In such a male-dominated scene, Vincent “Antianara” Pajenago – a proud member of the LGBT community – stood tall among his peers as he was awarded the best talent for MDL Philippines Season 3.
However, it wasn’t an easy journey for someone like Antianara, who had to brave homophobia and toxic bashing upon entering the esports scene.
That did not stop him from pursuing his dreams and becoming a beacon of success and embodiment of resilience for the LGBT community.
“Sabi ko I expose myself to homophobia on a daily basis, so why not translate that to a wider platform where I feel like I can touch more people’s lives? Yung award, hindi naman siya for me. It’s really for the community na we can be celebrated in such a male-dominated scene,” he said.
He won by a landslide in the fan voting and achieved one of the highest scores from the panel, resulting in a resounding victory.
What made it more special was that the award also served as a reason to finally meet his mom again after a few years.
“After receiving it, naiyak ako. Di naman ako maiiyak dapat kung ma-receive ko lang siya alone, pero may message kasi for me yung nanay ko and I haven’t seen her in four years,” Antianara explained as he was seen teary eyed when he received the award on stage.
Antianara admitted that the award was very unexpected, acknowledging that he still has much more to learn and room for improvement.
“Di ko inexpect na I’ll be here this fast kasi my co-talents were way ahead of me,” he added.
“Super thankful ako kasi at least I got the chance to prove na gay people have a place in the community. I think more than anything else that’s really what I wanted to do since the beginning.”
