Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and this day is very important for Filipinos. No matter where someone lives in the world, everyone somehow has a love story to tell or even knows a Hugot line. Love plays an important role in Filipino society. You can see it everywhere in Filipino culture, be it in music (e.g. in songs like Please Be Careful With My Heart, Pare Mahal Mo Raw Ako, or Mahal Ko Mahal Ako), in films like Barcelona: A Love Untold, in series such as the online BL series Gameboys or in books by Precious Hearts Romances.
In the next episode of the Euro-Pinoy talk we would like to address this issue. Everyone knows that true love conquers everyone. Love knows no boundaries. But how about couples who are in a nontraditional relationship (i.e. the partner is not Filipino, is not of the same religion, or is not heterosexual)? We will look at the various forms of partnerships and relationships with our panelists and discuss how they experience this in their everyday lives. Questions like: What do you have in common will be asked. How do Filipinos in Europe and their families in the Philippines see their relationship? What role do differences such as religion, culture or language play in their everyday life and how do they deal with them? How open and inclusive is Filipino society and the Euro-Pinoy community towards couples from the LGBTQIA+ community, especially if they come from different cultural backgrounds? Panelists are from across Europe (Finland, Norway, Switzerland)