» It’s Not Just About Santacruzan » Bakla Ako, May Reklamo?

06 May, 2008

It’s Not Just About Santacruzan

“I am not angry at gay men. But I’m against what they’re actually doing,” so said Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales in an interview on the church-run Radio Veritas. (Thanks to Arbet and Queerty for the lead). This was part of an interview where Cardinal Rosales frowned upon the participation of gay men in the May Flower Festival, Santacruzan, which is a tradition conducted in honor of the Blessed Virgin.

Rosales lambasted small parishes saying that “We should keep sacred, what’s sacred,” and that it is not right to allow male cross-dressers to participate in the parade as it destroys the purity of the procession. Ah, purity.

Wherever can we find that these days? I wonder if Rosales will also berate the people in showbiz who organize Santacruzans which have those “sexy stars” as the reynas. Purity!

Rosales, however stressed that he is not discriminating against homosexuals and that he just wants to preserve the solemnity of the processions. If not allowing gay cross-dressers (who can play the part and sometimes better than females) to be part of these religious processions is not DISCRIMINATION, I wonder what is.

Some may debate that since this is a religious activity, the church has all the right to impose any rule they want. Sure they do, but what does that have to say about the religion?

However, the double standards when it comes to homosexuals still come into the picture. Take for example what happened last year to lesbian couple Leah Vader and Lynne Huskinson in the United States. They were active members of the church, but were eventually disallowed from taking communion by no less than their parish priest. The priest sent them a letter telling them that because of their union (they got married in Canada), and because of their public advocacy of same sex unions, they were no longer fit to take communion.

Now let’s move closer to home. Just last month, Monsignor Achilles Dakay, the spokesman of Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal released a statement regarding the Cebu Black Suede Canister Scandal. He blamed the victim’s homosexuality for the whole incident:

They seem to forget the whole thing. They are blaming the doctors for what they (did) but I think they should blame the guy for what they did,” Monsignor Achilles Dakay, spokesman for Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, said

That statement is clearly biased, discriminatory and uneducated. Dakay clearly did not know what the issue was about. The issue was not about sexuality nor was it about morals. It was about professionalism and ethics. If they continue to impose their moral standards on every single issue like that, then we have a problem. I’m just wondering though why they’re so vocal about homosexuality of the common people but they keep mum on issues of their fellow priests accused of sexually harassing young boys and girls. Would they also say the same thing, that we are forgetting what the real issue is?

I was born and raised a Roman Catholic and it was stuff like this that made me abandon the church, but not my faith. Over the years, I realized how unfair the church was and still is when it comes to their homosexual members. It is a known fact that many gay men are members of the Roman Catholic Church, and many of them are active in church-related activities too. You can see them in choirs, charismatic renewal movements, church beautification committees, etc. There isn’t any downright discrimination, because from a utilitarian point of view, these gay men are important to the church. The Vatican is still against homosexuality (some say the church is not against homosexuality, just homosexual acts), and homosexuals are doomed to go to hell if they don’t go straight.

If the church does not consider these biased statements and repulsive acts as discriminatory, I wonder what discrimination is.

So what is it that we, gay men, are actually doing that the church is against? Don’t ask me, ask Cardinal Rosales.

News Sources:

Bookmark It