The Queer Queen Quivers: The Gays in Selected Philippine Prose in English

Grounded in Butler’s Queer Theory, focusing on performances, this paper examined gay protagonists in the five (5) Philippine representative queer-themed English proses, which titled as follow: “The Doll” by Emigdio Alvarez-Enriquez; “The Chamber of the Sea” by Edith Tiempo; “High Fashion” by Gilda CorderoFernando; “Geyluv” by Honorio de Dios; and “The Husband” by Jaime An Lim. Specifically, the paper sought to attain the following objectives: (1) Identify the distinct queer character traits performed by the Filipino protagonists; (2) Classify the queer traits identified in the selected prose under study; and (3) Interpret the queerness exhibited by the Filipino gays. The study revealed the following findings: (1) The Filipino gay protagonists did not possess specific but varying queer character traits; (2) The Filipino gays’ traits could be classified into (a) sexual-emotional involvements, (b) personal inclinations, and (c) psychological/ behavioral displays through a Codebook. Apart from the use of the Queer Theory in other literary genre, this study also recommends the use of the set criteria established in this research for an objective selection of literary texts that can be explored and considered meaningfully in literary research.