THE recent Comelec decisison denying party-list registration for Ang Ladlad, an LGBT organization, has stirred a hornet’s nest, with numerous columns and blogs as well as letters to the editor castigating the decision.

LGBT? That’s an acronym which means lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders. I know the term is unwieldy but it’s the product of many years of organizing, initially among male homosexuals calling for gay rights and then expanded to include lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders, the last term referring to people who take on social roles that straddle both the male and the female.

I went into that lengthy explanation to emphasize that LGBT has many sub-categories, but is used now as a kind of collective identity by people who feel discriminated against because of their sexual orientation.

I do hear friends claiming that the Philippines is liberal when it comes to LGBT, pointing to the many bakla (and baklita, the younger ones) walking down the streets in full make-up and in skirt and blouse. But we need a reality check here. There is discrimination, less blatant but often quite vicious, in homes, schools, offices, churches and mosques.

Anti-women

What kind of discrimination? From a very early age, many LGBT, especially males, suffer from discrimination at home, and that can include severe beatings from fathers and brothers who believe that they can beat “the woman” out of the suspected bakla son. You can see that there are strong misogynist (anti-women) undertones in homophobia (a fear of homosexuals).

Parents’ fears of having a “queer” child border on paranoia, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that. Just last month while queuing at a bank, I overheard a woman talking with a young boy. She asked him if she liked the Power Rangers and the boy answered, “Aisha.” The woman responded, “Why Aisha? Yellow is for girls only. Are you bakla?”

“Tomboys,” because they’re girls, don’t usually get beaten up at home, but in adulthood will sometimes suffer more than the bakla, getting beaten up, too, or worse. Tomboys have been raped, the assault coming from men who believe this will bring “the woman” (read a man-lover) out of the tomboy.

The hate crimes can go all the way. These days, when I read about a woman mysteriously raped and sometimes murdered, or of unsolved murders of single men, I wonder if there was an LGBT angle to it.

Sadly, some of the most rabid anti-gay comments and behavior can come from homosexuals themselves who have problems coming to terms with their own sexuality. Society engenders this behavior because people in denial feel more discomfort, if not disgust, when seeing open homosexuals.

Let’s go back now to the Comelec decision. There is no law against homosexual acts in the Philippines, so the Comelec cannot claim that Ang Ladlad represents people engaging in illegal activities, which is much more than we can say about the many people the Comelec has allowed to run for office. There are laws, the Comelec has to be reminded, against plunder, graft and corruption, money laundering, child molestation (which they use now as a tag on all LGBT).

Churches divided

The Comelec decision mainly uses religious grounds to block Ang Ladlad, oblivious to a constitutional provision on the separation of Church (and mosque) and State. But even where religion is concerned, the “immorality” label is highly contentious. The Comelec decision cites a Baptist preacher who died in 1997 to “prove” the immorality of homosexuality, but the Baptists, despite their conservative reputation, have differing views about homosexuality. There is even one group, the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists (www.wabaptists.org) with this vision statement: “We envision that the day may speedily come within Baptist Churches when no one shall feel excluded from God’s love in Jesus Christ because of their sexual orientation and gender identity.” Locally, I know many Baptists who are active in feminist and reproductive health organizations.

Among the clergy and lay people from various Christian and Muslim groups, there are also differing views on homosexuality. Many faith institutions are divided on issues around LGBT, Anglicanism being one of the most affected with some of their member churches advocating the ordination of openly gay men (as well as women, gay or not).

The Catholic official stand is explained as “love the sinner (presumably the homosexual), hate the sin (the homosexual acts),” a prescription that does little to reduce the bigotry. Just look at the Comelec decision: after railing against LGBT, it adds: “We are not condemning the LGBT, but we cannot compromise the well-being of the greater number of our people, especially the youth.”

Not every Catholic subscribes to the official view. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a recent convert from Anglicanism to Catholicism, stirred some controversy this year when he said the Pope (and presumably the Catholic hierarchy) needed to rethink their “entrenched” attitudes about homosexuality. On biblical passages being used to label homosexuality as immoral, Blair noted that if we took the Bible literally as “being what God and religion is all about, you’d have some pretty tough policies.” Blair specifically cited kings with “hoards of concubines” being allowed in the Old Testament. Read Leviticus and you’ll find people allowed to eat locusts, crickets and grasshoppers but not “all other winged insects which have four feet.” All males had to be circumcised and women could not touch anything sacred for 33 days after the birth of a son, 66 after a daughter.

One last reality check: I can say with great confidence there’s an LGBT in every family, not necessarily a bolder and more visible baklita or tomboy. It could be the son who gets a thrill from basketball, or motorcycles, or ziplining (smile). Or that daughter who loves things pink and carries make-up in a kikay bag. That LGBT can be Ate or Kuya, Tito or Tita; it can even be Dad or Mom, or your parish priest or pastor, school principal or family doctor. With that perspective, don’t you think the immorality lies in the way that term is used to label people as an excuse for depriving them of their rights?

Email to mtan@inquirer.com.ph