In a candid article cowritten for Sports Illustrated and circulated a few days ago, the seven-footer Jason Collins became the first active National Basketball Association player to come out as gay. His magazine essay began with three simple declarations: “I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay.”
In the United States, parents of a seven-year-old “transgender,” a boy who identifies him/herself as a girl, are suing the child’s old school after the administration stopped the child from using the girls’ toilet and directed the child to a “gender-neutral” restroom instead. The reason officials gave for this change of policy was fear of [...]
There’s a crib in the office of Penny Wong. It’s the first thing one sees upon entering her office in this city’s Parliament Building, and it seems incongruous with her sober demeanor, dressed as she is in a pinstripe suit with a pale pink shirt under the blazer.
I came out to a friend today via text message. After about an hour of what seemed like an eternity, he replied: “No worries, your secret is safe with me.” I was glad that he was supportive of me, but I don’t intend to keep it a secret for long. Not for another 29 years of my life.
The “outing” of Anderson Cooper, respected American TV journalist and son of lifestyle icon Gloria Vanderbilt, has elicited a number of reactions. Although, if I recall correctly, the news was somewhat anticlimactic, as word on Cooper’s sexual orientation had been leaking for years.
I’m writing this on July 4, the Independence Day of the United States of America. We used to celebrate our own independence as a nation on this same date, until we decided that we owed it to ourselves to mark our full emancipation as a people by going back to June 12, 1898, when our [...]
It seems incredible that in this day and age, we should still be noting, indeed celebrating, another “first” by a woman. But that is exactly what’s called for in the achievement of Director Lina Sarmiento of the Philippine National Police. By receiving her second star, which catapults her to the equivalent of a major general in the military, Sarmiento has not just achieved a personal milestone but also scored “one for the girls”—“a victory for the women in the uniformed service,” as she said in her conferment speech.
Standing for what is right has become taboo in countless modern places. Nowadays, the more outspoken tend to side with the wrong, fashioning sin into various appealing shapes, sizes and norms for the entire community to embrace and swallow—if not for some sinister political purposes.
I have an older cousin who in our younger years took up smoking. This was no big deal—if my cousin had been a boy. But she was a girl—a young woman by that time, a professional at that—but still the older generation frowned on her smoking, as did her boyfriend then.
Heart Dinos election as the first transgender chair of the University of the Philippines Diliman Student Council last March 1 excites many political observers who view it as a portent of greater participation among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Filipinos in the political arena. They have every reason to be excited. Today, anecdotal evidence suggests that the Philippines will be electing more LGBTs to public offices, including Congress, in the 2013 elections. But are we ready for a transgender president?
That women should be equal to men is already a significant part of today’s global society, to which the Philippines belongs. However, we seem to understand it in a slightly modified, partly jocular, and often misleading manner.
More often than not, the Philippines does not rate very well when it comes to international rankings. Whenever we hear of yet another global listing, Filipinos wince in anticipation of more bad news. Take, for instance, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport being named the worst airport in the world. But now and then, we get [...]
