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I was an eight-year-old kid[br]in the mid-1990s.

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I grew up in southern Philippines.

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At that age, you're young enough[br]to be oblivious

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about what society expects[br]from each of us

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but old enough to be aware[br]of what's going on around you.

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We lived in a one-bedroom house,

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all five of us.

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Our house was amongst clusters of houses

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made mostly of wood[br]and corrugated metal sheets.

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These houses were built[br]very close to each other

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along unpaved roads.

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There was little to no[br]expectation of privacy.

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Whenever an argument broke out next door,

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you heard it all.

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Or, if there was a little ...[br]something something going on --

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(Laughter)

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you would probably hear that, too.

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(Laughter)

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Like any other kid, I learned[br]what a family looked like.

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It was a man, a woman,[br]plus a child or children.

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But I also learned[br]it wasn't always that way.

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There were other combinations[br]that worked just as well.

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There was this family of three[br]who lived down the street.

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The lady of the house was called Lenie.

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Lenie had long black hair,[br]often in a ponytail,

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and manicured nails.

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She always went out[br]with a little makeup on

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and her signature red lipstick.

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Lenie's other half,[br]I don't remember much about him

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except that he had a thing[br]for white sleeveless shirts

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and gold chains around his neck.

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Their daughter was[br]a couple years younger than me.

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Now, everybody in the village knew Lenie.

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She owned and ran what was[br]the most popular beauty salon

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in our side of town.

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Every time their family[br]would walk down the roads,

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they would always be greeted with smiles

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and occasionally stopped[br]for a little chitchat.

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Now, the interesting thing about Lenie

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is that she also happened to be[br]a transgender woman.

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She exemplified one of the Philippines'[br]long-standing stories

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about gender diversity.

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Lenie was proof that oftentimes[br]we think of something as strange

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only because we're not familiar with it,

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or we haven't taken enough time[br]to try and understand.

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In most cultures around the world,

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gender is this man-woman dichotomy.

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It's this immovable, nonnegotiable,[br]distinct classes of individuals.

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We assign characteristics[br]and expectations

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the moment a person's[br]biological sex is determined.

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But not all cultures are like that.

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Not all cultures are as rigid.

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Many cultures don't look[br]at genitalia primarily

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as basis for gender construction,

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and some communities in North America,[br]Africa, the Indian subcontinent

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and the Pacific Islands,[br]including the Philippines,

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have a long history[br]of cultural permissiveness

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and accommodation of gender variances.

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As you may know,

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the people of the Philippines were under[br]Spanish rule for over 300 years.

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That's from 1565 to 1898.

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This explains why everyday[br]Filipino conversations

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are peppered with Spanish words

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and why so many of our last names,[br]including mine, sound very Spanish.

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This also explains the firmly entrenched[br]influence of Catholicism.

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But precolonial Philippine societies,

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they were mostly animists.

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They believed all things[br]had a distinct spiritual essence:

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plants, animals, rocks, rivers, places.

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Power resided in the spirit.

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Whoever was able to harness[br]that spiritual power was highly revered.

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Now, scholars who have studied[br]the Spanish colonial archives

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also tell us that these early societies[br]were largely egalitarian.

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Men did not necessarily[br]have an advantage over women.

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Wives were treated[br]as companions, not slaves.

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And family contracts were not done[br]without their presence and approval.

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In some ways, women had the upper hand.

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A woman could divorce her husband[br]and own property under her own name,

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which she kept even after marriage.

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She had the prerogative[br]to have a baby or not

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and then decide the baby's name.

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But the real key to the power[br]of the precolonial Filipino woman

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was in her role as "babaylan,"

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a collective term for shamans[br]of various ethnic groups.

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They were the community healers,

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specialists in herbal and divine lore.

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They delivered babies

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and communicated with the spirit world.

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They performed exorcisms

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and occasionally, and in defense[br]of their community,

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they kicked some ass.

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(Laughter)

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And while the babaylan was a female role,

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there were also, in fact,[br]male practitioners in the spiritual realm.

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Reports from early Spanish chroniclers[br]contain several references

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to male shamans who did not conform[br]to normative Western masculine standards.

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They cross-dressed

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and appeared effeminate

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or sexually ambiguous.

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A Jesuit missionary named Francisco Alcina

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said that one man[br]he believed to be a shaman

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was "so effeminate

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that in every way he was[br]more a woman than a man.

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All the things the women did

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he performed,

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such as weaving blankets,

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sewing clothes and making pots.

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He danced also like they did,

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never like a man,

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whose dance is different.

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In all, he appeared[br]more a woman than a man."

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Well, any other juicy details[br]in the colonial archives?

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Thought you'd never ask.

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(Laughter)

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As you may have deduced by now,

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the manner in which these[br]precolonial societies conducted themselves

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didn't go over so well.

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All the free-loving,[br]gender-variant-permitting,

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gender equality wokeness

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clashed viciously with the European[br]sensibilities at the time,

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so much so that the Spanish missionaries[br]spent the next 300 years

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trying to enforce their two-sex,[br]two-gender model.

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Many Spanish friars also thought[br]that the cross-dressing babaylan

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were either celibates like themselves

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or had deficient or malformed genitals.

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But this was pure speculation.

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Documents compiled between 1679 and 1685,[br]called "The Bolinao Manuscript,"

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mentions male shamans marrying women.

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The Boxer Codex, circa 1590,

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provide clues on the nature[br]of the male babaylan sexuality.

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It says, "Ordinarily they dress as women,

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act like prudes

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and are so effeminate

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that one who does not know them[br]would believe they are women.

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Almost all are impotent[br]for the reproductive act,

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and thus they marry other males[br]and sleep with them as man and wife

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and have carnal knowledge."

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Carnal knowledge, of course, meaning sex.

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Now, there's an ongoing debate[br]in contemporary society

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about what constitutes gender[br]and how it should be defined.

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My country is no exception.

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Some countries like Australia,[br]New Zealand, Pakistan, Nepal and Canada

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have begun introducing nonbinary options[br]in their legal documents,

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such as their passports[br]and their permanent resident cards.

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In all these discussions about gender,

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I think it's important to keep in mind

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that the prevailing notions[br]of man and woman as static genders

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anchored strictly on biological sex

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are social constructs.

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In my people's case,[br]this social construct is an imposition.

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It was hammered into their heads[br]over hundreds of years

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until they were convinced that their way[br]of thinking was erroneous.

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But the good thing about social constructs

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is they can be reconstructed

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to fit a time and age.

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They can be reconstructed

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to respond to communities[br]that are becoming more diverse.

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And they can be reconstructed

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for a world that's starting to realize

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we have so much to gain from learning[br]and working through our differences.

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When I think about this subject,

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I think about the Filipino people

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and an almost forgotten[br]but important legacy

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of gender equality and inclusivity.

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I think about lovers who were[br]some of the gentlest souls I had known

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but could not be fully open.

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I think about people[br]who have made an impact in my life,

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who showed me that integrity,[br]kindness and strength of character

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are far better measures of judgment,

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far better than things[br]that are beyond a person's control

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such as their skin color, their age

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or their gender.

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As I stand here today,[br]on the shoulders of people like Lenie,

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I feel incredibly grateful for all[br]who have come before me,

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the ones courageous enough[br]to put themselves out there,

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who lived a life that was theirs

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and in the process, made it a little[br]easier for us to live our lives now.

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Because being yourself is revolutionary.

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And to anyone reeling from forces[br]trying to knock you down

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and cram you into these neat little boxes[br]people have decided for you:

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don't break.

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I see you.

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My ancestors see you.

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Their blood runs through me[br]as they run through so many of us.

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You are valid, and you deserve[br]rights and recognition

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just like everyone else.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)