nods

Yes.

I am pretty happy that bakla is basically not known beyond Filipin@s (and

even then… colonization has made is such that too many of us just are

raised to think it is equivalent to the white version of ‘gay’)

anyway. i’m glad. because while i can get mad at white appropriations of

third gender or ladyboy

bakla is my actual ID and the one with real meaning

and i’ve yet to even meet a white person who know what it was, much less

see one appropriate it.

this is also why, generally, i’m quite happy for people to think of me

being trans or whatever

also why i rarely frame my public discussions around me being bakla

because.

i almost feel that reducing it all to words in that exact way will be just

the invitation i need for white academics and white queers to consume me