AUTHOR

Allyson Banga-an

Allyson Banga-an is a communications specialist from the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, Philippines. She is an alumni from Notre Dame University and a very experienced professional in humanitarian development such as program development and public relations. Banga-an is also a member of the LGBTQ Community, being a proud gay. She also heavily campaigns women empowerment and gender equality.

In the time of the writing of the story, homosexuality was heavily discouraged by the Muslim community as dealing with these matters is a “sin” and “heresy”. Even in 2007, LGBT members were banned from entering Jolo according to a local religious group and there have been tons of LGBT related crimes in Muslim regions. There also have been numerous reports about LGBT members being discriminated among the Muslim societies and even within their families where they would disown their gay family members. In fact, the city of Marawi passed an ordinance which allows the discrimination of LGBT members (yet it is still being challenged in the court). Though this issue has somewhat been less talked about nowadays, rest assured that this type of discrimination is still present up to the recent times. 

Discussion Director : Edrian Jame Pesario