Mikko Tamura

The Philippines is to be considered one of the most-LGBT friendly countries in the World. In 2019, it was able to host the largest pride celebration in Asia. Amidst all this, crimes against LGBTQ+, discrimination, and bullying is still rampant in the country. The Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression (SOGIE) Bill is still continuously being delayed. It is intended to prevent various economic and public accommodation-related acts of discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. Despite of being tolerated, the LGBT community is still far from being accepted by society. Evidence of our community have been written on books, told in stories, presented in movies and yet the community has not left its mark in data. Spreadsheets, research, books have identified spaces where community activities happen but this are not shown on any map online. Our spaces are mere descriptions or addresses on tables and paragraphs. This talk would be about how we would be more represented on OpenStreetMap so as to provide emphasis on being on the map.

MapBeks is an online community of mapping volunteers that advocates for diversity inclusion and representation focused specifically for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgendered, Queer, Inter-sexed, etc. (LGBTQI+) on OpenStreetMap. As part of its advocacy is to map-out and locate all HIV facilities (testing, counselling, and treatment hubs) in the Philippines. It has researched, collated, and validated various sources to build an updated and comprehensive online database with location data. Currently, it has identified 650 HIV testing and counselling centers all over the Philippines and already mapped out 140 (20%) of the facilities on OSM using MapContrib.xyz. We would like to share our experiences in building our small community of LGTQ+ advocates, and digital volunteers. We hope we can inspire the world with our endeavour to make change from what little we have. The talk will discuss the following: 1. The STATUS QUO- LGBT places are not that much represented on OSM/ tagging/ lack of data 2. How was Map Beks able to start up as a local community and how it was able to reach out to the growing LGBT and PLHIV community 3. Its current projects and advocacies 4. Its plans for the future