#bekinese

[queerasfact]

One phrase for 'come out' in the Philippines is 'magladlad ng kapa' - 'unfurl the cape'. An incredible piece of queer linguistics.

Can’t believe I forgot to mention this in our podcast on queer slang

[muchymozzarella]

Friendly reminder that Filipinos have an entire language invented by gay people

An extensive wiki page explains it in detail

But what you need to know is that it was identified since the 70s and is understood by a majority of Filipinos because of gay Filipino celebrities 

And even with the largely Catholic based bigotry of Filipinos against gay people, the LGBT community is thriving and continues to grow

[queerasfact]

This week on Queer as Fact we’ve been learning some words in Beki, a queer language used in the Philippines. Beki was created by queer people to avoid being understood by others, and uses wordplay, pop-culture references and sound changes to create new words to replace normal vocab. It draws on Indigenous languages from the Philippines like Tagalog and Cebuano, as well as English, Spanish, Japanese, and other languages from around the world.

Some of my favourite Beki words are ones describing sexual orientations. Here’s a just a few (we are a history podcast so these may be outdated....)

True blue - straight

Double-blade - bisexual

Bianing - lesbian (from the English word lesbian plus the diminuitive -ing)

Baki - bisexual (from the Cebuano word for frog, since frogs live both on land and in water)

Magic - lesbian (because they’re like “magicians with wands”)

Kwaknit - gay man (from the Cebuano word for bat, since bats and gay men both cruise at night)

Check out our podcast if you want to learn more Beki words!

[queerasfact]

In 1977, directory Tony Espejo put on Philippine adaptation of the American queer play The Boys in the Band, translated into Taglish (Tagalog/English) by Jose Javier Reyes. The play’s program featured one of the first written examples of Swardspeak - a language created by the queer community in the Philippines to talk to each other without being understood - and even had a glossary to help the audience follow what was being said.

Check out our podcast to learn more!

[Images: source; front cover of the program, which features a picture of the cast, list of showing dates, and reads “the BOYS in the BAND”; page from within the program titled “GLOSSARY OF “SWARDSPEAK” and listing various words and meanings from the language]

[queerasfact]

Sneak peek of tomorrow’s Queer as Fact....

[Image: Screencap from Bojack Horseman showing Mr Peanutbutter (labelled 'Jason') standing at a table where Princess Caroline (labelled '1968 American play The Boys in the Band) and Bojack Horseman (labelled 'Philippine queer language, Beki') are seated. Text reads "What is this, a crossover episode?"]