FOR MEMBERS of the LGBTQ community, coming out of the metaphorical closet is the first step into a new life, and it makes the difference between merely surviving and really living. In coming out, someone steps out of the smoke and shadows they’ve wrapped around themselves. It’s not an easy step, and it always takes years of self-examination, and of course, it comes with the fears of rejection, and several hard questions for yourself and others.

And now members of the LGBTQ community will have a tasty way of announcing what some call their “second birthday.”

Just as some families have gender-reveal parties for their soon-to-be-born babies where one of the rituals involves cutting open a cake and revealing a color inside (pink for girls, and blue for boys), gays, lesbians, and the rest of the rainbow brigade can have the same experience — on their own terms — with a series of LGBTQ cakes from The Cakeshop by Sonja, in a campaign called My 2nd First Birthday.

“The advocacy aims to celebrate the second time a person recognizes his/her/their new gender identity in a bid to renew lives, push for acceptance, give pride and celebrate genuine love in society. The recently unveiled campaign launched a short film featuring celebrity fashion stylist, Vince Uy, and introduced a special line of cakes, which features designs and colors inspired by the LGBTQ community,” explained a press release.

The special line of cakes introduced by Sonja’s founder Sonja Ocampo include “O-Gay Cake,” a chiffon layered cake with a surprise of chocolate nibbles inside; the “Les-bi Honest Cake” which is slathered with marshmallow icing; and the “BI-the way,” “Transtastic,” and “Queerly Beloved” which are pound cakes covered with thick buttercream with colorful layers inside representing the different LGBTQ flags, thus sending a message of diversity, even within the spectrum of the LGBTQ rainbow.

A portion of each sale of the cakes until December will go to the LoveYourself Foundation for its mission to provide aid to HIV+ patients.

The cakes were launched in Glorietta on Oct. 11, which was National Coming Out Day.

Said Ms. Ocampo, “It’s a celebration. It’s about people finding the courage to celebrate themselves entirely for who they are. Loving yourself and being yourself is something to be celebrated.”

She pointed to the cakes, which are plain on the outside, but are riotously colorful on the inside. “Some of them might look ordinary on the outside, but I guess what matters is on the inside,” she said, a lesson we can all learn.

At the end of the day, is it really just a cake? A confection in the face of a life about to change is but a small mercy; a small step, but Paul Junio, Digital Strategy and Brand Management Head from LoveYourself Foundation said, “If you have a lot of small steps… it will really make a big impact.” — Joseph L. Garcia

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