What is the LGBTQ Community Complaining About?
Over coffee and cigarettes, my friend asked me this question.
"What are you complaining about? I don't get it. Why do LGBT groups go out on the streets and rally...for what? What are you rallying for?"
Yes, we are still friends. In fact, her desire to understand us made our friendship stronger.
The good thing about having discussions is that both sides get to understand where either is coming from.
So what are we, the LGBTQs, really "complaining" about?
I've heard a lot of people say, that we've got it good here in the Philippines. The LGBTQs really have nothing (or nothing much) to complain about. I've even read an article saying that the Philippines is friendliest towards LGBTQs in Asia.
But is this really the case?
At a young age, Filipino LGBTQs are bullied in schools, in streets and in their own homes.
How many times have you heard someone use bakla or tomboy to insult someone? Maybe you've used these words as an insult too.
If our society is LGBTQ-friendly, then why are these words still used in the context of insulting someone?
Many, young and old LGBTQs are afraid to come out and be who they are for fear of being bullied, harassed, beaten up and even killed.
Some LGBTQs experience firsthand rejection from people whose supposed to love them unconditionally.
Sadly, many have been beaten up by their own family. The place they call home, where safety and love should abound, they get harsh beatings instead.
I don't have the statistics on violence against LGBTQs. But allow me to put a name rather than numbers. Edmund Padilla was 19 years old when he experienced first-hand, the horrors of discrimination against LGBTQs. Edmund is gay and his father was not happy about who he is. So one night, his father scalded him with boiling water. Edmund suffered severe burns.
Because of rejection, harassment, of feeling scared, belittled, and feelings of isolation and being unloved - a number of LGBTQs choose to end their lives. We have no statistics of LGBTQ suicide in our country, but we've heard whispers of it.
Even if you're a casual news observer, you've probably heard or read reports of youth and teens suicide as a result of anti-gay bullying in the United States. Allow me again to put names to some of the victims of anti-gay bullying in hopes that they wouldn't be just part of the statistics.
Seth Walsh experienced endless and merciless bullying in his school because he was gay. On September 19th 2010, his mother found his unconscious body; he had tried to hang himself from a tree in their backyard after again being bullied. He was on life support for more than a week. Seth was only 13 years old when he died. Shawn, Seth's younger brother said ""I always wanted to protect him. "I just wish people could have been nice to him like my mom taught me."
Asher Brown was constantly bullied in school for being gay. Coming home from school on a Thurday in September 2010 while his parents were still at work, he shot himself in the head. He was also only 13 years old.
Billy (William) Lucas, a 15-year old was tormented for years in his school for a perception that he was gay. On September 10, 2010 Billy hanged himself in a barn at his grandmother's home.
1 life lost to anti-gay bullying, homophobia, and discrimination is one too many.Somewhere, in the thousands of islands of the Philippines, someone is experiencing the cruelty of our society towards the LGBTQs. And this is why we're speaking out. This is why we are complaining...appealing rather, to your hearts.
We're only asking that you allow your eyes to see the injustices done to the people around you, especially to those who are considered a minority, and to those different than you and speak up.
What are you rallying for?
