Jaehwa Bernardo

Chris Sta. Brigida-Kopp with his husband and their daughter. Photos courtesy of Sta.Brigida-Kopp

Article (news)

Filipino dad raises 'rainbow family' in Europe while honoring roots

Mye Mulingtapang

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1782706547058667878829_10174203622965697_543932253126142548_n.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Chris Sta. Brigida-Kopp with his husband and their daughter. Photos courtesy of Sta.Brigida-Kopp</div>For more than two decades, Chris Sta. Brigida-Kopp has stood at the forefront of the Filipino LGBTQIA+ movement in Europe. As the co-founder and chairperson of Filipino LGBT Europe (FLE), he has helped build one of the continent&#x27;s largest networks connecting queer Filipinos.But away from such role, Sta. Brigida-Kopp also has a different role: a husband and father, part of a &quot;rainbow family&quot; raising a daughter in the Netherlands.Sta. Brigida-Kopp, his husband, their daughter&#x27;s birth mother, and their child form what is often called a rainbow family — a family built through intentional parenting rather than conventional expectations.Sta. Brigida-Kopp acknowledged that the arrangement — one that differs from conventional ideas of family — often surprises people and prompts questions.&quot;One question I find interesting is when people ask, &#x27;Why not just adopt, since there are already many children who need love and care?&#x27;&quot; he told ABS-CBN News.Their daughter was not born through surrogacy, as many assume, but through co-parenting — an arrangement in which multiple adults intentionally share the responsibilities of raising a child. Sta. Brigida-Kopp noted that co-parenting itself is hardly unusual, pointing out that divorced heterosexual couples engage in similar arrangements every day.&quot;The difference,&quot; he explained, &quot;is that we genuinely want to be part of one another&#x27;s lives, and we enjoy being together and raising our child collaboratively.&quot;&quot;In a conventional family, there is a mother and a father. We have that as well — but with one extra person. One more person who loves the child,&quot; he said.<div>GROWING UP QUEER</div>Sta. Brigida-Kopp grew up in Manila and does not describe his childhood home as hostile. He recalls singing songs by Whitney Houston and Regine Velasquez, joining church choirs, and being raised in a loving family. Home, he said, often felt like a safe space.But he recognizes that not everyone shares that experience. Sta. Brigida-Kopp recalled hearing stories of queer children from poorer households who were denied educational opportunities because they were not expected to marry or build families of their own.Moving to Europe in 2001 to pursue a master&#x27;s degree in London exposed Sta. Brigida-Kopp to a different perspective. At his first Pride march, he picked up a banner bearing the slogan, &quot;Some people are gay, get over it.&quot;<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1782706646356721734206_10174698871780697_6769388116231933592_n.jpg" style="width:633px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/></div>For him, the moment offered a glimpse of a society in which LGBTQIA+ people occupied public space openly and unapologetically.Sta. Brigida-Kopp also founded FLE, which has since grown into Europe&#x27;s largest network for LGBTQIA+ Filipinos.The organization emerged after a senator compared members of the LGBTQIA+ community to animals. Community members wanted to respond publicly, but their statements were not published by newspapers.Rather than waiting to be heard, they created their own platform. And what began as a network for migrants gradually evolved into something deeper: a community where queer Filipinos across Europe could celebrate both their identities and their heritage.&quot;You could see the enthusiasm, gratitude, and eagerness of people wanting to be part of something bigger than themselves,&quot; Sta. Brigida-Kopp said.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1782706634215669560295_10174203622180697_41504483343088960_n.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/></div><div>FILIPINO ROOTS</div>As a father, Sta. Brigida-Kopp also makes a conscious effort to keep his daughter connected to her Filipino roots, speaking to her in Filipino at home.She is growing up in a multilingual and multicultural environment: his husband speaks to her in Austrian German, while her birth mother speaks Dutch.He shared that whenever he visits the Philippines, he makes a point of visiting bookstores in search of children&#x27;s books in Filipino — something migrant parents often find difficult to access abroad.Sta. Brigida-Kopp believes that every storybook offers another opportunity to pass on a language, a history, and a sense of belonging. &quot;I want to tell her who I am by reading to her in Tagalog,&quot; he said.He said he also hopes that his daughter avoids the burden that many LGBTQIA+ adults spend years trying to overcome.&quot;I hope she never has to unlearn that she is worthy of love exactly as she is, and that her family is something to be proud of, never something that needs explaining or defending,&quot; he said.

Apart from being a leader to the Filipino LGBTQIA+ community in Europe, Netherlands-based Chris Sta. Brigida-Kopp also has another role: a father in a 'rainbow family.'

Apart from being a leader to the Filipino LGBTQIA+ community in Europe, Netherlands-based Chris Sta. Brigida-Kopp also has another role: a father in a 'rainbow family.'