We beg to differ.
One thing that the brouhaha over the murder of Jeffrey Laude (allegedly by Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton of the United States Marine Corps) revealed is that Filipino transgenders live in legal limbo in the Philippines. No less than the Philippine Supreme Court is reportedly “confused” over how to regard them. The publisher of…
As expected, gay activists are now all over the case of the murder of transgender Jeffrey ‘Jennifer’ Laude. According to Benjamin Pimentel who wrote about the incident in the context of Gay Pride in his Inquirer piece Death of a Filipino transgender, “Despite progress and victories on many fronts, violence is still a frightening reality…
Whether the victim was gay or straight, looks like a girl and is a girl, or looks like a girl but is really a man is really a non-issue, isn’t it? The case of Jeffrey Laude, a Filipino transgender found murdered in a hotel room in Olongapo city is really just that — a murder…
Read More “Was the murder of Jeffrey Laude in Olongapo a case of the ‘Crying Game’ syndrome?” »
There’s been much hype spun around how today’s media technology supposedly greatly improves our ability to suss people out. But, really, all we seem to be getting is a thicker layer of show and an ever-thinning layer of real insiqht into things. Take the whole “debate” around the current crop of politicians and government officials…
Read More “Why Vice President Jejomar Binay remains popular” »
Of ‘Filipino, German, and Danish descent’. That’s how newly-crowned Miss World Philippines 2014 contestant Valerie Weigmann of Albay is described by the Philippine media. Well, considering she is an ex-Pinoy Big Brother housemate and a one-time host of the noontime variety show Eat Bulaga, there does not seem to be much of the German and…
Read More “Pinoy Big Brother housemate Valerie Weigmann is Miss World Philippines 2014!” »
I often wonder about the twisted priorities of Philippine society. I read just now how Quezon City Mayor Herbert “Bistek” Bautista is reportedly mulling the allowing of same-sex marriage in his city. Ok, so how is it that something like that takes precedence over — and garners a lot more media mileage than — a…
Read More “Is same-sex marriage a more important issue than divorce??” »
Or any other country’s democracy-oriented drive, for that matter. Admittedly, watching the unfolding of the Hong Kong protests – dubbed the Umbrella Revolution – gets one’s curiosity easily piqued. Given that the protesters have been issued an ultimatum to clear the streets, outside observers are hoping that things don’t end tragically. When the world recalls…
Read More “Filipinos need to stop inserting themselves into Hong Kong’s #UmbrellaRevolution” »
The community of “drag queens, drag kings, transgender, and extensive community of our friends, neighbors, and members of the LGBT community” can now rest easy after Facebook promised to improve its system for verifying accounts flagged as “fake” by other users. The social media firm also apologised for what many perceived to be an unwarranted…
Read More “Facebook apologises for crackdown on drag queens and LGBT community” »