Stop Gay Discrimination. (Image Source).
In a column titled Gay Philippines on the Philippine Daily Inquirer (First Posted 06:45:00 09/29/2008), Pompeyo Pedroche, wrote his reaction to a Youngblood Article of Renee Julienne Karunungan of UPLB. I’m not sure how to react to this column article but here are some points that I’d like to clarify with Mr. Pedroche.
On Renee’s “outcry” in her article 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,” Pedroche says
that he’s sure that it was not the Catholic Church that taught Renee that homosexuality is evil.
I agree with Mr. Pedroche that such an idea is “preposterous and ghastly” but I disagree with him when he says that it definitely was not the Catholic Church that put that idea into Renee’s head. Like many others out there, I grew up in a family who followed the Catholic doctrines and tenets strictly. I was not out as a young man, but it was actually the Church that prevented me from coming out. In Cathechism classes and from numerous sermons from priests, it was imbibed in me that homosexuality is indeed evil.
Pedroche asks: “Now, in Catholic Philippines, does our society really discriminate against other religions, or against gays for that matter, as writer Renee contends?”
In more ways than one, yes! Tolerance, sir, is completely different from acceptance. And just because the society is tolerant of homosexuals, it does not mean that there is absolutely no discrimination against homosexuals in this land. While gay men can “attend Sunday masses, take holy communion, can even get married by a priest or a minister (?)” it is not tantamount to saying that there is no discrimination. And as Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales said in an interview with the church-run Radio Veritas: “I am not angry at gay men. But I’m against what they’re actually doing.†What Rosales means by “what they’re actually doing,” is beyond me.
Pedroche adds: they (gay men) “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?”
Might I remind you, Mr. Pedroche, that the items you enumerated are but mere hasty generalizations. Do you think these are the only issues that gay men (and women) here in the Philippines are concerned about? Ask any gay guy and I’m sure you’ll get answers which are completely wayward from your list. Also, if you have not been paying attention to the news in the recent years, Ang Ladlad has no voice in Congress (yet) as the party’s bid for a seat in the last elections was curtailed because the COMELEC deemed it ineligible. So where is this voice coming from? Do we have someone in Congress singing and dancing for the gay men and women? I don’t think so.
What discrimination, bashing and obstacles are we crying about? Let me enumerate a few. Read the rest of this entry »
