Silent Sanctuary, a popular OPM rock band, was recently booted out from the roster of performing musicians at the 2023 Quezon City Pride festival, “Love Laban sa QC”, at Quezon City Memorial Circle, hours before they were supposed to perform, after their former vocalist Ian Carandang accused the group of ‘homophobic’ actions.
In Carandang’s tweet that was made on Saturday, June 24, he expressed his dismay upon knowing that his former band would be performing in the event. He then revealed that he experienced gender discrimination from the band members when he was still their frontman:
“Just learned that Silent Sanctuary is playing at QC Pride Night and the fact that when I was their vocalist they told me I needed to go back into the closet if I wanted to keep being their vocalist is extremely offensive to me,” he said.
“I have always stayed quiet on this but THIS is a bridge too far for me that they purport to be pro-LGBT but have never publicly acknowledged or made amends for what they did to me is the last straw. That they are going to collect a talent fee and profit from a community that they have DIRECTLY discriminated against is FUCKED up and because of this I will not be attending QC Pride,” he added.
As an immediate response, Pride PH organizers released an official statement through its social media pages to exclude Silent Sanctuary from the line-up of performers for today’s program. The organizers apologized for including the group in the set and guaranteed to provide a safe space for the queer community at all times. The full announcement is as follows:
“WE ARE DROPPING SILENT SANCTUARY from our roster of performers at #LoveLabanSaQC for today’s program due to homophobic actions done to one of our own reported earlier this morning. Pride PH would like to assure our queer siblings in the LGBTQIA++ community that we remain a safe space for all and hence will not take this nor other similar cases lightly. As a collective, we stand firm on our values and stay true to our principles as long as we are here. Pride PH strongly condemns and strongly stands against any form of discrimination, homophobia, and harassment. We are taking full accountability and apologize for initially including them in the roster of performers. We are committed to do better and learn from this oversight. HOMOPHOBES ARE NEVER WELCOME ON OUR STAGE. THIS IS OUR SAFE SPACE. THIS IS OUR PRIDE.”
Twitter users commended Quezon City Government and Pride PH organization for the quick action. Here are some of the comments:
Meanwhile, Silent Sanctuary took to Instagram to give their statement regarding the allegations. Despite the criticisms, the band is still looking forward to being part of the Pride Month celebration in the future.
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