When Heidi Mendoza lost in the recent elections and candidates like Imee Marcos and Camille Villar won, many people who associate with the Liberal Party blamed the LGBT community. This is after social media figures like Sassa Gurl and Pipay withdrew their support from Mendoza when it was exposed that she is not in favor of same-sex marriage.
Many from the LGBT community feel slighted that even their causes are not supported. Because they dared to stand up for themselves and discard Mendoza, many Liberals are angry.
These are Liberals who cloak themselves as progressives but are not. They’re just conservatives with advanced degrees who read and travel. Maybe in better clothes. Maybe. They will bristle and groan that it was the gays who ruined progress. They will say it is because of one-issue hardliners.
Never mind that it is not one issue but a revelation of deplorable stances: Mendoza is also anti-divorce, anti-SOGIE (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression) bill. It’s not “just” same-sex marriage.
The reason for many people’s disdain is that Mendoza performs as a progressive, and yet she leaned on and used the LGBT community for clout and circulation.
When asked if she supports same-sex marriage, Mendoza casually dropped a “no, but with reservations.”
This conditional acceptance is the reality for many in the LGBT community. “Ay, bakla ka, sana di ka manamit pambabae.” “Ay, tibo ka kasi di mo pa nakita ang lalake para sa iyo.” With the LGBT, it is always with reservations.
The Liberals discredit our anger and disappointment, not noting that the LGBT are usually the first ones to go; the first ones they dispose of because the queer community’s humanity is never truly respected or adequate.
June is Pride Month. Many Filipinos deride Pride as the biblical “pride before the fall,” but Pride is more than this dogmatic whipping. Pride is bravery to stand up and be seen and heard in a culture that belittles you. Pride is to exist despite the constant harassment, the violence, and the diminishing by the majority who see you as objectively less.
The LGBT community’s inputs are not considered when the Liberals’ status quo is threatened. The LGBT community is blamed for being divisive, and this stance is born out of emotions that are causing the majority of the population to be wary of liberal politics because they feel there is an overcorrection with cancel culture. Is it cancel culture when we are just a few people in this sick game of numbers?
Besides, some of the LGBT community still voted for Heidi Mendoza. Many of them are prominent and bright personalities. So, why are some people posting essays about the choices only a few are making? Are they uncomfortable with the LGBT community’s anger, and some just broadly cast it as just base narcissism?
When Liberals whine about “one-sided” issues, this is proof that they have such a myopic look at how queer lives operate and how disposable these aberrant lives are. It is particularly telling to demand that people who are already compromised, precarious, and marginalized bear even more burdens.
Happy Pride to those who know how Pride and magnificence are earned and joyfully celebrated.
You may reach Chong Ardivilla at kartunistatonto@gmail.com or chonggo.bsky.social
