When I was doing my research on the history of homosexuality in the Philippines, I encountered an article saying that the Philippines accepted gay people during the time of “datus” when homosexuals were even granted a high-ranking status as healers, or in our own language, “babaylan.”
When Islam reached Mindanao, they condemned homosexuality but the respect and acceptance for gay people did not wear off easily. It was when Christianity conquered the 7,107 islands that discrimination began. The high-ranking people were stripped of their names, discriminated against, and frowned upon by society, and condemned to suffer in an eternal fire their religion introduced.
I guess that is what more than 300 years of territorial invasion could do: it changed our way of life, so perfectly that we can’t even recognize our own identities anymore.
About a hundred years after, though not as severe as before, some Filipinos still view LGBT+ as second-class citizens – and there are many of them.
First are the Conservatives. They are the LGBT+ community’s daily dose of discrimination. They made a pact to whichever god they worship to always speak and wish ill of the LGBT+ community and eye it as if it is the breeding ground of killers.
Second is the Patriarchal system. This is the system that caters the people who suckle the idea that men are the world’s supreme creation. At times, people who hug the idea of patriarchy commit violence upon those who are in the rainbow community.
Third are the fakers. These people are not “that” radical like the two stated above, but nevertheless discriminate. They are okay with the LGBT+ community but deprive the community the equal rights to which its members are entitled.
Sometimes, these are the people who want to stay between Christianity and the LGBT+ to avoid conflict. They are the people who want to have gay friends, but wish their future son won’t end up “just like them.”
Most of the time, fakers do not realize that they are discriminating against gay people, and when they do, the impulse is to justify themselves.
Lastly are the Hypocrites. They are the worst kind. They are the people within the community who hate other members of it. For example, lesbian-hating gay men. They are the people who only believe an idea or rule if it serves themselves.
The people mentioned above are one of the reasons why there are many closeted LGBT+ members, people who are afraid to be what they want to be, and kids who are discouraged to be who they truly are.
To be fair, though, we have come far from the discrimination that we experienced 10 years ago. Still, there is a long way to go.
Equality is what the community wants. People in the community are not less human than heterosexuals are. These are people who eat, breathe, laugh, pay taxes, etc., What makes them unqualified for the same privileges heterosexuals enjoy?
Maybe we could go and look back to our early civilization – before Islam, before Christians, before the conservatives, patriarchal entertainers, fakers and hypocrites.
Maybe we could go and look back and maybe we could learn a thing or two.