We are inviting members (current and those interested to join) and volunteers of ANG LADLAD National Capital Region (NCR), to a Consultation meeting on 10 July 2010, Saturday,1:00-4:00 pm at the University Hotel, U.P. Diliman, Quezon City.
Agenda will be the following:
- Introduction of the new set of officers
- Short Briefing on Ang Ladlad
- Assessment of the last elections
- Next steps (strategies and plans)
Members from nearby provinces such as Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite and Laguna are also invited to attend. After this, Ang Ladlad will plan the conduct of regional consultation meetings.
Please confirm your attendance through this event page or send a text message to Angelo Camaya, incoming Secretary (+63917.8314356).
Participate and be involved in your partylist.
Thank you and see you there!
Bemz Benedito
Chairperson (Incoming)
[By Danton Remoto
Lodestar column
Art and Culture Section
The Philippine STAR
June 14, 2010]
Raymond “Bong” Alikpala seemed like the perfect guy any girl would love to bring home to mother. He is a blue-blooded Atenean from grade school to law school; an honor student and student council leader. He is also a practicing Catholic; cheerful, bright, and personable.
But for many years he hid a secret in the innermost chamber of himself — his homosexuality. After almost four decades in the closet, he has finally come out and written what may be a most controversial book, God Loves Bakla: My Life in the Closet.
Published by the author himself in Cambodia where he now works as a lawyer, the book’s Philippine edition was launched by Ang Ladlad Party List a fortnight ago. In reportorial mode, Alikpala begins his narrative this way:
“I am a gay man, a homosexual. I engage in sexual relations with the same sex. I have paid other men to have sex with me. I have never had sex with a woman. I have a husband.”
The words come out staccato-like, unblinking. It’s fizz from a soda bottle that had long been covered.
After a closeted life in Manila, being an over-achiever and super-competitive in everything he did, Alikpala took his Master of Laws at the National University of Singapore. Then he returned to Manila and began training as a priest at the Jesuit Novitiate in Novaliches, but was asked to leave after 16 months. Days of depression made him feel like a boat without anchor: in a stroke of irony, he would later go to Cambodia and work with asylum seekers and refugees — people without moorings, like him — at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. And at the age of 42, he began writing this book.
In 21 chapters, Alikpala sketches for us the brief history of a life. But unlike Western coming-out books that rage and rage against the light, this one is very Filipino in the sense that it is, eventually, anchored on family and God. He acknowledges love and devotion for his hardworking parents, who sent him to a good and expensive Catholic school; to his circle of friends, most of them male, with whom he (tried to) have a platonic relationship as comrades-in-arms.
His teachers at the Ateneo are also mentioned, described in terms more sweet than bitter: Dulaang Sibol, Prayer Days for Coeds, generally liberal advice dispensed by his Jesuit mentors.
“Fr. Joel’s initial advice was to try to be at peace with myself, to learn to accept myself as I was. He told me to pray for the grace of peace and self-understanding. In later sessions he would tell me that I was too preoccupied with my own self, and he encouraged me to join student activities which were others-oriented, which could draw me out of myself and place my problems in perspective. He said that I should learn to accept my homosexuality peacefully, and then learn to go beyond it, to transcend it, because it did not have to limit or define who I was.”
And so our young and confused gay man in the closet began doing apostolate work for an urban poor community in Commonwealth, Quezon City. Later, he would throw himself headlong into the student council, leading protests against the Marcos Government in the mid-1980s. But still, at the heart of it lies a life of contradiction: because unable to accept one’s self, one abandons the inner core and offers one’s self to the altar of community and country. But when there is a black hole inside one’s self, what then can one offer, except hollow words and acts of charity?
With confusion hounding him like a shadow, Alikpala graduates, takes up law, and becomes involved with human-rights cases. He teaches at Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City, cuts his legal teeth with the law office of the legendary Senator Rene V. Saguisag. Only 30 years old, but still lost. The photograph at the end of Chapter 11 captures it perfectly: a man with an umbrella on a rainy day, carrying a cane as he walks on the slippery street.
And as with the case of many Filipinos who lived abroad, his stint there freed him in a way. He received an ASEAN Scholarship to take the Master of Laws at NUS.
“Living abroad for the first time, I was able to move and behave in a way unencumbered by past frustrations, embarrassments, and failures. I felt liberated, for once, to be myself, and not to have to be the dutiful son, diligent student, model Atenean, and hardworking attorney. I felt young, carefree, and irresponsible. I still remained closeted all my life in Singapore, and yet the feeling of being a student all over again made me happier, friendlier, more fun to be with, more happy-go-lucky. And this happier Raymond, the backpacker Raymond traipsing with them across Malaysia and Indonesia, was who my European friends got to know and grew to cherish.”
It’s like the Chinese poem of a beautiful parrot suddenly freed from the golden cage of home. And again, in a life of ironies, only to find another golden cage in the Jesuit Novitiate, where he stayed for 16 months and was finally expelled by the Father Provincial for a homosexual act. Set adrift and gripped by depression, he later found solace in work as a lawyer for refugees in Cambodia under the Jesuit Refugee Service.
There he met an 87-year-old priest, Fr. Pierre Ceyrac, who counseled him: “Umbra lux Dei, [he said], drawing with his finger a sundial on the cabinet door. He illustrated how the shadow on the sundial told us the time, and that without the shadow the sundial would be useless. `The shadows are the light of God.’ he translated. It was the shadows in our lives through which God revealed Himself to us. . . .”
After the metaphysical, it was time for the physical — and out of the closet at last. Alikpala was en route to attend summer school at Oxford when he had a stopover at Bangkok and a friend brought him to Silom area, to have “massage for men by men.” Suffice it to say that he had finally tasted the forbidden fruit in an atmosphere that was free from Catholic guilt.
The coming-out part of the book is written in prose that is shorter and more crisp, as if the liberated Raymond is taking a jaunty walk in the park. He has found his own voice, own friends, and finally a lover — Robert from Saigon.
“Robert and I were married on 14 June 2008. It was not a legal ceremony; neither Philippine nor Vietnamese civil laws recognize same-sex marriages. It has been the fashion to call this a `commitment ceremony,’ but for Robert and me, ours is a real marriage — we have made our own vows before God, promising to love each other, for better or for worse, until the end of our days.”
And where did they get married? In Angkor Wat, the ancient ruins in Cambodia. This is also the place where the character played by Tony Leung in the film In the Mood for Love finds a crack in the wall. And in the ageless ruins, he confesses his most secret love for the already-married character played by Maggie Cheung.
* * *
God Loves Bakla sells for P400. Copies are available at Achieve office, 162 Sct. Fuentebella Ext., Barangay Sacred Heart, Quezon City (426-6147). Or you can deposit P490 to Ang Ladlad BPI savings account 1993077425, inform me (Danton) at danton_ph@yahoo.com and we will send your copy by courier.
[abs-cbnnews.com]
Ang Ladlad — the national organization of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Filipinos — wants to express its alarm over the quality of the debate and discourse regarding Mr. Boy Abunda and the alleged offer for him to become Secretary of the Department of Tourism.
Mr. Abunda — who is a close friend and ally of the Philippine LGBT movement — does not deserve the vilification being done to him in print, online and in conversations going on around town. President-apparent Benigno C. Aquino III allegedly wanted Mr. Abunda to be the DOT Secretary to help market the Philippines and its luxuriant tourism potentials to a global audience.
Obviously, some people whose eyes are dead-set on the position have begun to orchestrate a vile and malicious campaign against Mr. Abunda. They questioned his academic preparation, his training and even his job, calling him a “mere entertainer. ” This, Mr. Abunda has ignored, letting them slide like water down his back. But when the attacks became personal — that he is a “mere homosexual,” “that where is the Philippines going — from republican to democratic to pederasyon ng mga bading” — it is time for Ang Ladlad to make a clear and strong statement.
Thus, in the month of June — the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month — Ang Ladlad would like to serve notice that debates and discourse on a person’s qualifications for any job in government should be focused on the professional and not the personal. One’s sexual orientation and sexual identity have nothing to do with one’s qualifications for the job at hand. Those who stoop down to this level are obviously threatened by Mr. Abunda’s appointment.
He has said he is inclined to decline the appointment, and pointedly added that those who want the job can now sleep better. Thus, it is time for the gay-bashing to stop — now, and in the future, if and when Boy Abunda would have changed his mind and accept an appointment as the first openly gay member of an Aquino Cabinet.
And we are certain that the incoming Aquino administration will give no space to homophobia in its governance standing on the strong legs of change and national renewal.
This statement was signed by our new Chairperson, Ms Bemz Benedito, and Danton Remoto as the Chairman Emeritus.
ANG LADLAD PARTYLIST and The Lounge give you PINK PRIDE PARTY! Out & Proud LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transexual) Night Hosted by: Royal Hotness KRIS LOYOLA Event Promoter PRINCE VINNY and TV HOST COOLAI CONCEPCION Feat HOUSE ANTHEMS by Dj Jenil Party.
Party starts @ 9PM
Door charge P200 with drink inclusive
This is a fund-raising event.
See yah there sisters!
LOUNGE is located at 2nd Floor Bellagio Square, Sct Fuentebella cor Tomas Morato, Quezon City
[CNN.com]
A gay political party will be on the ballot Monday for the first time in the Philippines, where eight out of 10 households are Roman Catholics.
The elections will determine whether Ang Ladlad (“Out of the Closet”) — which represents lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender Filipinos (LGBT) — will get the maximum three seats allowable for a marginalized or underrepresented party in Congress.
“We consider it a milestone in Philippine human rights,” said Leila De Lima, head of the Commission on Human Rights in the Philippines. “They are really always victims of discrimination, exclusion and even violence.”
The Commission sided with Ang Ladlad when its legal fight to stand for elections reached the Supreme Court.
Leading the five nominees under Ang Ladlad’s banner is its national secretary of seven years, Bemz Benedito, who is transgender and also works for Senator Loren Legarda, herself a vice presidential candidate and Ang Ladlad supporter.
“We are running a common platform of equal rights, not special rights,” said Benedito.
Topping Ang Ladlad’s five-plank agenda is support for the Anti-Discrimination Bill that would criminalize discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill has been filed multiple times in the Philippines Congress to no success.
The four other items on Ang Ladlad’s platform are:
- Support for LGBT-related and LGBT-friendly businesses
- Setting up of microfinance projects for poor and disabled LGBT Filipinos
- Setting up centers that could provide legal aid and counseling services for poor and aging LGBT Filipinos
- Support for the repeal of the Anti-Vagrancy law, a tool that Ang Ladlad says has been exploited to extort members of the LGBT community.
Absent is same-sex marriage, which has slowly become legalized in other parts of the world. “We’ve done surveys — we’re going to lose on this one,” said Ang Ladlad founder Danton Remoto, pointing to the predominance of Catholicism. “We’re not going to push this. We focus on human rights first.”
Also absent from the platform is a gender recognition bill, which would recognize transgender people and allow them to legalize the names they identify with.
On the Commission on Elections’ (COMELEC) Web site, Benedito and another Ang Ladlad candidate, Naomi Fontanos, are listed under their male birth names. But Benedito prefers the female “Bemz,” as opposed to her birth name, “Bembol Aleeh,” and Fontanos — chair of the Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP) — is listed as “Tito Paulo.”
“That’s our struggle,” said Benedito. “Even if our members have gone through gender reassignment surgery, they are not allowed to change their names to male or female, [unless] there is a typographical error.”
One of the biggest challenges Ang Ladlad faces are the “immoral” and “abnormal” labels that the Commission on Elections and an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) have used against them.
“My faith is always direct to God, and I believe he’s also created us,” said Benedito, a Roman Catholic who once studied at an all-boys Catholic school. “It’s not up to these priests [to say] what is moral and what is not.”
Speaking with CNN by phone on Tuesday, Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iniguez, Jr. stood by his earlier well-publicized comments against Ang Ladlad’s inclusion on the ballot.
“Personally, I’m not in favor of the party, because it’s a group that’s of abnormal human persons, according to what we accept as the order that the Creator has made for human persons,” said Deogracias, who chairs the CBCP’s public affairs permanent committee. “Human society — we have male and female, so whatever is outside is abnormal. As with any other people, they are members of society. We respect them, we can tolerate them, we are compassionate, but we cannot sanction what they are doing.”
In a separate phone conversation earlier, CBCP’s media office director Pedro Quitorio said the body has not yet issued a formal statement on Ang Ladlad.
As recently as a month ago, the Commission on Elections had denied Ang Ladlad’s registration twice in four years — first for a lack of members and then on moral grounds. In its latter dismissal, the commission cited Ang Ladlad’s tolerance for “immorality which offends religious beliefs” and then quoted the Bible, the Koran and then the Law Department’s definition of the civil code.
The case reached the Philippine Supreme Court, which on April 8 ruled in favor of Ang Ladlad and ordered COMELEC to grant accreditation.
“The denial of Ang Ladlad’s registration on purely moral grounds amounts more to a statement of dislike and disapproval of homosexuals, rather than a tool to further any substantial public interest,” the court said in its ruling.
The party has had barely a month to campaign. “So, wherever we go, we say, ‘Number 89,’” Remoto said, referring to its placement on the long ballot with 186 other “party-list” groups, which together would comprise one-fifth of the House of Representatives.
Ang Ladlad, which estimates 25,000 members, has received an “outpouring of support” from politicians, as well as from nuns and priests who cannot outwardly express it, Remoto said.
“Whether they win or lose, what’s important is, they’re on the ballot, and people are given the chance to vote for them and other parties,” Senator Chiz Escudero said by phone of Ang Ladlad.
Escudero, an independent, rallied the party to endorse presidential candidate Senator Benigno Aquino and vice presidential candidate Jejomar Binay. Such a combination is a mixed-ticket, considering Aquino belongs to the Liberal Party, and Binay is on the PDP-Laban ticket as Aquino rival and former President Joseph Estrada’s running mate.
Remoto pointed to corruption as the Philippines’ main problem and referred to Aquino as the “Mr. Clean of Philippine politics.” Binay, the mayor of Makati, has a track record as a human rights lawyer and a gender rights agenda in his platform, Remoto added.
That Ang Ladlad may be the only gay political party in the world hasn’t been disputed so far.
Sam Cook, communications and research director, of the New York-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, said he was not aware of any other.
The Washington-based Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute, which supports LGBT candidates to all levels of office, said there has not been an equivalent in the United States, where same-sex marriage and military policy toward gays have generated significant debate.
“Well-known openly gay candidates and elected officials in the U.S. have almost always been affiliated with either the Democratic or Republican parties, with the Democrats fielding far more out candidates than Republicans,” Denis Dison, vice president of external affairs, wrote via e-mail.
Public perception of gays in the Philippines has changed in the past 20 years, said Remoto, who teaches at Ateneo de Manila University.
“We made homosexuality a topic everyone can discuss openly,” he said.
Whatever the results of the May 10 national elections would be for Ang Ladlad, I believe the Filipino LGBT Community has already gained so much in the last few months of the COMELEC controversy.
When Ang Ladlad was disqualified yet again by the COMELEC from being an accredited partylist, there was a resounding uproar from the whole country. Long labeled as “phantom voters” by Abalos, LGBTs around the Philippines all came out to denounce such fanatical religious pronouncements by the COMELEC Commissioners of the 2nd Division. LGBT organizations in the different regions came out with their own press releases expressing their dismay. Media covered these independent and simultaneous events and show of support. This proved once and for all that LGBTS are indeed all over the country. And not only did they exist, LGBTs are organized as concrete groups and established within their own communities. Long alienated from “Imperial Manila” and isolated from each other, Filipino LGBT groups in the provinces finally acknowledged their common plight and learned to work together again. After so many years, the different LGBT organizations finally became unified.
It was also an eye-opener for many apathetic and indifferent LGBTs. Young LGBTs now benefitting from years of struggle, have become too complacent and take for granted the unique “freedom” they now enjoy. Well-off LGBTs who are already “comfortable” where they are, also thought they were “immune” from homophobia. COMELEC’s statements ultimately changed their minds.
The greatest thing that came out of this whole hullabaloo was the support shown by the “Straight” Community. People in professions you never expected to show such enlightenment, suddenly stood up for us. We found allies and friends in the most unusual places. You can still feel it in the air because when the Supreme Court finally issued its decision in favor of Ang Ladlad, the LGBT Community was not alone in its celebration.
If Ang Ladlad wins a seat(s) in Congress, that would be just an icing on the cake for me. The unity and seeming acceptance we could not achieve in 15 years worth of advocacy happened in just a few months. I believe Filipinos, LGBTs and straights alike, would want Ang Ladlad to win because it is an honest to goodness representative of a marginalized sector. I think the Filipino people would not want to deny anyone his/her human rights or his rightful place in society… in the midst of adversity, we are a happy people after all.
Germaine Leonin
Ang Ladlad Party-List Nominee
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[GMANews.TV]
Controversial rights group Ang Ladlad, which is composed of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, can participate as a party-list group in the May 10 elections, the Supreme Court said Thursday.
In a decision penned by SC Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, the high court granted Ang Ladlad’s petition to stop the implementation of two Commission on Elections (Comelec) resolutions denying the group’s accreditation as a party-list group.
The decision said Ang Ladlad complied with the legal requirements for accreditation as a party-list group listed in Republic Act 7941, or the Party-list System Act.
“We are not blind to the fact that, through the years, homosexual conduct, and perhaps homosexuals themselves, have borne the brunt of societal disapproval. It is not difficult to imagine the reasons behind this censure – religious beliefs, convictions about the preservation of marriage, family, and procreation, even dislike or distrust of homosexuals themselves and their perceived lifestyle. Nonetheless, we recall that the Philippines has not seen fit to criminalize homosexual conduct,” the Court ruled.
Last January, the SC issued a temporary restraining order on the implementation of the Comelec’s November 11 and December 17, 2009 resolutions denying accreditation to Ang Ladlad.
The first resolution by the Comelec’s Second Division denied Ang Ladlad’s application for party-list accreditation, claiming that the group was advocating “immorality” and that homosexuals were a “threat to the youth.” The second decided by the Comelec en banc junked with finality the group’s appeal to overturn the first ruling. — with a report by Johanna Camille Sisante/LBG, GMANews.TV
