Philippines: Gay Group Denied Party List Recognition by Homophobic Commissioners

Commission on Elections Commissioners Nicodemus Ferrer, Lucenito Tagle and Elias Yusoph are all suffering from homophobia. Homophobia is defined by the dictionary as “hatred or fear of homosexuals.” That the three said commissioners are homophobic is the most likely explanation one can think of for their strange rejection of the application of the gay-equality advocacy group, Ang Ladlad, for recognition for party-list on the grounds of immorality. Comelec insiders sympathetic to Ang Ladlad and the group’s principal public advocate, Ateneo professor Danton Remoto, said that the three Comelec commissioners were openly hostile to Remoto when they held a public hearing of Ang Ladlad’s application for party-list registration. The sources said the first question addressed to Remoto was: “How do we call you?” Remoto’s response that they can call him “Mister” drew a smirk from the commissioner who asked the question. Full Story from the Manila Standard Today: http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideOpinion.htm?f=2009/november/18/alvincapino.isx&d=/2009/november/18

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Homophobia, Attacks on Gays Increasing in Muslim World

Bearded men kidnapped him in the center of Baghdad, threw him into a dark hole, chained him up, urinated on him, and beat him with an iron pipe. But the worst moment for Hisham, 40, came on the fourth day of his ordeal, when the kidnappers called his family. He was terrified they would tell his mother that he was gay and that this was the reason they had kidnapped him. If they did, he would never be able to see his family again. The shame would be unbearable for them. "Do what you want to me, but don't tell them," he screamed. Instead of humiliating him in the eyes of his family, the kidnappers demanded a ransom of $50,000, a huge sum for the average Iraqi family. His parents had to go into debt and sell all of their son's possessions in order to raise the money required to secure his freedom. Shortly after they received the ransom, the kidnappers threw Hisham out of their car somewhere in the northern part of Baghdad. They had decided not to shoot him. But they sent him on his way with a warning: "This is your last chance. If we ever see you again, we'll kill you." Full Story from Salon.com: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/09/18/gay_muslim/

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com with "subscribe blog" as the subject. Or find us on Facebook - just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you'll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We're also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.