by ESMERALDHA » Sun Sep 01, 2019 2:41 pm
A LOVE STORY..... by Atty. Bruce Rivera
This is not my foray to being a writer because I know I can never be. I am overrated. However, I am telling this story because with so much contempt for the LGBTIQ+ and the SOGIE, I feel the need to tell this story to tell you that our community is just like any other human community. We love and our love will last a lifetime. So allow me to tell you this story. And I hope those against the SOGIE Bill will read this and I am sure it will not change your perception. So do not be afraid.
H is in his late thirties, highly educated, snob, self-entitled and insecure. W is in his early twenties, educated but naive, self-entitled as well and more insecure. And they had every reason to be insecure. Both were gay. And in today's Philippines, our society really never expected gays to have a love story. However, most have us "love". Sadly, most of us do not even attempt loving because we know how it will end.
So some of us act as if we have never learned the act of loving, some dare to love, get hurt, love again, get hurt again and die trying to love. Some try to conform to the requirements of what is perceived to acceptable in society. While some become the gender they are supposed to and damn how our society would react.
And in today's society where it is politically incorrect to be homophobic, many of your friends tell you how they love gays and how we are funny but when the time is right to give you the acceptance as an equal, true colors show. And I cannot blame the homophobic, some of the LGBTIQ+ are. Nothing is more scary than God's wrath.
So, I have to be human and be more accepting of people who only see us for our difference and see the freaks they perceive us to be. And be silently thankful they are not born this way. Some even deny being born this way and even go out of their way to shame us to make a point. But that is how our society is wired. The more you conform, the better.
And in all honesty, I earn more as a male looking lawyer than I earn as a female looking lawyer. There is just that unrealiability as a cross-dressing lawyer, I guess. So my point is....yes, the love story.
H met W, they had a relationship, W died and H lives his life, alone and just waiting for life to be over. And H is one of the lucky ones who got to love and be loved in return. But majority in our community are not as lucky to have the convenience of a relationship premised on love among others. And perhaps if we have equality and gender sensitivity from our society, the pain of loneliness will be less painful if we have the acceptance from the Filipino people.
And like most of us in the LGBTIQ+, love and acceptance is not a right. And all our love stories usually end up the same: a one way street. And what makes it worst is when an LGBTIQ+ tries to love himself or herself because there is no other option and tries to assert our identity, people call us self-entitled.
This just me, not necessarily the feeling of my community. But I still love my country. I have to. You are the only one I got. Just be easy on me.