Why we still need queer stories on screen and on stage

There are limitations when it comes to notions of LGBTQ+ visibility and representation, especially when discussions around it default to common tropes and identity politics. This is evident in entertainment offerings where queer storytelling is concerned.

Queer stories are presented in hit romantic comedy films like Happiness for Beginners and Your Place or Mine, but LGBTQ+ groups like media advocacy organization GLAAD have pointed out that they “only exist to bolster straight narratives.” There are, however, titles like Red, White & Royal Blue and American Fiction that feature queer people and turn the spotlight on stories of their own.

On the silver screen, recent figures from GLAAD’s Studio Responsibility Index show that only 27.3% of the international films released in 2023 include an LGBTQ+ character—a decline from the record-setting 28.5% in 2022.  

In local mainstream media in 2024, we have films like Balota, Water Sports, and And the Breadwinner Is… as well as TV titles like Drag Race Philippines, Marahuyo Project, and Sparks Camp that showcase varied and vibrant queer talents and stories. Stagings such as Mula sa Buwan, Rent, and Bar Boys: A New Musical also interrogate lived experiences of LGBTQ+ people.  

But time and again, vital questions crop up: Are queer narratives broadening out? How can we foster coexistence and concrete measures through this increasing demand for queer-based content to safeguard actual lives?

Queer storytelling in the entertainment scene 

Actress-musician Lance Reblando stressed the importance of spotlighting queer stories in entertainment. “Bukod sa minority na nga tayo, napakatagal na nating pinaglalabang marinig at kilalanin ang karapatan natin sa bansang ito. Oras naman na siguro para kilalanin tayo bilang tao rin—may kwento at pagkakakilanlan,” she tells PhilSTAR L!fe.  

But what’s troubling for Reblando is whether such stories are told by LGBTQ+ storytellers. “Mahalagang queer actors ang kunin kung queer stories ang nais mong ipahayag sa publiko dahil kahit na anong gawin mo, hindi mo mapepeke ang lived experiences. Ibang karga at bagahe ang mayroon ang queer folks na hindi mapepeke ng kung sino mang gaganap sa kahit na anong role, lalo na’t kung hindi sila parte ng community.”  

Migrating between the screen and stage, Reblando, this year, has played Juvy in the queer barkada series Marahuyo Project and Serafina in Barefoot Theatre Collaborative’s restaging of Mula sa Buwan. She’s also set to portray Meow in PETA Theater’s rerun of Tabing Ilog: The Musical.

But of this success, the most significant is her role as Angel in 9 Works Theatrical’s local production of Jonathan Larson’s Rent, not only because of the latter’s international renown but also because of the citation extended to her recently by the Gawad Buhay Awards under Female Featured Performance in a Musical. “Walang mapaglagyan ang tuwa ko,” she shares. “Sobrang importante nito sa akin dahil bukod sa ako ang unang trans woman na na-cite sa kategoryang ito, ibig sabihin puwede pala at nasimulan ko na ang pag-penetrate sa dibisyong matagal na nating gustong buwagin at marating—kilalanin ang trans women bilang women.”  

Just the beginning

For Drag Race Philippines Season 3 finalist Tita Baby, we are “just at the cusp of showing who the LGBTQIA+ community really is.”  

“Being 40ish, I have seen that these past few years have only been the ‘coming out of the closet’ for the community so to speak. We have come a long way, but it’s just the beginning, and we cannot have it all at the first blow,” she says in an interview with L!fe. “Representation may already be a big leap into the light, let’s take that, and work from the inside out.”

Since its debut in 2022, Drag Race Philippines has been integral not only in allowing the local drag scene to strut its way into the mainstream but also in spotlighting trans/queer histories and the community’s lived experiences.  

According to Tita Baby, materials on queer people by queer people remain significant because “we are losing our life skills to empathize with others.”  

For Tita Baby, showcasing experiences of the LGBTQIA+ community in mainstream media “not only paints a clearer picture that deep inside we are all part of humankind—it also creates a safer mindset of belongingness to those who feel alone and different.”

Theater and screen actor Phi Palmos likewise noted the significance of queer-led projects. “Viola Davis perfectly summed it up when she said that representation is important because ‘you need to see a physical manifestation of your dream,’” he tells L!fe. “We need to first see, to believe that it’s possible. A queer person falling in love and being loved in return. A trans person being accepted by family and colleagues.”  

“When these stories are told, it makes the impossible possible. It makes the myths that were ingrained in the minds of generations of queer people shattered. That their hopes and dreams are valid too,” he continued.  

Such manifestations are evident in the many roles Palmos has taken on, including Rosanna in Mula sa Buwan and Ada in Zsazsa Zaturnnah The Musical… ‘Yun Lang.  

“Rosanna in Mula Sa Buwan,” shares the actor, “is traditionally played by a woman and I am the first queer actor to have played the role. Ada in Zsazsa Zaturnnah is iconic because it has broken barriers for the stereotypical parlorista and gave us the promise of a true love. [That] love is indeed love.”  

“I have enjoyed playing these characters not because it was easy but because their purpose was clear. It’s a reflection of where we are as queer people in history,” he continues.  

Palmos will bank on this commitment as he plays another queer character in Delia D: A Dragtastic Musical, an upcoming production by Newport World Resorts’ Full House Theater Company.  

But while creatives continue to lead the pack in pushing for a new era for queer storytelling, he also emphasizes that at large, “we should insist on a future beyond gender because it is the only way to a world that is compassionate and accepting.”  

Gender, after all, is just one aspect of a person. “There is the mind, the body, the spirit, and plenty more that a person can become,” says Tita Baby.  

“If we continue to only accept what is traditional and comfortable with respect to gender, then we as humankind are missing out on new, creative, brilliant, out-of-the-box experiences, ideas, and solutions to humankind’s own evolution,” she concluded.