Stavros
11-03-2014, 02:31 PM
This article appeared in the weekend edition of The Independent the weekend before last, and concerns a care home in Pasay that was established in the 1970s. Full article link (with photos) at the end, with an extract here:
Photographer captures the lost legacy of Justo Justo's Filipino Home of the Golden Gays
In 1975, Justo Justo, a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) spokesperson and columnist, founded the Home of the Golden Gays, a care facility for elderly homosexuals in the city of Pasay, the Philippines. A prominent voice in the promotion of equal rights and Aids awareness, Justo popularised the gay lingo 'Swardspeak' – a playful combination of Tagalog, Spanish and English littered with references to Mariah Carey, the playwright Noël Coward and items from the McDonald's menu. His optimistic campaign, characterised not just by this, but by his get-up too – the kiss-curl and the TV-friendly smile – attracted scores of ageing gay men to the refuge for over three decades. These included Walter J Dempsey, whose ordeal as a sex slave held by Japanese soldiers during the Second World War is retold in the Filipino film, Markova: Comfort Gay (2001).
Until Justo Justo's death in May 2012, the Home of the Golden Gays offered security, freedom of expression and a sense of community to the gay and poor elders of the Manila community, who are not subject to a real state pension scheme. Yet with the personal bond between its founder and landlord extinguished, residents were forced to disband, leaving Ramon Busa, a disciple of Justo's, to take the group's reigns.
http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9817327.ece/alternates/w1024/5750953.jpg
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/photographer-captures-the-lost-legacy-of-justo-justos-filipino-home-of-the-golden-gays-9810931.html?origin=internalSearch
Photographer captures the lost legacy of Justo Justo's Filipino Home of the Golden Gays
In 1975, Justo Justo, a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) spokesperson and columnist, founded the Home of the Golden Gays, a care facility for elderly homosexuals in the city of Pasay, the Philippines. A prominent voice in the promotion of equal rights and Aids awareness, Justo popularised the gay lingo 'Swardspeak' – a playful combination of Tagalog, Spanish and English littered with references to Mariah Carey, the playwright Noël Coward and items from the McDonald's menu. His optimistic campaign, characterised not just by this, but by his get-up too – the kiss-curl and the TV-friendly smile – attracted scores of ageing gay men to the refuge for over three decades. These included Walter J Dempsey, whose ordeal as a sex slave held by Japanese soldiers during the Second World War is retold in the Filipino film, Markova: Comfort Gay (2001).
Until Justo Justo's death in May 2012, the Home of the Golden Gays offered security, freedom of expression and a sense of community to the gay and poor elders of the Manila community, who are not subject to a real state pension scheme. Yet with the personal bond between its founder and landlord extinguished, residents were forced to disband, leaving Ramon Busa, a disciple of Justo's, to take the group's reigns.
http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9817327.ece/alternates/w1024/5750953.jpg
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/photographer-captures-the-lost-legacy-of-justo-justos-filipino-home-of-the-golden-gays-9810931.html?origin=internalSearch