LGBT people are no different from heterosexual people. They are also human beings, they are citizens of our country, they have rights.
But how come they experience inequality? How come they face more adverse, critical public attitude and legal challenges compared to the heterosexual citizens?
Is it because they don’t meet the social norms that we have in the Philippines? Are we going to talk about the biblical account of how God only created man and woman not man, woman, gay and lesbian?
Yes, according to the Bible marriage is for man and woman and the Philippines according to our Preamble in our Constitution is pro-God. As a citizen of this country, I understand and I accept it.
But what I don’t understand is that there a lot of cases where homosexuals are treated as less than human beings and there are some LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people who are being killed and are vulnerable to violence.
Those killings were allegedly motivated by hate and anti-gay sentiment. Hate is a common reason for the high number of gays and lesbians being targeted.
LGBT citizens in the Philippines have a distinctive culture but have limited rights. They are tolerated but are they accepted? I don’t think so. In our society, there is still a widespread discrimination of homosexuals.
Stereotyping, stigma, marginalization and inequality are the ugly implications that contributes to this vicious cycle of prejudice, bias and discrimination.
I think those are the reasons why some of them are afraid of voicing their opinions because they would just end up being criticized and discriminated.
The people that surround them lose any respect to them if they revealed their true colors. Some say that it is immoral to be gay. I think that stepping on or hurting others is more immoral than being gay.
As Pope Francis said, Christians have a lot to apologize for so many things, not just for this (treatment of gay people), but we must ask for forgiveness.
Not just apologize but forgiveness.
The question is: If a person who is gay yet has nothing but goodwill to others and who looks for God, who are we to judge?
Shannen May Mangubat, University of San Carlos
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