Michael David 'Mick' dela Cruz Tan is an activist, journalist and researcher who works to advance LGBTQIA+ human rights and to help people living with HIV. He is the founder of Outrage Magazine, the only LGBTQIA+ publication in the Philippines.
Mick has been involved in LGBTQIA+ and HIV-related advocacy efforts since the 1990s. In 2000, he oversaw the production of manuals for treatment, care and support for Filipino PLHIVs (for Ford Foundation and Remedios AIDS Foundation, Inc.). In 2005, he wrote the HIV and AIDS profile of the Philippines (for UNAIDS and Health Action Information Network, Inc.). In 2008, he documented for UNICEF the plight of prostituted street children in Iloilo City.
Since 2010, he has also been conducting researches on LGBTQIA+ and HIV-related issues. For instance, in 2012, he conducted a pioneering study on the KAP on HIV of Deaf LGBTQIA Filipinos. In 2014, he wrote the 'Being LGBT in Asia: Philippines Country Report' for UNDP and USAID. In 2017, he wrote the only journalistic stylebook to guide media when reporting on LGBTQIA issues in the Philippines. In 2018, he wrote #PreventionNOTCondemnation, which looked at the responses to HIV of Protestant and Evangelical churches in the Philippines. And in 2023, he conducted a pioneering study on the awareness and use of PrEP of transgender women who do sex work in Cebu City.
As a creative writer, Mick wrote ‘Red Lives’, a collection of stories from the local HIV community, in 2021.
Mick is the first person to write about PrEP and U=U in the Philippines, years before the Department of Health eventually included these in its arsenal of responses against HIV, and years before NGOs started offering related services to key populations. Outrage Magazine is also the only Filipino publication with a section solely focusing on HIV.
Among Mick’s current initiatives include: training Deaf LGBTQIA+ Filipinos on community-based HIV screening (CBS) to remove dependence on Hearing HIV service providers; and production of HIV-related PSAs for minority populations (e.g. Deaf Filipinos by using Filipino Sign Language).
Mick won the Best Investigative Journalism from the Catholic Mass Media Awards in 2004, and the 'Arts that Matter for Literature' award from Amnesty International-Philippines in 2020.
Mick holds a bachelors degree in Communication Studies from University of Newcastle in NSW, Australia and a masters degree in Development Communication from the University of the Philippines-Open University.
A lot changed since the 1990s, when I started working to challenge inequality in the Philippines, particularly to advance LGBTQIA+ human rights and help Filipinos living with HIV. Many of the changes are for the good, though these changes took a long time to happen. But they happened because of perseverance. It is this, therefore, that needs to be emphasised: that we push for change particularly when conditions are hard because that’s when changes are needed most.Michael David dela Cruz Tan