"K'LA Ako!": coming Out of Muslim Homosexuals in Davao city, Philippines

This study is a descriptive, qualitative type of research that examines the factors affecting the “coming out” of ten (10) Muslim male homosexuals and five (5) Muslim female homosexuals in Davao City, Philippines, its effects, and their coping mechanisms to the negative effects of “coming out”. The data for this study were gathered through in-depth interviews of ten (15) key informants who are single, generally young, with the age range 16-34 years and with mean age of 19 years. The findings in this study reveal that the informants’ concept of “coming out” is equated with the term “paglipad” (to soar) —which denotes empowerment and freedom, a stage higher than “pagladlad”. Similar to but also different from the Cass Model, an alternative model of the “coming out” process is presented in this study, according to the experiences of the informants. This alternative model presents “paglipad” (to soar) as the highest stage in the process. Internal motivations, which boil down to the desire to be happy, significantly influenced the “coming out” of the informants, thereby supporting the idea that one’s self, and his/her own acceptance of his/her homosexuality is more important than others’ acceptance. Since homosexuality is forbidden in Islam, formal and informal forms of social control exist, with social exclusion functioning both as