This UP Pride Week, not only we celebrate and call for equality and acceptance of all genders, but we also give recognition to books and literature from the LGBT genre which are continuously challenged by the community through the celebration of Banned Books Week 2014.

The University of the Philippines School of Library and Information Studies Student Council joins the UP community in cerebrating Pride Week 2014. We join not only the LGBT Community but the rest of the country and the world to celebrate true freedom of identity and expression.

We believe that celebrating Pride Week is much more than a celebration of the LGBT community. It is a celebration of identity. unity, and freedom. It is a recognition of diversity It's a start of hope towards a better future. It is a fight against hale and ignorance.

We are extending our hand to our brothers and sisters, to those in Uganda who fear of being themselves, to those in Russia who experience abuse for expressing what they feel, to those in different parts of the world who are bullied for being different and to anyone who is struggling to express who they are.

As future librarians and information professionals we fight against ignorance that leads to hate towards the LCBT community. We condemn actions based on superstitions that hurt the lives of those deemed different. To borrow the words of anthropologist Dr Paul Farmer. "the idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong the world". 

We applaud the efforts of the Filipino LGBT community for fighting for the rights that everyone deserves. We lend our support to make equality a reality in the country. We fight against the baseless hatred directed towards LGBT. 

To gender equality!