BB Gandanghari Starts Blogging

There’s so much to write about because there are so many developments lately in the digital space here in the Philippines. I’ll resist the temptation of writing about all of them in one day and try to space it out evenly so I won’t run out of things to write. Anyway, for starters, BB Gandanghari, formerly known as Rustom Padilla, decided to start a blog. What’s interesting here is that she starts it with a big bang! One of the first posts recounts her experience in a restaurant bar in Metrowalk called Aruba Bar and Restaurant. The management didn’t allow BB inside because of a “No Cross-dressing” rule which was displayed in the front door of the establishment.

BB Gandanghari writes:

Sass talked to the bouncer of Aruba Bar & Restaurant but she was then referred to the manager. She asked Sass: “What is she wearing?” Sass told her that I was wearing what every modest woman wears. The manager then iterated the blatant “No Crossdressing” policy hanging on their door. Sass refused to accept her reasoning. The manager then offered to consult the owner of the bar. The manager returned and gave a compromise: We can stay outside of Aruba Bar & Restaurant. Sass left and narrated what she was told. We left Metrowalk and transferred into a bar that understands that bigotry is not a sound business strategy.

I have felt perhaps the same feeling Rosa Parks felt when she was asked to give up her seat so a white passenger could sit. We, and countless human beings like me, suffered and are continue suffering the same indignity of discrimination: Rosa Park was discriminated because of her skin color; human beings of transgender experience are being discriminated because of their gender identity, the deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which of course does not always match the sex assigned by the doctors upon our birth.

Source

The blog post has already been picked up by one of the biggest entertainment websites – PEP. It’s only a matter of time before this gets featured on mass media like what happened to the UP Cat Killer. In fact, the same trend is already happening – the blog post is being cross-posted by various people in other social media like Plurk.

Will this snowball? There’s definitely a big chance of that happening because BB has a lot of fans and followers. Let’s see what happens in the next few days.

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