homosexuality might even be illegal. The recent arrest of 72 Filipinos in Saudi Arabia as they held a party is only one of the more dramatic examples. Fortunately, the men were charged not with homosexuality (which could bring the death penalty) but with ?imitating women.?

With time, we will see less talk about ?tolerance,? including the now almost pathetic ?Tao din kami"? (we are people too) and more talk about pride. UP Babaylan, a student group, could not have put this emerging gay pride more appropriately than in a T-shirt emblazoned with ?Bakla ako. May angal ka? (I?m gay. Any problem with that?)? ?