Do Not Let The Black Paint Darken Your Hearts
Update: Bench released a statement to Rappler clarifying that the image appearing on the billboard on EDSA is the approved image. It was not vandalized nor defaced.
Bench, one of Philippines' largest clothing brands put up a beautiful ad celebrating all kinds of love. 4 giant billboards with the theme Love All Kinds of Love greeted the largest highway of the nation's capital. One billboard is a photo depicting the love and bond between a grandparent and a grandchild, another depicts the love between a man and a woman, the 3rd one shows a love shared by two men and the 4th billboard is a photo portraying the love shared by 2 women.
Bench's Love All Kinds of Love Campaign
Photo Credit: stylebible.ph
It is a bold move by Bench. And while we are thankful and happy that a company as huge as Bench cares enough to make a stand on love equality, some are not so. The billboard depicting the love shared by 2 men, (played by real life couple Vince Uy and Nino Gaddi) was defaced by someone. We don't know who, but someone did. That someone took the time to haul a bucketful of black paint to smear it over the linked hands of the 2 men.
One of Bench's billboards for Love All Kinds of Love was smeared with black paint to cover the interlinked hands of two men.
Image from: spot.ph
While the black paint did a good job in hiding the hand-holding of 2 men, it does not do anything to weaken the call for love equality. A number of Filipinos went to Twitter demanding to #painttheirhandsback and a number of artists made their own versions of the hands painted back. Check out the input of artists on the #painttheirhandsback
We have a long way to go Philippines. But this is a step forward. I have never seen a billboard of any gay (or LGBT) couple standing tall and proud anywhere in the Philippines until now. Our steps may be little what with all the resistance pushing us back but we would march on with love in our hearts.
Do not let the black paint darken your hearts. Let's keep spreading the message.
