In June 2019, a record-breaking 70,000 Filipinos came out to march for pride; for a predominantly catholic country, this is a big deal. But most of them don’t remember the day they revealed their true identity because, unfortunately, coming out or being labelled as part of the LGBTQIA+ community is still frowned upon in the Philippines. As of today, 62% of LGBTQIA+ Filipinos still experience discrimination.

LoveYourself Foundation, a group that champions the LGBTQ+ community, wanted to create a society where everyone is accepted, but to do this they needed to talk to the community first and encourage them to celebrate their true selves, that way they can be celebrated by others.

The Philippines is a predominantly Catholic country. Coming out is still frowned upon by most Filipinos. 19% of Filipinos describe LGBTQ as a “misfit.” 65% of Filipinos still think that homosexuality is morally unacceptable. 25% of Filipinos think that being gay is a mental disease. That’s why most of the LGBTQ+ community come out to select people only which leaves a large room of indifference, discrimination, and disrespect from people who don’t know our identity.

What if they were given a chance to celebrate their preferred gender? That’s where the idea of a special kind of birthday came from.

Traditionally, it’s the girls and boys who are expected to celebrate their becoming a woman or a man. They celebrate it with debut parties, sweet sixteens, and twenty-first birthdays. But now that times are changing and there are more genders to be celebrated, how can the LGBTQ+ community celebrate their preferred gender? The idea was to give the LGBTQ+ community a day they can truly own and remember—a 2nd First Birthday. It is a day for them to also celebrate their gender as they fully accept and own it. It is treated like a life milestone where they can look back and remember how they’ve overcome the struggles of not being true to themselves.

The journey of coming out is hard enough. That’s why LoveYourself Foundation, an LGBTQIA+ organization wanted to give people a chance to celebrate their coming out for the 2nd time—this time, with love and acceptance.

To make the cause stronger, they partnered with Cakeshop by Sonja to have a 2nd First Birthday celebration. It was celebrated with key LGBTQ+ influencers who told their stories of coming out to bring more attention to the cause of diversity and inclusion in the Philippines. To institutionalize the day like a real birthday celebration, they had other executions reminiscent of a real birthday so people can truly celebrate they gender like it’s a life milestone.

On October 11, International Coming Out Day, LoveYourself Foundation launched 2nd First Birthday with a party for the LGBTQ+ community. Then they partnered with Sonja’s Cakeshop to create a line of 2nd First Birthday cakes with layers representing the flag of each gender identity—plain on the outside, colorful on the inside. To institutionalize the day, they even partnered with an audio house to sing an official 2nd First Birthday song. Staunch LGBTQIA+ advocates who never had an official coming out day were given a chance to celebrate their 2nd First Birthday as a Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Queer, and more. They also told the 2nd First Birthday story through a film showing a person going through their firsts like how a baby would go through their first milestones: first steps, first smile, first words and more.

People who came out to celebrate made sure it was a day they will remember forever and celebrate year on year. They are mostly key online influencers who have not really celebrated their coming out since they became popular for being LGBTQ+. Sonja’s Cakeshop also became a platform for parents to ask more about the cause as they ordered the cakes. And a portion of those cakes sold were donated to the LoveYourself Foundation as they continued to promote equality. With A 2nd First Birthday, LoveYourself and Sonja’s Cakeshop brought the LGBTQIA+ community in the Philippines a step closer to true acceptance by encouraging more and more Filipinos to embrace their true selves.