Leo Rey Almero (He, him, his) is Counsel and Data Protection Officer for Emerson Philippines. He likewise advises the leadership of PRISM, the Emerson LGBT+ Allies Employee Resource Group in Manila. Aside from his extensive legal training and education, he also devotes his free time for his personal advocacies. He was a legal resource person in the roundtable discussions, sponsored by the Philippine AIDS Society, in the crafting of a transgender health framework in the Philippines. In 2019, he presented his paper entitled “Negotiating identity and seeking safe spaces: the Philippine legal vacuum and the emigration of transgender Filipina women” at the New York University – Shanghai’s 2019 Annual Conference at Shanghai, China. He likewise facilitated the transgender forum on making the workplace inclusive for the transgender community sponsored by Philippine Financial and Inter-Industry Pride, and discussions on the Philippines’ Mental Health Law, and HIV and AIDS Policy Law to a PLHIV support group in Manila.  In June 2020, he co-moderated “I See You: Building Allyship & A Gender-Inclusive Vision” held in partnership with Erasmus Mundus Association-Women, Oceans Network, and the Global Gender and Cultures of Equality and sponsored by SPARK Philippines, Austrian Embassy Manila and Campus Erasmus Mundus, Inc.  He also co-paneled “Let’s Talk about being YOU: SOGIEDUKASYON” sponsored by the Butuan City Youth Forum and Department of Education.  He believes that there should be more focus on the LGBTQ youth – particularly young transgender men and women – as they are the most vulnerable to depression, self-harm and suicidal ideations, as well as to HIV infection.

Mr. Almero is also a published writer. His poems and translations were previously published in Sunday Inquirer Magazine, Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine (Issues 47 and 57) in Hong Kong, BKL/ Bikol Bakla, Queer Southeast Asia, Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, and bind, a digital platform in the United Kingdom for creative work examining ecology, the environment and the natural world.