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MANILA, Philippines – It rained on the first Rainbow Race. But the drizzle did not dampen the spirit of the Pride Carnivale at the Quezon Memorial Circle.
“I would want more. But given the indicators of success that we’ve set—the number of participants and organizations, as well as the social media—that’s what matters. What’s important is the impact of the event,” said Ronivin Pagtakhan, the President and CEO of LoveYourself.
LoveYourself is a non-profit organization that offers free HIV testing and counseling through events and its clinics to reach out to others in propagating the ideas, attitudes, and practices that encourage loving oneself.
This year’s Pride Carnivale included a feeding program for 300 people and offered free massage. But the highlight is the Rainbow Race. It involves challenges affirming LGBT pride.
“The tasks have something to do with the interventions that we do at LoveYourself, including HIV testing, sexual orientation/ gender identity and expression, as well as the advocacies that we do, specifically to increase awareness about issues of discrimination, and sexually transmitted infections such, as HIV/AIDS,” Pagtakhan explained.
“The fun thing is it’s in a game mode. It has a twist. It’s not the usual, hardcore activism, where organizations will talk about human rights, LGBT rights, and equality. The game is more of a celebration of Pride Month,” he added.
The Rainbow Race was also designed to heavily use the social media.
Pagtakhan revealed, “We pushed the posts to involve even non-race participants. This is part of the strategy to spread the idea of the Pride Month.”
There were close to 150 race registrants, but their target number was only 100 participants. Kurt Silvano was crowned Champion of the Rainbow Race.
“I joined the Rainbow Race because I really wanted to support our organization and help raise funds,” he said.
Dubbed “fundraising for a proud cause”, all registration fees in the Rainbow Race will benefit LoveYourself, The Project Red Ribbon, and Sustainable Health Initiatives Philippines Foundation — 3 organizations which help support the community through HIV testing, counseling and care.
– Rappler.com
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