May 28th Quick Update

May 28th, near the end of May, soon the month of June.

My dear friends, plural, wherever you are, I just want to let you know that I survived the house move, and am beginning to get settled at 82-D Masikap Street.

Actually it's just a short walk from Quezon City Hall.

The house is spacious, with a ground floor mini chapel which can serve for prayer uses and small weddings. The entire GDC-RR LGBT Library of the Philippines is already on shelves at one end of the chapel.

Then there is the big kitchen [with lots of cupboards].

The second floor has a nice central office and lounge area and three spacious bedrooms with large built-in clothes closets.

I was able to bring my entire plant and rock garden, but have not had time to do any arranging.

During the weeks since my homophobic, born again preacher land owner evicted me, and I began packing up everything in hundreds of boxes, so many things happened in the world that I would have wanted to make separate blogs on. Some of them will still be forthcoming.

One of them was the Supreme Court of California declaring that marriage for same-sex couples must be legal. And then my entertainment idol Ellen Degeneres declaring that she will get married in California with her lover Portia.

One of them was the Manila cardinal and other bishops of the Roman Church denouncing the participation of transvestite "queens" in the May processions in honor of the Blessed Mother. Oh my, more of the same! I did not reply publicly. Our movement spokespersons, Danton Remoto and Jonas Bagas did an excellent (page one) job of responding in the media. My comment is that they love the Blessed Mother, and the Blessed Mother loves them. God loves them and is smiling upon them. Nobody can take that away from them -- or you -- or me. St. Paul said it first: "No power [anywhere] can separate us from the love of God."

One of them was an ugly incident in a hospital where doctors removed a cylindrical object from a gay man's anal canal and it was recorded and made its way to a blog with dirisive anti-gay snide remarks and giggles. I did not comment publicly. Again our spokespersons did a masterful job even in the face of the Catholic bishop's comments that it was not doctors who did wrong (in violating the person's privacy), but the one who had gay sex that was wrong. Oh my, more of the same.

Then there was one of our OSAe members who wanted to go with his lover to the World Youth Day gathering in Sydney this year. He went to the Australian embassy to get a visa and they told him he must have a bishop's endorsement to get a visa. He and his lover went to the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines Office, and said they were ecumenical. The nun told them they could not get the cardinal's endorsement because they were not Catholic (meaning Roman Catholic). They said, what can we do? She said, "Don't go." They went to the embassy again. The embassy said that any bishop will do. So they came to me, any bishop, and they got a Letter of Endorsement from the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of One Spirit Philippines. We'll see.

And there were indeed other incidents and issues. Hopefully we'll hear more about them as time goes on and I begin to get back to my neat and orderly self. (Those who know me are laughing. Hehehehe)

The day after I got everything moved in (in a pile, as it were), I had a morning wedding in a provice two hours in one direction, and an afternoon wedding in another province four hours in the opposite direction, and came home by midnight with a bad cold from the aircon on the buses. But, people say why do you do it? I never think of that. It's what I do. It's what I have the privilege of doing. It's what God called me here to do. It's what I do with the Lord to bring people closer to the Lord who wants them to "have life, and have it more abundantly." And that is why I am eternally grateful to some of my former MCC co-ministers and other friends who sent enough cash to make the next-to-impossible move possible. I know they know that it is for the very reason that I am here that they helped make it possible.