The early days of Ice Seguerra

Seguerra owes much of his self-discovery to his partner Liza Diño whom he met in 1999. “There was a connection we both felt for each other from the get-go,” he says. “Every time with her is special.”

In 2013, the couple made their relationship official. Seguerra shares that he and Diño did not let go of each other even when they were both at the “lowest points of their career”. “It’s nice that our love is so pure. I didn’t have Pagdating ng Panahon back then. She was also starting as an actor,” Seguerra recalls. A  year later, the couple wed in San Francisco, California. Seguerra claims that to this day, he still feels as if they are still on their honeymoon. “Love is a decision; you choose to be with this person daily,” he says.

He also adds that as someone who hates confrontations, he was never too open and emotional with his past relationships. “Only Liza made me realise you must fight for your love. Our goal is to always fight the problem and not each other. I am thrilled with her, and she is happy with me. We are so in sync. I am blessed that she is my wife.”

Diño, who was recently awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (with the rank of Chevalier or Knight) and the first Filipina to become a French Knight in the field of cinema, shares how grateful she is for finding Seguerra at the right time. “I discovered my gender identity when I was in a relationship with Ice,” she says. “He was the one who encouraged me to look into myself and understand who I really am—from my identity to my preference.”

Besides helping her discover her gender preferences, Diño, who identifies as cisgender female pansexual, adds that being with Seguerra also helped on her journey towards self-acceptance. “It was liberating for me to be comfortable in my own skin. I am living my authentic self.” Like Seguerra, Diño believes that the Philippines still has much to learn from the queer community regarding acceptance. The missus recalls a time when her daughter Amara made a touching gesture for Seguerra on Fathers’ Day. “My daughter sent a happy Father’s Day greeting to Ice for the very first time. She said many beautiful things; that, for me, is a milestone,” she says.

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The act was not received well by the public and the family suffered from transphobic comments. “Ice was so touched by it and posted it on his page. The local media picked it up and it’s sad because you’ll see comments like ‘Happy Father’s Day? Is he a father?’,” Diño says. “My daughter reached out to us and said ‘Mum they are transtargetting us’. She wasn’t embarrassed, but it is sad that people are invalidating our relationship just because of how they see him—I think in terms of queer acceptance, we have to acknowledge that we are now relatively far from where we’ve started, but also, that we have a long way to go.”

“Our relationship is a celebration of love and if people see it as our way of protest and living our truth, then so be it. But for us, the only thing that we have in mind is we will never allow people to put us in a box and force us to conform just because it’s convenient for them. You have your beliefs and this is ours, we’re going to live our truth.”

Diño believes that her relationship with Seguerra is a love worth fighting for. “Our relationship is a celebration of love and if people see it as our way of protesting then so be it. We will never allow people to put us in a box and force us to conform just because it’s convenient for them. You have your beliefs and this is ours, we’re going to live our truth,” she says.

Seguerra came out as a lesbian in 2007 on television. But he claims his family had always known because he confided his sexuality to them at age 15. “There’s this thing when you feel like people can’t know because of how society was back then.” Seguerra recounts the day he unintentionally opened up about being queer. “It was an interview with Tito Boy [Abunda] for the promo of my song Pagdating ng Panahon,” he says. “I was surprised because they edited the questions and answers together when I was watching the interview. Maybe the universe has its ways of unravelling the truth.”

In 2015 he came out as a transgender man. He admits that he was not well aware of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum in the past. “At the time, I thought there were only two—either you’re lesbian or gay. I came out as a lesbian because it was the closest thing I could identify myself with,” he says. Seguerra further explains that he had always felt like a man, especially when he became intimate with another person. “I didn’t feel like a woman,” he says. “I talked to my friends and did my research. When ‘transgender man’ was defined, I felt it ticked all my boxes. So, I told Liza, ‘Love, I think I’m trans,’ and she replied, ‘I’ve never seen you otherwise’”.

The actor reveals that he owes nobody a “coming out” moment. Yet he still shared his sexual orientation because that’s what he owes himself. “I did not plan to come out, but when you know who you truly are, that feeling of being free haunts you”.

Related: Filipino artist and LGBTQ+ advocate represents the Philippines at Liverpool Sound City Conference

After countless interviews and media appearances, Seguerra has one wish: for the press to ask and reveal more about the hardships of being queer in the Philippines. “They have to ask more about our plight,” he says. “It’s not a bed of roses. The situation that the community has to endure isn’t talked about that much.”

The queer actor also shares that there is merely not enough representation of the LGBTQIA+ community’s fight for equality. “There are so many things that seem normal on the surface, but in the end, we have no rights to protect us,” says Seguerra. “I know it might be difficult to understand, but like others, we have dreams like building a family. The only difference is that you already have the rights. We don’t.”

Seguerra pleads for the legislature to open its eyes and lobby for bills that eradicate discrimination and provide rights for queer people. “On a personal note, I believe it’s time for them to separate church and state. That’s the only thing stopping us,” he says. “I hope they don’t deny us our rights just because a certain organisation tells you so or you are afraid to lose votes. It’s about seeing the bigger picture and the greater good. I hope they remember that when they write bills.”

In the Philippines, a bill seeking to end gender-based discrimination: the Anti-Discrimination Bill or the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression (SOGIE) Equality Bill first filed in 2000. It has yet to be approved by both the House and the Senate.

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