Isagani Cruz and the gay menace

Don't frighten the horses!

I’ve always thought of the Philippines as quite a tolerant country in matters of sexual orientation so, like many readers I suspect, I was rather taken aback by former Supreme Court Justice Isagani Cruz’s attack on “fairies” and “pansies” in Saturday’s Inquirer. Cruz’s use of such old-fashioned pejoratives sums up the article, which harks back to a virtually pansy-free era; when the few gay people around “conducted themselves decorously”. I found it hard to take Cruz’s curmudgeonly article seriously, but I can understand how offensive his views must have been to gay people.

John Silva has written a lively response which has circulated by e-mail. Here are a few extracts:

He yearns for elementary school days when there was only one, (Really?) one, queer person in his entire school. Must have been about the same time he needed glasses. …

But when the writer … starts to recklessly, and without basis, charge that there is a homosexual agenda to convert this nation into “..sexless persons…” it may seem silly and innocuous, but it is classic hatemongering. And the Inquirer with its socially committed journalism should be the first to distinguish between freedom of expression and fascist talk.

Every day, gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals, and transgenders face discrimination and oftentimes, outright violence from a society that still holds the most ignorant and baseless notions about our population. Isagani Cruz’s crude portrayal of gays coupled with homophobic nostalgia continues these notions
thereby validating the oppression inflicted on us.
…

Why should gays and people of good will patronize a paper with a columnist that demonizes us, telling us we reject “propriety and morality” and, absurdly states that we are a “compromise between the strong and the weak?” It’s not only hogwash, it’s pretty loony stuff unbecoming of a supposed world-class newspaper.

To the pasture Isagani Cruz. Write your antiquated dribble there where you hurt no one. A word about your macho sons. Eyebrows do get raised when one boasts needlessly about macho sons. Remember, we are everywhere.

Comments

[ronaldbrian]

Please read bryanboy.com 's hilarious comment on Isagani the fossil.

[torn]

Ha, ha -- that's a good one. I haven't read Bryanboy for quite a while, he quite brightened up my morning. Here's the link for anyone interested in reading his views on Cruz or even the intriguingly titled "Do we look like our own genitalia?" http://www.bryanboy.com/bryanboy_le_superstar_fab/2006/08/revolting.html#more

[Cogs]

I've heard a number of people, including the saintly Torn, suggest that the Inquirer is a fine newspaper. I have no idea where the notion comes from. I think it is a shameful rag given the role that it could and should be playing in a country where nearly all politicans, from the majority or the opposition, pursue suspect agendas.

The Inquirer shares the same fault as all the other dailies -- it has the attention span of a gnat, and is utterly unable to follow a story for more than a few days. All it takes is another privileged Senate speech with yet another loony, self-serving accusation, and it and the others are all off in a different direction, zipping around like schools of demented sardines. (Okay, gnats and sardines in the same par is not exactly Pullitzer stuff, but it's been a tough day.)

Compare the Inquirer and the Star to the two English-language dailies in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post and the Standard. Both are fine, modern-looking newspapers (the Inquirer and the Star are utterly style free), but also tenacious reporters. They will stay with a scandal until the villain is flushed out and reporting has to stop because charges are laid and contempt of court limitations kick in.

Here? Another day, another headline, another wasted opportunity.

[torn]

Er, good morning to you too! I’m not sure what provoked this outburst of spleen. Are you saying the Inquirer should have prevented Isagani Cruz from publishing his opinion piece? If so, I’m not sure I agree. It didn’t do him much credit, but it was his opinion and that is what he is paid to give. Presumably there are certain lines with opinion pieces (e.g., if Cruz’s piece was an overt incitement to violence against homosexuals then presumably it would not have been published) but, although I didn’t agree with him and actually thought it was quite a weird article, I’m with Voltaire on this one.

In fact the lively debate in the inquirer (two pieces each from Cruz and Quezon) and especially in the blogosphere has shown the free exchange of opinion in the Philippines in quite a good light in my view. Important issues have been aired and thoughts stimulated, I think that is positive.

This guy has an interesting take on the controversy, especially on the violence of some of the language that has been used to attack Cruz:

http://attyerwinjames.blogspot.com/

Your wider issue, whether or not the Inquirer is a good paper, is an intriguing one. I’ll try to put together something on it.

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