August 22, 2006
Dear friends,
The Philippine Inquirer's editorial today concedes that their columnist, Isagani Cruz, wrote pieces that created angry reader response (editorial below). It acknowledged further that we still suffer discrimination and outright violence. They didn't link hate literature, like that of Isagani's to hurting us but it's a step that they finally came around to talking about it. (If you want a chronology of Isagani's editorials and my responses click on this:)
http://johnsilva.blogspot.com/2006/08/nurse-you-forgot-enema.htmlThe editorial is, at best, a declaration of the Inquirer's sympathy with gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals and transgenders. At worse, it somewhat gets Isagani off the hook.
But we won't let that happen. We still demand an apology from Isagani. We still want Inquirer to disavow themselves from Isagani's hate writing.
But let's not sound so grim and determined. In just over a week, our collective angry voice made a difference with the Philippine Inquirer and Isagani. I want to thank all those who called, e-mailed, and wrote on our behalf. This is the fundamental lesson, time and time again, in my advocacy work. When you appeal to your friends and they agree with your message, and they do something about it too, it's a wave that cannot be stopped.
About two years ago, there were stories about blogs and the internet widening discussion and becoming a tool for political and social change. In this fight, I started "trawling" through the internet, reading blogs, reading comments to the blogs, and reading other people's perspectives. My response to the Inquirer and to Isagani and the sharpened clarity of my arguments had much to do with so much more I read. Now I know what those stories I read years back meant. The blogs and the internet have given us additional weapons of collective wisdom to get our points across.
CELEBRATE! MANY THANKS! AND WATCH OUT FOR THE NEXT CAUSE!
John L. Silva
http://opinion.inq7.net/inquireropinion/editorial/view_article.php?article_id=16500EDITORIAL
Born free and equal
Inquirer
Last updated 00:01am (Mla time) 08/22/2006
Published on Page A10 of the August 22, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
A COLUMN written last week by Inquirer columnist Isagani Cruz on homosexuals stirred a tempest among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups not only in this country but also in other parts of the world. Scores of e-mail letters and telephone calls were received at the Inquirer the day after the publication of the column and they have not stopped coming.
Cruz's column placed homosexuals in a negative light and it is only understandable that the members of the group should protest violently against it. But we believe that the controversy may yet result in something good for the homosexual community, in that it may focus attention on and lead to the alleviation of their plight.
The Conservative Right and the Religious Right have traditionally viewed homosexuals as immoral, perverse, sinful, queer and causing harm to themselves, to others and to society as a whole. But do homosexuals choose to be so? Are homosexuals born or bred?
Scientific studies the past 20-30 years do not support the claim that homosexuality is genetic. The studies covered such areas as the hypothalamus, genes, finger length, inner ear differences, eye-blinking and neuro-hormonal differentiation. The studies that purportedly provide "proof" that homosexuals are "born that way" are inconclusive at best and, as one scientist has said, "largely correlational in nature."
Probably the best way to describe the situation is this paraphrase from Dr. Jeffrey Satinover, author of "Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth": Some people may be predisposed because of genetic, prenatal hormonal influences or other physical or brain differences to have personalities that make them vulnerable to environmental factors that can elicit homosexual desires.
But whether born or bred, the fact is that homosexuals are gaining acceptance in many parts of the world, including the United States and the Philippines. A national survey of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders made by the Kaiser Family Foundation in the US in 2000 found that a large majority believes that there is more acceptance today compared to a few years ago. Significant numbers, however, reported that they experienced prejudice and discrimination, including verbal abuse and physical violence, based on sexual orientation. A companion survey found generally high levels of acceptance of LGBTs in many professional roles.
We do not know if similar surveys have been done in the Philippines, but there seems to have been a change in the general public attitude toward homosexuals in the past 50 years. As a matter of fact, many homosexual professionals are held in high esteem in various sectors of society today.
And yet the discrimination continues. The rich, the prominent and the influential may not be victims of discrimination, but the poor and the underprivileged are. Discrimination against homosexuals may be a cause of, and may accentuate, poverty. A study made in Sweden in 2005 showed that homosexuals all over the world are to a large extent subjected to violence, insecurity, isolation and exclusion from decision-making functions.
The study said that LGBT people suffer from repression in the form of cultural injustice (being rendered "invisible," being maligned, harassed, violated and disparaged in everyday life) and legal injustice (being denied rights and equal protection under the law). As a consequence, they also suffer economic injustice, such as being denied employment or being summarily dismissed from work and being denied family-based social welfare benefits.
The discrimination and the violation of human rights that LGBT people suffer often diminishes their self-esteem and makes them feel helpless, powerless and unable to do anything to improve their situation.
Louise Arbour, UN high commissioner for human rights, in a recent speech, said, "Neither the existence of national laws nor the prevalence of custom can ever justify the abuse, attacks, torture and indeed killings that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons are subjected to because of who they are or are perceived to be."
Like women, who have suffered discrimination for ages, homosexuals are also human beings like the rest of us. Those who would discriminate against LGBT people and treat them less kindly should perhaps be reminded of the first sentence of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."
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