Religious homophobes and bigots alike seems to have found their new Church inside the Commission on Election (Comelec), as it recently released one of the notorious decisions this godforsaken country ever witness right before our very eyes: the rejection of Ang Ladlad for party-list electoral accreditation -a legitimate party-list of of thousands of Filipino lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders pushing for gender equality rights- WHY? — because the Bible and Q’uran said so.
The 8-paged decision signed by two Christian and one Muslim Comelec officials of the 2nd Division detailing how being homosexual is an abomination from the standard of the Bible and Q’uran and therefore any group representing this sector is morally disqualified to join the electoral race in 2010 for being bad influence to Filipino youth. To construct a basis for the rejection they unequivocally quoted Romans 1:26-27 from the New Testament King James Version of 1611:
“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women
did change the natural use into that which is against nature, And likewise
also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one
toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and
receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.”
and from the Q’uran , The Abdullah Yusuf Ali translation of 1938:
“For ye practice your lusts on men in preference to women:
ye are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds.” (7:81)
“and we rained down on them a shower (of brimstone): Then see what
was the end of those who indulged in sin and crime!” (7:84)
“He said: “O my Lord! Help thou me against people who do mischief!” (29:30)
If you think this can’t be a legal document from a government office, then read the whole Comelec decision from HERE.
Where is the wall of separation of Church and State in all this? You might ask. Despite what’s written on our Constitution that, “the separation of Church and State shall be inviolable”, and “No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion”, what we can learn from this awfully lot man-made tragedy is that GENUINE separation of Church and the State is not automatically given in this country, it is something we should all fight for, and yes, WE WILL FIGHT FOR IT.
P.S.
The author is not gay but recognized that homophobia and other forms of discrimination are borne out of prejudice and infantile ideology.
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Ba’t may disclaimer pa, Geri? LMAO. I’ve given up those labels for dead. Because they, too, are of prejudice and seek only to divide the awesome diversity that is sexuality and gender expression.
Anyway, thanks for posting this. I’m trying to restrain myself but no doubt that I am furious. I feel like storming wherever it is that they congregate and force them to spit out all the shrimp they’ve eaten in their lives since, apparently, it offends Leviticus.
I cannot believe we live in the same century as these bigots!
Signed,
The free-sexual.
About the disclaimer, I thought by mentioning that it might actually add credibility on what I wrote, the same way with the issue of RH Bill favored by a Catholic.
Again, ladies and gentlemen and those in between, another good example of my earlier point in this post here: http://filipinofreethinkers.org/2009/09/30/belief-non-belief-and-homosexuality/
Que lastima.
The COMELEC is proven to be corrupt and proven to be incompetent. Now it’s proven that they are also RELIGIOUS IDIOTS.
eh? what about the other religions (or even non-religions) where being gay is tolerated? they only cited two religions out of a gazillion other belief systems out there.
Hahaha, may disclaimer pa talaga o. ^___^
Pero stupid talaga ang Comelec dito. Hope people make enough noise to point out the stupid.
P.S. This commenter is not gay either, hahaha. XD
Hi Frank — people are making alot of noise unfortunately the noise is being stifled. Media empires are still being run by conservatives who apparently want to drown out the noise, for fear of offending their larger conservative market. In other countries this would have made the headlines already. Here it is relegated to the side news and commentaries section.
The church isn’t helping either as it is conspicuously very silent on the issue, but im not surprised anymore as catholicism has always been manipulating humankind since its inception.
PS: This commenter is gay. And atheist. And a devastatingly handsome doctor.
Thanks for this, Geri!
As someone pointed out, the comments on the Star article are even more bigoted, citing God and Bible and whatever religious pamphlet they find to condemn gays and lesbians to hell.
With the way people use religion and religious text to oppress other people or races or lifestyles, it is truly becoming more of a force of evil and hate in this world rather than a tool to unite for good. I am disappointed in Comelec’s choice, but it seems that it is also a popular opinion, and honestly, I am disappointed at the world at large.
Judging from the atrocious grammar and poor reasoning those gobshites posted, I think the Bible and whatever religious pamphlet they find are ALL they ever read.
I wanted to argue with them, but realized it’s fruitless picking a fight with those afflicted with head-in-cement syndrome.
Before I forget to mention, I’m not gay either, but do I have to be to realize that a supposedly impartial government institution has committed an act of douchebaggery?
The only good bits on Philippine Star are the comic strips and some of the regular articles there—-but please, no Carmen Pedrosa, Cito Beltran, Alex Magno, Domini Torrevillas, Marichu Fernandez or Babes Romualdez for me. And none of those Raymond Lo and Wilson Lee Flores shit, either
hehehe
I read Star for the news and Comics (Beerkada specifically). I stopped reading their idiot board after reading their columnist’s views on the RH Bill and Catholicism.
One of them had the gall to post this whacked conspiracy theory about the US intentionally keeping our population low to keep us under control.
I forgot to mention Atty. Sison. OK na sana if he would just stick to his regular legal advice programming. If his article is about his personal Pro-life/moralist advocacies, I skip his article all together
Yeah, Beerkada!
I wonder if Lyndon Gregorio is a Freethinker as well 
ey sinister — do you have a link/copy of the article you’re referring to? I need to read it myself…
Great article Geri,
When are they going to sue these bigots? Updates?
FWIK, Prof. Remoto is going to an Ateneo law center/institute (not the law school, that’s what I understand) to seek legal advice. Next step might be a case before the Supreme Court. But of course, he needs to have the strongest reasons possible for the case, which necessitates some legal research and consultation from experts
Guys, no one is accusing anyone of being gay! No need to deny it!
All I can say is wow! Obvious na obvious ang separation ng church and state sa Pilipinas ‘no? lol
@sinisterspark: haha, for all you know, the people over at the LGBT forums likewise have similar disclaimers that go “the church sucks! but FYI, I’m not an atheist”
i guess a freethinking and a secular political party will have a snowball’s chance in hell to get comelec’s accreditation….
musing around…
what if, they just have had the hot lesbians do the filing instead?
I think that, historically, the Catholic Church (and other Christian fundamentalists, too) considers male homosexuality as a hot topic button. For some reason, if it were lesbians, either they don’t care or don’t give a damn. For starters, the Bible is more explicit in its disapproval of love between two males than two females. (I read a discussion about this on a book about Bible and sex, but I’ll save that for another essay of my own
hehehe )
In case anybody’s wondering, Comelec has breached at least two laws in the constitution:
Article II, Section 6:
The separation of Church and State shall be inviolable.
Article III, Section 7:
No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil or political rights.
Now if we can only find a way to rub it in Comelec’s face…
I can’t believe they quoted the Bible and the Qur’an as their bases for the dismissal of ANG LADLAD!!!! They violated the Constitution a lot of times!
gays pay taxes too.
according to kinsey’s scale everyone is “gay” ^_^
A word of warning if you’re going to try to post a comment on Philippine Star. I’ve been attempting to refute some of the news comments there after having my fill of their opinion, and I’ve noticed my posts were repeatedly getting deleted by the mods.
Guess what? The Godbot comments are mostly still intact. At least I know just how right-leaning the newspaper is now.
nasa 21st century na tayo and yet ganyan ang mentality ng comelec? no wonder the people don’t trust them. wa sila kabalo unsa ang separation of church and state.