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brave danilo of cebu

my apologies for not posting anything in the last week or so.

i am teaching six units this summer. introduction to poetry and books of the century. in poetry, we have finished japanese poems and are now in phil poems in english. in the 20th century icons, we have finished a portrait of the artist as a young man by james joyce and mrs. dalloway by virginia woolf. on monday we will have migraines with the metamorphosis by franz kafka.

but the more kafkaesque events happened to danilo of cebu, victim of the black suede scandal, aka the cebu rectal surgery scandal.

ang ladlad has issued a statement, shown everywhere -- radio, tv, internet, newspapers, blogs. i have appeared on tv, in the radio, answered interviews at 6 am, 7 am, 8 am, appeared in shows that taped at 1 pm, 8 pm, etc. i would go home dead tired -- as tired as i was in the last elections, and sleep the sleep of the just. to be woken up by a 6 am call from an am radio station asking for updates. anthony taberna of umagang kay ganda even asked me if i do gay sex. of course, i told him, but i would rather call it gay love. people asked me why i answered him, and i said, why not? what right do i have to talk about gender and sexuality if i will shirk from questions like this? and so, yes, to gay love...

danilo has a lawyer, he will get additional ones soon, we are finalizing the counselor / therapy for him. he is a brave soul, and only asks media not to pry into his private life, as in not showing his face anymore on tv. he goes around cebu wearing a cloth over his face, the poor man: raped by a sex worker, raped by the harsh lenses of video and uploaded on YouTube, raped by the condemnation of the narrower sectors in the catholic church.

in theology classes in ateneo, the only words i remember are these:

1. if you did this to the least of my brethren, you did it to me.

2. we are all equal in the eyes of God.

Comments

Tonino-borneo said…
Mga kontrabida talaga ang mga konserbatibo. Puro diskriminasyon ang ginawa ng mga konserbatibo laban sa mga bakla at tomboy, tulad ng buwisit na paring iyan sa Cebu. Masyado siyang patriarkal at doble ang standard. Walang pagkakakaiba ang mga konserbatibo, tulad ng paring iyan sa mga suku Madura na kinatay namin sa tirahan ko sa Kalimantan. Masyadong patriarkal ang mga konserbatibo. Mabuti na lang hindi ako Pinoy na Kristiyano. Hindi sa pagiging Katoliko ang dahilan ng pagiging konserbatibo. Paging makitid ang utak at hindi bukas na kaisipan lamang ang pulo't dulo ng pagiging konserbatibo. Konserbatibo rin ang halos tanging dahilan at dapat sisihin sa paglobo ng populasyon ng Pilipinas. At higit sa lahat, ang mga konserbatibo ang perhuwisyo sa buhay natin at mga konserbatibo lang ang sisira sa tunay na kultura ng mga Indonesian, tulad ko.

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