Bakla

In the Philippines, a baklâ (literal: Gay, transgender, Poy)(Tagalog and Cebuano) (pronounced [bɐkˈlaʔ]), bayot (Cebuano) or agî (Hiligaynon) is a person who was assigned male at birth and has adopted a gender expression that is feminine. They are often considered a third gender. Many bakla are exclusively attracted to men and some identify as women. The polar opposite of the term in Philippine culture is tomboy (natively the lakin-on or binalaki), which refers to women with a masculine gender expression (usually, but not always, lesbian). The term is commonly incorrectly applied to trans women.

Bakla are socially and economically integrated into Filipino society, having been accepted by society prior to Western colonization, many of which were held in high regard and performed the role of spiritual leaders known as babaylan, katalonan, and other shamans in the indigenous Philippine folk religions. In modern times, a minority group of Filipinos disapprove or reject the baklas, usually on religious grounds allegedly from Christian or Muslim beliefs. The stereotype of a baklâ is a parlorista—a flamboyant, camp cross-dresser who works in a beauty salon; in reality, the bakla thrives in numerous sectors of society, from the lower to the upper levels.