Bigot

The honorable former associate justice of the Supreme Court, the great old man who personified justice, equality and liberty just wrote another scathing condemnation of gay people. Isagani Cruz of the Inquirer has once again proven that yes, in this country, bigotry and intolerance exist even among those who are supposed to be a higher intelligence.

The wise man says:

HOMOSEXUALS before were mocked and derided, but now they are regarded with new-found respect and, in many cases, even treated as celebrities. Only recently, the more impressionable among our people wildly welcomed a group of entertainers whose main proud advertisement was that they were “queer.” It seems that the present society has developed a new sense of values that have rejected our religious people’s traditional ideas of propriety and morality on the pretext of being “modern” and “broad-minded.”

Mr. Cruz begins by asserting that the mockery and derision of gay people have ended. I don't know what kind of world he lives in; it must be some imaginary parallel universe that is completely detached and isolated from reality because last I looked, gay people are still being discriminated against and reduced to caricatures. And of course, the rest of his column negates his first sentence since he ends up mocking and deriding gay people anyway.

He insults all those who flocked to the malls to watch the stars of the hit television show Queer Eye for The Straight Guy by calling them "impressionable." I know a lot of people who watch that TV show who are sensible, intelligent, mature people; I personally watch that show whenever I can (which admittedly is rare). I don't think we are dumb driven cattle who admire celebrities just because they are popular. But as far as the honorable former justice is concerned, people who are able to see beyond their own prejudices and bigotry are simply impressionable, easily led by the nose and cannot think for themselves. What a great wise man Mr. Cruz truly is.

He thinks that those guys only selling point is that they are queer. This man must have such a truly discerning eye because he can't see beyond the fact that they are "queer." Forget the fact that they are expert interior designers, or chefs, or fashion gurus, or that many gay men are famous engineers or lawyers or doctors. As far as this great man is concerned, gay men are simply queers, period.

He continues:

The observations I will here make against homosexuals in general do not include the members of their group who have conducted themselves decorously, with proper regard not only for their own persons but also for the gay population in general. A number of our local couturiers, to take but one example, are less than manly but they have behaved in a reserved and discreet manner unlike the vulgar members of the gay community who have degraded and scandalized it. I offer abject apologies to those blameless people I may unintentionally include in my not inclusive criticisms. They have my admiration and respect.

Mr. Cruz submits the very insightful definition of what "decorous" behavior means: being reserved and discreet. In other words, behaving according to some code of conduct that meets his personal standards. He offers an apology to members of the gay community that are "less than manly" but who behave according to his idea of how gay people should behave. What a very reasonable and charitable guy, so unlike Adolf Hitler who condemned all gay men as unworthy.

He offers yet another scholarly and erudite observation:

The change in the popular attitude toward homosexuals is not particular to the Philippines. It has become an international trend even in the so-called sophisticated regions with more liberal concepts than in our comparatively conservative society. Gay marriages have been legally recognized in a number of European countries and in some parts of the United States. Queer people -- that’s the sarcastic term for them -- have come out of the closet where before they carefully concealed their condition. The permissive belief now is that homosexuals belong to a separate third sex with equal rights as male and female persons instead of just an illicit in-between gender that is neither here nor there.

To prove his advanced state of enlightenment, he says that the term "queer" is a sarcastic term. The fact that the term has actually become an empowering battlecry for gay people - as in, "yes, you call us queer - but so what? We can turn that negative identification to something we can be proud of because no matter the derogatory slogans and epithets you throw at us these will not reduce our worth in society" is puny in his more knowledgeable slight of hand. He throws in words like "permissive," "third sex," "illicit" to boost his compassionate arguments. What do you mean many gay people do not necessarily think of themselves as the third sex but merely think of themselves as men and women with just a different sexual orientation? how dare you question the wisdom of such a learned man.

Mr. Cruz fortifies his powerful arguments by citing irrefutable arguments borne out of his all-encompassing and universally applicable experience:

When I was studying in the Legarda Elementary School in Manila during the last 1930s, the big student population had only one, just one, homosexual. His name was Jose but we all called him Josefa. He was a quiet and friendly boy whom everybody liked to josh but not offensively. In the whole district of Sampaloc where I lived, there was only one homosexual who roamed the streets peddling “kalamay” and “puto” and other treats for snacks. He provided diversion to his genial customers and did not mind their familiar amiable teasing. I think he actually enjoyed being a “binabae” [effeminate].

He says calling his childhood homosexual Jose "Josefa" was not offensive. But of course. Such a learned and compassionate man does not have a cruel, mean streak in his body. His discerning eye for detecting who is homosexual and who is not is beyond reproach.

And he continues:

The change came, I think, when an association of homos dirtied the beautiful tradition of the Santa Cruz de Mayo by parading their kind as the “sagalas” instead of the comely young maidens who should have been chosen to grace the procession. Instead of being outraged by the blasphemy, the watchers were amused and, I suppose, indirectly encouraged the fairies to project themselves. It must have been then that they realized that they were what they were, whether they liked it or not, and that the time for hiding their condition was over.

What a truly admirable man! He uses words like "dirtied" (you homosexuals represent the grime, the muck, the dregs of society), "blasphemy" (see, only heterosexual men and women regardless of their character have the right to participate in religious traditions; Mr. Cruz is such an omnipresent person, he can fathom what is in every man's heart), "condition" (it's a condition! It is a sickness. It can be cleansed!)

But let us not go on to appreciate the wonderful and truly enlightening observations of this broadminded and learned man:

Now homosexuals are everywhere, coming at first in timorous and eventually alarming and audacious number. Beauty salons now are served mostly by gay attendants including effeminate bearded hairdressers to whom male barbers have lost many of their macho customers. Local shows have their share of “siyoke” [gay men], including actors like the one rejected by a beautiful wife in favor of a more masculine if less handsome partner. And, of course, there are lady-like directors who are probably the reason why every movie and TV drama must have the off-color “bading” [gay] or two to cheapen the proceedings.

And the schools are now fertile ground for the gay invasion. Walking along the University belt one day, I passed by a group of boys chattering among themselves, with one of them exclaiming seriously, “Aalis na ako. Magpapasuso pa ako!” [“I’m leaving. I still have to breastfeed!”] That pansy would have been mauled in the school where my five sons (all machos) studied during the ’70s when all the students were certifiably masculine. Now many of its pupils are gay, and I don’t mean happy. I suppose they have been influenced by such shows as “Brokeback Mountain,” our own “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros” (both of which won awards), “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” and that talk program of Ellen Degeneres, an admitted lesbian.

What the heck, let's stop this sarcasm and attempts at irony and just call a spade by its real name - a dirty shovel. Mr. Cruz is ignorant, stupid, bigoted, and yes, cruel. I am surprised that he has not laid the blame for the cheating in the last elections, the death of Ninoy Aquino, the mass killings of journalists, the economic crisis, and the war at Lebanon on gay people. As far as this senile old man is concerned, all gay men are weak sissies. Like the stereotypical macho father who beats gay children for being born that way, he is proud of his sons because they are all macho. Huh! I am sure a lot of gay men can beat his sons senseless anytime. If I were his son (and boy, am I glad I am not) I would take it as an affront that the only seeming measure of their worth as far as their old man is concerned is their being masculine.

Is our population getting to be predominantly pansy? Must we allow homosexuality to march unobstructed until we are converted into a nation of sexless persons without the virility of males and the grace of females but only an insipid mix of these diluted virtues? Let us be warned against the gay population, which is per se a compromise between the strong and the weak and therefore only somewhat and not the absolute of either of the two qualities. Be alert lest the Philippine flag be made of delicate lace and adorned with embroidered frills.

Let's cut through this crap and just read his statements for what they really mean: he thinks gay people are the scourge of this world, that gay people have no right to exist because they dilute the purity of the race. He thinks the Philippines is better off without gay people.

I can only say, Heil Hitler! Shame!