Villalobos: In the end, love will win (because it always does!)

(Image from Pixabay)
(Image from Pixabay)

THE month of June celebrates the things closest to my heart. As a young environmentalist, this month will always be exciting as we celebrate World Environment Day every June 5. But as a young queer environmentalist, this month is not only a month of green but also a month of rainbows.

But beyond the colors and the euphemisms they represent, for me, the month of June is a month of working towards love’s inevitable victory.

Commemorating this month’s multiple celebrations, I cannot help but look back on the things we have accomplished, the hurdles we have overcome, as well as the work that needs to be done and the demons to be slayed ahead of us.

As a young queer climate activist, I have a lot of stories to tell you about love. Not only the type of love that makes you shiver when you recall a moment when you’re lying in bed, sharing ice cream with your partner, while watching a Netflix movie that took you so long to choose and that you can't even finish without “distractions.”

But there is another feeling of love which is equally important but often overlooked and underestimated.

It is the type of love that makes you go out of your way to minimize your plastic use, organize a coastal clean-up, hike a mountain to plant a tree, spearhead an environmental event, or even walk in the streets to protest an environmental or social justice issue despite the imminent threat of being ridiculed and tagged with different names such as bayaran, insurgent, or just simply, “too young.”

Being young, queer, and idealistic

Being young and gay might have its own advantages and disadvantages when it comes to navigating reality and contributing to social change.

To start, being young means being creative, energetic, passionate, zealous, and relentlessly optimistic. You feel like you can change the world.

And that has been undisputedly true. In our nation’s past, many passionate young people have changed the course of history.

From winning revolutions against colonizers, to stopping fossil-fuel projects, and creating a cleaner future by advocating for renewable energy.

However, you will also meet a lot of people who will try to use the “you’re too young” card against you hoping to invalidate your cause and diminish your passion. Sometimes, you will believe them.

Then you realize that being young and fighting for a cause doesn’t happen because you are “trying to find a purpose” but because you are a loving person.

Resistance as a form of love.

You are a loving person because you fight against injustice and discrimination committed against the people you love, who are either known to you or are strangers to you. Even if you don’t know them, or even if they don’t know you, they can be people who are extremely vulnerable to climate impacts, people threatened by fatal diseases brought about by dirty energy projects, or communities that stand to lose their homes and livelihoods because of proposed reclamation projects.

You realize that you are not only doing it because you love the environment but you are doing this because you love the people who rely on the environment to survive and live with dignity.

As the famous quote of Che Guevara says: At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love.

As a young queer climate activist, the cards are stacked against me. I cannot openly love someone because, for some, it is seen as an abomination. In the same way, I am also hindered from expressing my love to other people because I’m “too young.”

Invisibility of queer people in climate discussions

Queer people like me are marginalized during climate-induced disasters.

Aside from discrimination based on our sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) and prejudice based on religion and dominant norms, the needs and context of the LGBTQIA+ community in the region are most often than not considered in disaster response, thus leading us to have lesser or no access to social services, resources, and information, which puts us more at risk and makes us more vulnerable to climate shocks and stresses - including access to sustainable and clean energy.

In climate movements and policy-making, the contributions of queer people like me are also often left-out and unrecognized.

The way forward

A gender-just energy transition is needed to advance a planet that is clean, sustainable, and resilient to climate change impacts. It is a transition that puts every marginalized community at the center of discussion, planning, budgeting, and decision-making, and holding duty bearers accountable.

With Environment Day and Pride Month happening this June, we must foster discussion on climate action that sees through the needs of the most vulnerable and those often rendered invisible during crises.

Let us continue to fight, and love. Because in the end, love will win. It always does.*

***

Joshua Villalobos is a young queer climate activist from Negros Occidental, Philippines who advocates for the intersectionality of climate issues with other social justice issues.

For comments and insights, please contact joshuaovillalobos@su.edu.ph. This op-ed was written in partnership with Oxfam Pilipinas for Pride Month and World Environment Day 2023.


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