Highblood
Gay Philippines
By Pompeyo S. Pedroche
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 06:45:00 09/29/2008
Filed Under: Gender Issues, Churches (organisations), Religions, Entertainment (general)
Who says that gays are discriminated against in our society, particularly by the Catholic Church? Renee Julienne Karunungan of UPLB does. This 18-year-old fired an angry Youngblood article last July 22 accusing the Church of discrimination (against gays) when Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales disallowed them from parading their own Santacruzan procession. Young Renee’s essay sobs that gays “suffer discrimination ... are looked down upon, that obstacles are thrown at them ... aren’t fully accepted, are seen as immoral, are bashed and treated as freaks.” She began by saying that since she was small, she “was taught [by whom?] that homosexuality is evil.” I don’t know what Devil’s advocate would put such a preposterous and ghastly idea into her head. Not the Catholic Church, for sure.
The writer also argues that “religion often forces us [Catholics] to discriminate against those who are different from us.” I only know of one place [Renee hasn’t been to] where Christians, especially Catholic Filipinos, can’t practice their own faith openly or in the privacy of their homes, and that place is the desert in the Middle East. I should know this because I worked and lived there for 15 years. No Pinoys, gays or straight, are allowed to hold simple indoor prayer meetings, unless they are ready to lose their jobs and go home. Now, in Catholic Philippines, does our society really discriminate against other religions, or against gays for that matter, as writer Renee contends? The contrary is true:
Second perhaps only to the United States, the Philippines is the most tolerant country toward gays and lesbians. Gays can attend Sunday Mass, take Holy Communion, can even get married by a priest or a minister. Our Constitution guarantees religious freedom. Sikhs and other Indian nationals openly ply their lucrative trade here, Mormons have their grandiose temples and Muslims their mosques. But a cathedral in the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia? No way. The young student doesn’t appreciate that [yet]. Truth is, Filipino gays and lesbians are so free, if not spoiled, and organized, in our country. They can hold their own fashion show, they have their own dance and singing groups, they have their Ladlad voice in Congress, and have already created their own gay lingo. So, what discrimination, bashing and obstacles is Renee crying about?
If the Church doesn’t open its portal to an individual just because he’s gay, that is discrimination; if an office fires a clerk simply for his being gay, that’s discrimination; if a school drops a student because he’s found to be gay, that’s discrimination. But when the good Cardinal stops gays from staging their own distinctly gay Santacruzan because such would have been an irrelevance, if not an irreverence, an incongruity to, and a distortion of an otherwise religious tradition, is not discrimination but simply official discretion. Using Renee’s own line why gays can’t choose to conform: “there is reason for every decision.” Do gay devotees of Mama Mary need to showcase themselves in a procession to parade their devotion? Why couldn’t they simply be one of the many in the procession who light candles, say a few “Hail Marys,” or sing “Dios te Salve”? What the gays were asking for was a separate show of gays, not a religious procession to express their so-called devotion. Such gay passion to be different and spectacular is one reason why the masses hardly “see them as their equal.” Gays refuse to swim with the tide. They want to float.
If gays are bashed and looked down upon as alleged by Renee, how come we have successful gay doctors and nurses, gay teachers, gay actors, actresses, directors, journalists, designers, chefs, TV hosts, priests, politicians? In every decent professional field, there is almost always a gay. And what is Philippine media, especially television, without gays? It will be empty, boring and in black and white. Boy Abunda and John Lapus, despite their different academic backgrounds, orientations, and talking decibels, are two equally successful gay hosts who have a huge following on TV. Even the most popular Willie (of “Wowowee”) proudly enjoys acting gay occasionally, and his nemesis Joey de Leon (with Anjo Yllana and Janno Gibbs), not to mention Joey’s son, Kimpee—in “Nuts Entertainment,” the trio not only act gay but even chat and dress gay. Interestingly, how do Renee and other concerned gay leaders feel whenever other people mimic gays on television? Insulted or flattered? Ashamed or proud? Pushed or embraced? Maybe, gays of Renee’s anti-Church convictions are barking up the wrong tree. Instead, let the public hear from the leaders of our gay society on this issue of gay mimicry or gimmickry on television. That will shed light on this gay issue from a wider perspective.
Gays have never enjoyed more predominance than in soap stories. In local entertainment, gays are part and parcel of the plot in any telenovela, teleserye, telefantasya, or whatever they’re called these days. No gays, no show is a truism in TV soap operas. Even local TV sci-fi has been visited by extraterrestrial gays and lesbians. Talk shows which thrive on scandals, rumors and intrigues would be boring without gays. No doubt about it—gays came, saw and conquered.
Finally, gays are making a difference in our lives because, like it or not, they have become role models for our young. When asked by his mother what he wants to be in the future, the innocent but resolute boy answered, “Gusto ko pong maging bakla.”
Meanwhile, let us look at ourselves in the mirror and ask, “Pilipinas, Gay Ka Na Ba?” Let the reader answer that.
(Pompeyo S. Pedroche, an overseas Filipino since 1981, is a semi-retired community college ESL teacher in New Jersey.)
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