2011 LGBT Pride March in Manila

As we made the turn off Roxas Boulevard (service road) onto Pedro Gil, a woman came running toward our contingent. I could not believe it was my long-time friend Margie Holmes who was hugging me – and all the gays and lesbians in Father Regen Luna’s church were chanting, “Margie! Margie!” No doubt they were thinking, as I was, of all the hope and affirmation so many thousands of gays and lesbians felt over the years upon reading Margie’s books before anyone else was so publicly and beautifully affirming them.

At the same time in Australia the ruling party was approving same-sex marriage – and the government of Nigeria was approving anti-gay laws. And the US military acceptance of gay and lesbian people into the service was working smoothly. In many ways the world was the same as in 1994; in other ways there was much progress. The protestors were seemingly pleasant this year with their smiles while insulting us with their posters.

Here we were in our little niche of the world – in Manila, Philippines – marching along the bay by the thousand in the 17th year of the observance of the type of LGBT Pride March that started in 1970 a year after the Stonewall riots – and 25 years later started in Manila in 1994.

It was a large and colorful parade, with 75 organizations represented, rather hastily put together by Raffy Aquino and fellow TFP members. Well can I remember the days when Danton and Malu and Cris and Ging and Angie and Germaine and Babaylan and Anne, Venir, Bruce, Giney, Mike, Jack, and I (and I will be in trouble for not mentioning a dozen more names) – when in the early years of Task Force Pride we met and planned and raised money and worried and networked for six to eight months or a year each year to prepare for the annual Pride March.

2011 was a good parade. Eye-catching and ear-catching were the sights and sounds of the hyperactive flashy red-uniformed band who set the pace. The program was fast moving and snappy, no speeches, lots of music and dancing, lines of history inserted in between. Oscar and I were introduced in one of the intervals as the ones who started it all.

Along the parade route, I had photo-ops with Margie, Danton, Oscar, and Bemz and so many beautiful people, including the honorary gay mayor of Davao, Father Regen Luna and his congregation, and my old friend, Reggie. I missed my friends Neil Garcia and Ricky Lee this year. I awoke the next morning to find photos already posted on Facebook by Outrage Magazine and others.

My lesbian friend, Chris Salvatierra, took me under her wing and kept coming over bringing me water, flavored mineral water, sandwiches. Bless you, Chris.

The weather was perfect. And to think that the next day it rained all day!

Great Parade! And program! Thanks to you, Raffy and all you young workers of Task Force Pride. Thank you. Thank you.

I was surfing today and accidentally searched OnespiritCatholic.org.richardmickley – and discovered an interview with me at the 2009 Manila Parade. A team from New York, Project Walk with Pride, she – a journalist-blogger, he – a photographer, attended our parade and interviewed me. (They are documenting Pride Marches around the world. In 2011 they are in Moscow.) This is what I found today on Internet.

http://wwpproject.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/wwp-media-kit2.pdf


Interview with Fr. Richard Mickley,
retired MCC minister
Posted on December 27, 2009

Helping people sign up at the 2009 Manila Pride March, Fr. Richard Mickley continues to show his support for the LGBT movement, as he has done for the last 40 some years.

With first-hand experience of the founding of MCC Philippines, along with memories of starting the first Manila Pride March in 1994, Fr. Richard took the time to share these reflections and others with me recently concerning his involvement with MCC.

Fr. Richard at the 2009 Manila Pride March

1. Can you tell us about the history of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) in the Philippines? What do you believe makes the ministry different from others?

Well, now there are four MCC churches in the Philippines. I am so proud that each of them is pastored by a fine Christian young man (in this case). MCC Philippines (Manila, Makati) with Pastor Art, MCC Quezon City, with Pastor Ceejay, MCC Dasmarinas with Pastor Regen, and MCC GB (Greater Baguio) with Pastor Myke. All have websites and Facebook listings with photos.

I was pastor of MCC Auckland in New Zealand in 1991, and had a thriving church with several capable ministers on staff, and the Lord kept telling me to check out the Philippines because the word got to me that gay and lesbian people in the Philippines were hurting — with no one to publicly tell them God loves them unconditionally; God welcomes them into the full embrace of God’s friendship; that nobody can take God’s love away from them.

Yet, of course, such a supposed separation from God is what gays and lesbians perceive to happen in a church which rejects them, in a church which does not welcome them (at all, or fully as the case may be). And since the Philippines is a predominantly Catholic country, the well-known prejudice of the Catholic Church prevailed everywhere to the detriment of the mental, spiritual health of Filipino LGBT people.

So in May, June, and early July 1991, I scraped up some money for an exploratory visit to the Philippines. I did not know a single person here. I came and began to network. On June 26, 1991, at the high altar of the Cathedral of the Holy Child, 50 people gathered for the first ever full-blown public Gay and Lesbian Pride Mass in the Philippines, I preached of how Rev. Troy Perry started MCC and how MCC was spreading around the world with the message of God’s love for LGBT people.

When I left July 5, 1991, I was carrying a petition signed by 43 gay and lesbian people for me to come back and begin an MCC ministry here. I took the petition to MCC headquarters in Los Angeles. The Elders and officers were thrilled that the people of the Philippines wanted a church. But they sadly informed me there was no budget at that time. Then I remembered I was old enough to begin collecting US Social Security benefits, and would be able to support myself and my ministry. My mission to the Philippines was approved.

On September 7, 1991, I conducted the first official MCC service (after approval by the headquarters). I had gone back to New Zealand, resigned as pastor, gave up my house, my car, my salary, and came here where the people had promised a bed and at least a bowl of soup every day.

I kept the ministry going on my Social Security income (and later occasional supplements from headquarters) until I reached (surpassed) the MCC mandatory retirement age in 1995.

In 1995 I founded The Order of St. Aelred to supplement the work of MCC, but never replace it. I never offered a “parish,” (as MCC is), but if anybody, and many did, came to me for parish services, I referred them to MCC. Even today, many of the MCC leadership are those whom I referred or encouraged to worship in MCC.

2. How many pride parades have you participated in? And, what was your role in this year’s parade?

All of them. So, today, at 81, I am a retired MCC minister, and an ordinary member, invited from time to time to preach or celebrate the worship service in one of the four MCC churches.

In 1994, one of the gay activist board members of MCC, Oscar Atadero, and I discussed that it was the 25th anniversary of Stonewall and high time for a Pride March in the Philippines. On June 26, 1994, His “other” organization where he was an officer, ProGay Philippines, and MCC co-sponsored the first Gay and Lesbian Pride March in the Philippines. We later learned that it was the first Gay and lesbian Pride March in Asia. It was a rainy day, but 50 some brave and proud LGBT people immortalized the first march from EDSA along Quezon Avenue to Quezon Memorial Circle where I celebrated a Pride Mass and spoke, and Oscar was MC (master of ceremonies) for the Pride Rally and Program. There are still photos floating around of this historic occasion.

3. What were your thoughts on this year’s Manila Pride Parade? How did it compare to past marches?

I was filled with pride, even before the march, when I talked with your husband, looked around the big Remedios Circle (the march gathering area), and saw such a huge crowd assembling.

I could not avoid thinking back to the first march in 1994, especially as I hugged Oscar Atadero, and I am sure we both felt a tinge of pride as we a shed a little tear of wonder and gratitude and pride.

I marched with the MCC contingent. The MCC contingent was larger than the entire number of marchers in the first Pride March. Praise the Lord.

There have been big and bigger Pride Marches over the years. One of the biggest was in 1998, under the leadership of Jomar Fleras and Reachout AIDS Foundation, when the Gay and Lesbian Pride March was part of the Centennial celebration of the Republic of the Philippines. There was a huge People’s Parade, and the Gay and Lesbian Pride March was invited to march in front of the President of the Republic (along with thousands of others). As far as we know that was history also as the first Pride March in the world scheduled to march in front of a Head of State.

From 1999 onwards, the Task Force Pride, a coalition of Gay and Lesbian organizations and our friends planned and carried out the annual celebration. This year the Task Force was headed by Great Ancheta, coordinating the work of many organizations and individuals. (These organizations have expanded to dozens since MCC was founded in 1991 as the first openly gay and lesbian organization in the country.)

4. What were your feelings at seeing protesters using religion to put down the marchers?

This is nothing new to me. I attended some of the earliest marches after Stonewall in the early 1970’s. In LA as early as 1972 and 1973, the same religious bigots were there with the same signs. I actually thought I was having a flash back this year in Manila. Some of us tried to bring them to their senses by asking them if Jesus would discriminate? But, actually they continued their bigotry, can I say, good naturedly? (As in holding a sign with a very hateful message on it, while keeping a smile on their face) which in a way makes it more palatable (if that is possible), but more inexplicable.

What I have learned in my ministry over these nearly forty years in LGBT work is it is counter productive to argue or try to reason with prejudiced people. They have already judged (prejudged = prejudice), and it is a waste of time to exchange shouts with them. Some bigots are converted; some atheists are converted, but in a setting quite different from a Gay and Lesbian Pride March.

5. Do you think in the future mainstream churches will become more inclusive towards the gay community?

It is interesting that you use the expression “mainstream” churches. I am sure the definition varies from locale to locale. Ever since the beginning of MCC, Rev. Perry and the leaders (and even I as a teacher in the MCC seminary in the early years) consistently claimed that MCC is a mainstream church. By that we mean we uphold the historic Apostles Creed and the Nicean Creed, for example (which sets us apart from Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons which have quite different sets of beliefs).

So, “mainstream” puts us side by side with Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Independent Church of the Philippines, Methodists, Lutherans, and United Church of Christ in the Philippines (and their counterparts in other countries). Some of these “mainstream churches have adopted an “understanding” attitude, which is only slightly different from “tolerant.” Some are outright intolerant.

The next question about your question is: what do you mean by “more inclusive”? It’s a good question. But to hope for full “inclusiveness” of LGBT people in some “mainstream” churches is as hopeless, for example, as hoping for the ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church.

The Unitarian Universalist Church in the Philippines (and in the world) is visibly “inclusive,” (as they even participated in the Pride March in the Philippines this year and last year). (But, frankly, you cannot legitimately call them “mainstream” as defined above.)

In a church like the Roman Catholic Church where the “doctrine” comes from an international headquarters (Rome), it seems very unlikely that church “doctrine” would accept “inclusively” LGBT people.

On the other hand, there are interesting handwritings on the walls of history. One example, in a country, described as a Catholic country, Spain, the government has approved same-sex marriage along with divorce and contraceptives. (Of course we are not speaking of a change in church attitude there. We, to be honest, are noting the diminished influence of the church.)

In the Philippines, on the other hand, also described as a Catholic country, the government, the congress, the policy makers are so much under the domination of the Catholic bishops (who dominate volumes of votes), that there is neither divorce (the only country in the world besides Malta), nor approval of contraceptives, nor same-sex marriage (God forbid!).

The answer to your question is a flat no in the Philippines for the Roman Catholic Church. I see it as open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in the other mainstream churches.

Thank you Fr. Richard!

http://wwpproject.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/wwp-media-kit2.pdf

Project Walk with Pride founders are Charles “Chad” Meachem (photographer) and Sarah Baxter (journalist-blogger).

Some thoughts at 83 after 20 years sa PH

As I looked around at LeAP’s magnificent Giting Awards dinner party, I realized that among the LGBT Who’s Who in that magnificent restaurant, Adarna Food and Culture, I was the one most gifted by the Creator with years, but there before me was the whole array of those younger warriors who have given gifts of themselves in some wonderful ways for the good of the LGBT people in the Philippines.

Attached (below) is a photo of one table of many tables full of the pillars of the Philippine LGBT Who’s Who (see photo description) myself, easily recognizable as the one with the most gray years.

At beautiful Adarna Food and Culture, 29th October 2011, at the Giting Awards from Lesbian Activism Project, Inc. (LeAP!).

From left seated: Malu Marin, long-time activist, founding member of Task Force Pride (TFP), Lagablab, Ladlad; Jack Hernandez, long-time activist with us here in Manila, now active for Ladlad in the province; Bemz Benedito, current chairperson of Ladlad Party List; Edmond Osorio, executive secretary of Ladlad; Danton Remoto, founder of Ladlad Party List, founding member of Task Force Pride (TFP), Lagablab, author, journalist, inspiration to LGBT people; myself. Background right: Giney Villar, long-time activist, founding member of Task Force Pride (TFP), Lagablab, Ladlad, chef and owner of Adarna Food and Culture with partner, Beth Angsioco.

Honestly when I opened the first openly gay and lesbian LGBT organization in Manila on September 7, 1991, my vision was limited. I could not have imagined that on this memorable day in October in 2011 I would be a pebble on the beach amidst such a multitude of those who now openly help our LGBT people towards that kalayaan and “better life” we are all working for, and among whom I was nominated for a Giting Award.

Of course I did not know what God had in store for me when I was still a farm boy milking cows and making hay in the hills of Danville, Ohio. I suppose my parents had a clue: when most gay boys of 12 would be dressing up in their mother’s finery, I was making paper Mass vestments and dressing like a priest. I still did not know even when I was lying in a tent or foxhole 5000 yards from the enemy line in the war in Korea. Even when I was a Latin teacher winning a scholarship to study Latin and archeology in Rome (after publishing the results of “The Mickley Survey,” a survey I did of the status of Latin teaching in 1500 schools in Ohio), it was still far away from my ultimate calling. When I was a successful businessman, owning two restaurants, two cars, and a big house, I thought I had arrived.

I saw on Facebook the other day Germaine’s question, “We know what Ladlad has done. What has been done for the religious good of the LGBT people of the Philippines?”

From the day my work officially began here 20 years ago to this day (the beginning of my 84th year) I have worked, araw-araw, for the LGBTiq people of the Philippines. In that LGBT assemblage in one of the top restaurants in the country closely linked to our movement, I saw the new hope of our movement and our people in this land which is still dominated by the Fr. Damasos and modern day “friars,” so powerfully lamented by our national hero. I knew that I did not need validation or even remembrance. My work from the start has been the work of the Holy Spirit. The real “Giting” is seen in LeAP, Ladlad, MCC, Rainbow Rights and the numerous individuals and organizations who are tackling head-on various aspects of the LGBT drive for equality.

It surely was God who motivated Michael Santos of San Juan to write that letter that brought me here in 1991. “When is MCC coming to the Philippines? There is no one here helping us gays and lesbians when people and churches are persecuting us.”

That did it. I borrowed money and I came to check it out, not knowing one person in the country. Within six weeks 43 LGBT people signed a petition for me to come here. I gave up my job, my house, my car, my salary – and came, September 7, 1991 – with none of the above. I came because I knew that was what God wanted me to do, what God was empowering me to do, build a community dedicated to announcing God’s unconditional love for LGBT people. That was the beginning of the first openly gay and lesbian organization in Manila.

The following year Oscar Atadero got ProGay started, and he became a member of the Administrative Board of MCC Manila. Together MCC and ProGay set up the first Gay and Lesbian Pride March in Asia on June 26, 1994 culminating in the Quezon Memorial Circle where I gave the keynote speech and led a Queer Pride Mass. (I had celebrated the first Pride Mass in the Philippines on June 26, 1991 with a speech about the world-wide work of MCC in the Cathedral of the Holy Child with Jomar Fleras assisting, 50 people in attendance, and a Methodist pastor and an Aglipayan priest concelebrating.) The media coverage of that First Pride March in 1994 was far-reaching – from Mel and Jay to a tabloid newspaper that would not stop putting MCC on page 1 with exaggerations –until I marched down to their offices and demanded an end to the lies – four more priests coming from LA to help with all the gay marriages, etc.

I started same-sex weddings in the Philippines in 1991, never claiming they were same-sex marriage or using the term. Since then 1000’s have expressed vows in a Holy Union and experienced the wedding they always dreamed of – but were always denied (because of the power of the Catholic bishops over the Congress). If it’s meaningful to their relationship and their commitment, so what’s the harm? There is a lot of good and joy.

In mid October 2011, MCC Quezon City, founded by Rev. Ceejay Agbayani, celebrated its fifth anniversary with a solemn Mass and an awards ceremony in which I was awarded the Gawad Dangal Bahaghari (award) for Lifetime Achievement “for his life’s work and invaluable contribution to the LGBT Community in the Philippines.” When a person is in their 80’s, a recitation of even their resume can be very long, so they started their reciting from 1991 for this award. Hehehe If you want the earlier part, the first 60 years, some of it is listed with photos on the LGBT Religious Archive: http://www.lgbtran.org/Profile.aspx?ID=247

Some of the things they included for the lifetime achievement award for the Philippine 20 years are given here in brief.

In 1999 I joined Malu, Danton, Ging and other LGBT leaders in forming Task Force Pride to keep the annual Pride Marches going after Jomar Fleras and Reachout Foundation staged the marches for three years (culminating in the first, and, as far as we know, only Gay and Lesbian Pride March in the world which marched past a head of state – in the 1998 Centennial Parade.)

I was one of the first to join Lagablab and later among the first to join Ang Ladlad, and let it be said, that I was excited that the situation of the first openly LGBT organization that I started in 1991 had blossomed and bloomed and ballooned to many organizations and a political party, now Ladlad Partylist, for our political and human rights. And for that I compliment its founder, Prof. Dr. Danton Remoto – and all those who have continued to work with him, Bemz Benedicto, the current chairperson, and all the others up and down the archipelago, including Jack Hernandez who worked with us here in Manila for so many years.

After many years as MCC pastor in the United Sates and New Zealand, I was led to heed the call to bring MCC to the Philippines. The purpose of the church was to have a church community where LGBT people were not rejected, but on the contrary, were welcomed as God’s own children, loved in God’s unconditional love. But it had to be an authentic church, a church which based its Creed on the historic Apostles Creed and Nicene Creed of the Christian church, but it also must be an all-around church of prayer, study, and action. Of course, I look with some pride on the work that the four churches are doing that are carrying on that mission now. MCC in Makati with Pastor Egay and Val, MCC in Quezon City with Pastor Ceejay Agbayani and Marlon, and MCC in Baguio with Pastor Myke Sotero, and CUC/CDOS Pastor Regen Luna and Arlan in Dasmarinas, with works starting in Marikina with Jayson Masaganda, and other works in the offing.

After I passed the MCC retirement age by two years, I founded the Gay Mens’ Support Group which ran without interruption for a dozen years, bringing hundreds of gay men to a richer appreciation of themselves as gay men and their life in the community. We started every meeting for 12 years with “Our Prayer.” “God, lead us all from falsehood to truth; lead us from despair to hope, from fear to trust. Lead us all from hate to love, from prejudice to understanding. Let us build one world of justice for all. Let each of us and all of us together be instruments of your peace and healing.”

We instituted the Pink Feather Awards to recognize each year people, straight (for example, Rep. Etta Rosales) and LGBT (for example Danton Remoto and Ging Cristobal) for outstanding contributions to building a better world for LGBT people.

I spoke at universities and organizations throughout Metro Manila on human rights for LGBT people. I was invited repeatedly to popular TV talk shows – from Mel and Jay to Mel and Joey, Debate, Dong Puno, Chris Aquino, and all the others – to emphasize that the human rights of LGBT people include religious rights, to which Rizal himself made reference.

Some of the most fulfilling work is done in private. You don’t look for or make headlines, win awards, or gain recognition when a very upset young man rings your doorbell, comes in, and with deep emotion tells you, “I am HIV positive. My life is over. What do I do now? Don’t tell anybody.” Too often I heard that story. That is one place where I use directive counseling. I tell them where to go to the Department of Health to get into the best program that will overcome the symptoms and the effects of the virus and let a fulfilling life go on and on.

In Los Angeles I saw 50 of my friends die, with months of caring and care from us, their friends, before any of us knew what was causing it (before the virus was discovered in 1983). Now we know, and we know what to do. I spoke at a national conference of the AIDS Foundation of the Philippines. I headed an Inter-Faith Committee for compassionate care to persons with HIV, and over the years counseled persons with HIV and AIDS, and occasionally, conducted funerals. As the years go by, I urge people to get into the right programs and living-with-HIV lifestyle – and there will be no more funerals.

Some of my published works pointed to the negative effects of sex-negative theology (no masturbation, no condoms, no sex ever) and its resulting in more low self-esteem, driving gay men underground with more HIV. On one occasion an emissary of the Vatican, a Monsignor in the Vatican bureaucracy, approached me after reading some of my writings, And said, “Father Mickley, you are rather hard on the church.” I replied, “Monsignor, I respect the Mass and the Sacraments and the Creeds of the Church. What I denounce is the sex-negative teachings which have subjected gay men to the traumas caused by homophobia and rejection, and driven gay people out of the church and away from the loving arms of God, to the underground secretive sex which has resulted in HIV. That’s what I renounce – the harm that homophobia and prejudice continue to cause.” And he went back to the unchanging Vatican with that unheard message denouncing the unbiblical, un-Jesuslike teachings so blasphemously inflicted in the name of our Loving God of unconditional love.

I offered public seminars, workshops, and retreats on such topics as Self-Esteem for LGBT People, Friendship, How to Be Attractive, How to Know God’s Love, LGBT People Can Be Spiritual Too, Lesbian Spirituality, Sexuality and Personhood and many other topics. Many couples find beneficial my “Sharing and growing, Committed Couples Seminar.” I had written my Masters in Counseling Psychology thesis on that theme, and researched it for my doctoral dissertation, and after our work with several couples’ seminars here, I expanded the book with Filipino input to cover ways and means and exercises for enhancing the relationship in 12 crucial areas of relating. Many found the group and the book helpful for building the strong relationship they always wanted.

One memorable seminar was a day-long event at UP Diliman with many students and professors in attendance, entitled “God, Gays, and the Gospel.” I continue that work in cyber seminars now.

At the conclusion of our Sex-Positive Theology Seminar, it is our prayer that these all-too-short studies and experiences with their refreshing positive and uplifting ambience, will result in enhanced informational competency and polished spiritual acumen – for the battle of life in the battlefield of homophobia, strengthened to serve as certified positive counselors for the betterment of all LGBT people.

On several occasions I joined with other LGBT leaders to speak with members of the Congress (House and Senate) about LGBT rights, initially the Anti Discrimination Bill which Rep. Etta Rosales championed so many years (to be trumped by homophobic power) and now is valiantly carried on by Rep. Teddy Casino. On one such occasion in the House, I politely reminded the members of Congress of the courageous stand of the Parliament of Spain in opposition to the Catholic bishops there – not only approving divorce for the people of Spain, but approving same-sex marriage for the LGBT people of Spain. [Oh how I wanted to mention the unbelievable power of the Catholic bishops to hold and force all Filipino people of all religions and non-religions to observe Catholic teachings on divorce, condoms, and marriage. But, of course, I was too polite to tell them that, that they were spineless to vote their conscience in opposition to the vote-controlling power of the bishops. Of course, I would not do that.]

I was honored for the sake of the religious LGBT people of the Philippines to be ordained by Bishop Jim Burch as the first openly gay Catholic bishop with apostolic succession in order to be able to ordain openly LGBT Filipinos for ministry as deacons and priests to bring sex-positive theology and its healing merits to the LGBT Christians of this country. Fr. Regen Luna was the first openly gay priest ordained for this ministry in the Catholic Diocese of One Spirit in the Philippines. More to follow.

Among the works I had an opportunity to do for our people was to serve as first editor of the LGBT news and information magazine published by Bayani Santos, ManilaOUT, along with Simon Arias as co-editor with journalism credentials from the University of the Philippines. We did full length features on outstanding LGBT leaders like Malou and Danton. Also along with Simon Arias we managed the first full scale commercial LGBT bookstore in the Philippines.

As soon as I heard about Jose Rizal, I began reading, buying all the books on him I could find. I went to the historical Institute and got all his writings, letters, etc. It was an obsession. I began telling everyone, “Here is a man of integrity, a man wh0 deserves to be our national hero -- even if he had not died for us, just because of his character, integrity, and wisdom. I sat down and wrote a full length historical novel on his life. I mentioned him, his views, his patriotism, his insights in my speeches and blogs. I am not finished yet.

For 20 years in my new homeland, the beloved homeland of Rizal, I have done what I have been led to do by the Spirit. When I made mistakes, or hurt people, or was considered bad or unethical, it was when I did it my way, and did not follow Rizal or the Spirit of God. I don’t ask for awards for validation of the call to do what I do, pursuing with unswerving focus and purpose what I have been sent to do. The focus and purpose has always been to build a better world for LGBTqi people.

I am grateful for the awards I have received – for the sake of the work. And I say without hesitation the greatest awarded honor I have received in the Philippines was given to me in 2003. After 12 years as a missionary (with a missionary visa) I found out that a person is eligible to apply to be a Filipino with Permanent Residence after 8 years as a missionary. So I innocently applied to be a Filipino with Permanent Residence. Lo and behold! My Board of Directors was summoned to the Immigration offices by a young woman immigration lawyer. She told them I must leave the country within days because I was conducting illegal marriages. She had read my website, and that website must be removed!

Immediately my Board set about contacting LGBT community leaders, friends and congresspersons who were friends. Dozens, maybe hundreds, of letters of appeal and description of my work were sent to the Commissioner of Immigration. Many people sent copies to us. I was humbled by the outpouring of support from the entire community of LGBT people and friends. That was indeed an honor in itself.

Before long, I received a letter from the Commissioner of Immigration informing me that I was not being deported, but was indeed being made a Filipino Permanent Resident for the “beneficial work you have been doing and are doing for the Filipino people.” That to me was indisputably a high honor. Filipino na ako; Pilipinas kong mahal.

I know it’s best to be realistic. The Catholic Order I belonged to for so many of my younger years has an amazing and wonderful alumni organization of all the former priest-members of the Order, and other members, and we all get all the mailings, prayer requests, and death notices that current members get. Another priest, one of my few remaining classmates was the subject of a death notice the other day. I did not know I was gay then, but now I know I must have had a crush on him. But his passing is one more reminder to keep on working while the Lord gives me strength. The work is never done.

In my retirement, day by day, I continue my mission, counseling, speaking, teaching, officiating at same-sex weddings, and teaching sex-positive thinking seminars, one on one, free, by email (saintaelred@gmail.com). And I might say, in accordance with my mission, I have never charged for a wedding, a house blessing, business blessing, seminar, or other ministry in the twenty years I have been called here. That has always seemed contrary to the mission for me to require payment for what the Holy Spirit has guided and empowered me to do.

Before I knew I was gay, my focus from age 13 was to bring all people within the boundaries of my (future) ministry to know, love, and serve God. When God made it clear that my ministry was with LGBTqi people, I did not swerve. It is no less than the focus of Jesus who said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it fully.”

My only regret is that it took me away from the immediate attention I should have given my own beloved offspring.

A church can be no less than a community finding and knowing and sharing a God of boundless unconditional love and acceptance – our model for being a people of unbounded love and acceptance (and encouragement) for all people around us. And for us, that’s the beloved LGBTqi people who are the beloved LGBTqi people of God.

Those are some of the thoughts I am pondering as I enter my 84th year. My grown children lost their wonderful mother to cancer this year. My regret is that I am so far away and cannot ever fill the tremendous loss they are feeling from that irreplaceable loss.

I am grateful to everyone who has shown me the proverbial Filipino hospitality for these 20 years. It is meaningful to me when those with whom I have had a chance to share a precious moment express their gratitude, as this one did the other day, “You’re appreciated so much for what you have done. It is comforting to know your heart was in it. You never stop caring or making a difference. With your generosity you lift spirits and make smiles appear. Your kindness will always be remembered.”

That’s the Lord’s way. I can do no less. It is the Lord’s work. It is the Lord’s power. Who am I to claim credit? Before my retirement, that was my calling to lead a church in that same mission. As bishop now, I encourage my fellow priests to pursue that same mission with focus and purpose, always keeping our eyes on Jesus. And, so, Germaine, that’s the start of an answer to your question.

And another great honor came my way the other day. I was having a ministry training meeting with a group of protégés. One of them, speaking for the group, said, “Bishop, sometimes you speak of the day when your active ministry will come to an end. We want you to know that your ministry will never end. We will continue your legacy. We will continue the work you have begun for the religious good of the LGBT people of this country.” Wow. What an honor.

Ladlad, a Competent Fighter at Eight

By Fr. Richard R. Mickley, C.D.O.S., Ph.D.


The eighth anniversary of Ladlad is a significant milestone in Philippine LGBT history. The celebration was carried out in style at the classy Astoria Hotel off Shaw Blvd. near the Ladlad national headquarters.

The well-attended (250 by my count) event is well documented on the Ladlad website.

I want to ponder for a moment the significance of Ladlad and its strong showing on its eighth anniversary. The post-midnight magnificent speech by Boy Abunda told it all — along with his personal inspiring testimony. I sure hope it was taped to be transcribed and preserved for posterity. It was a masterpiece — with no visible signs of a manuscript.

Looking back for perspective, when Rizal marched between two Jesuits to his execution, we realize he had no way of knowing how and when his beloved patria (homeland) would be free — politically. We all know it happened — boosted by his initiative and martyrdom. But the freedom he dreamed of is still not complete. He assertively told Blumentritt “the friars are the cause” of all the suffering and tears of the Filipinos. That’s a strong statement, and today we can see clearly that it was true.

Rizal did not know all the ramifications of sex-negative theology imposed by the friars. He had heard of NO masturbation, NO pre-marital sex, NO divorce, but some NOs which bug us today — such as NO condoms, NO love for the one you love if the one you love is one of the same sex, NO marriage ever if you and your partner are LGBTq — were not a subject of common cogitation in his day, probably not even for a such a great thinker as Rizal. But those things also descend from the friars whom he bemoaned.

Sadly, despite the Constitution, today the distinction between what is religious and what is political is blurred. This is because the political rights, the human rights of the Filipino people are influenced, abridged, and denied by the power of the modern-day hierarchical “friars” who wield such unbelievable power over the members of Congress — a phenomenon not found in any other non-Islamic country in the world. Yes, that’s what our “friar power” and an “Islamic republic” have in common.

In short, friar power and the imposition of what Rizal called “false religion” did not end when the Spanish lost control of the government. The effects of sex-negative theology, brought by the friars are perpetuated by the hierarchies of today. They continue on two fronts — on the religious front and in the political front (which can be readily observed in the intimidation of the members of Congress).

The leader of today’s sex-negative theology hierarchy, Pope Benedict XVI, recently visited his homeland of Germany. The protests he experienced there boldly proclaim to us that some people in some countries no longer kowtow to sex-negative false religion, including LGBTq rights. The media pointedly commented that people formerly associated with this religion are staying away in droves.

So where does Ladlad come into the picture? LGBTq people here are denied freedoms which have been taken away in the political arena because of the power of the peddlers of sex-negative theology over the people who make the laws (Congress). Ladlad surely will aim to become one voice, one positive influence in Congress to counteract this negative influence. They fight for us alongside Teddy Casino and Akbayan (as Etta Rosales did all the years she was fighting for us in Congress) and the few brave warriors who always fight for us. Now we have Ladlad. Now we can win membership in Congress and fight the battle right there in the halls of power. Thank God, the battle is carried on with competence and dedication by Ladlad, by Bemz Benedito. Danton Remoto, Boy Abunda, and all the officers and members throughout the archipelago.

In the meantime there is the second battlefront — the religious one. Unfortunately, Rizal was right in his day, and he’s still right today. The source of all our troubles arises from the teachings of a religion which has the power to impose its “way” (No, No, No. You know the NOs — you’ve had to live without them all your life). Even worse, they thrust them on not only you and me, but on every person of every religion, every believer and non-believer in the country. (Not just Catholics are denied the right to divorce; all citizens are.)

MCC in the Philippines celebrated its twentieth anniversary in early September.

As little as Rizal could have guessed on that somber December morning in 1896 that some great things were going to happen in his beloved country — likewise as little could we have guessed on September 7, 1991 that on the religious and political front great things would happen in our beloved country for the LGBTq people. When the first openly gay and lesbian organization began to openly welcome people, we knew we had a job to do, but we did not foresee that ProGay would come along in 1992, that MCC and ProGay would sponsor the first Pride march in Asia in 1994, that dozens of LGBTq organizations and LGBTq-friendly groups would rally to the LGBTq cause, culminating in the work of Danton Remoto to set up Ang Ladlad eight years ago.

Now MCC has three congregations (with pastors Ceejay, Myke, and Egay) and the Christian United Church has come along (with pastor Regen), and I do my little part, and we have to do the battle on the religious front. The bottom line is: sex-negative theology is the problem. It must be replaced with sex-positive theology. I teach the subject in free on-line seminars. MCC and CUC are out there on the front lines bringing new hope and peace and joy to lives battered by sex-negative theology.

The solution:

On the political front — Ladlad leads the battle. It would be the beginning of the solution, as they strategize with Boy Abunda and work from the office (with Edmund Osorio) to the nationwide field — if they could free Congress members from the power of the sex-negative hierarchy.

On the religious front — the sex-positive religious organizations, MCC and CUC, could liberate people with a new-found — but always guaranteed as a basic religious and human right — freedom to follow one’s informed conscience to know and do what is right, not what is imposed by sex-negative theology.


September 27, 2011
Fr. Richard R. Mickley, C.D.O.S., Ph.D.
saintaelred@gmail.com

Comment: Rizal and the Friars

By Father Richard R. Mickley, C.D.O.S., Ph.D.


In reply to feedback and questions which have come to me by email since my blog about Rizal, 9/11, and modern-day terrorism, I offer the following comments.

I was restrained in that blog. I did not use Rizal’s stronger criticism of the friars. I chose to quote a mild comment by Rizal calling for respect for other people’s (religious) views.

But because I have been challenged to show more specifically how Rizal’s attitude is similar to and a springboard for my sex-positive attitude, I am writing more and quoting his stronger statement.

I use the word attitude because Rizal never heard of suicide bombings or suicide airplane crashes. The issues are different, but the attitude is comparable.

Therefore I call your attention to this very explicit criticism of the abuses of the friars of his time. He clearly is using the word “religion” here in the same way we use “religious extremism” today.

He was not condemning the whole religion. He was fighting the religious extremism of the friars that was causing “all the suffering and tears” of the Filipino people. He was not against the religion, but he was vehemently against the abuses.

He respected and got along well with the Jesuit missionaries, but the abuses of others were his target. (One Jesuit, in fact, asked him why he called the “Noli” a novel when it was a true to life description of things as they actually were.)

The last four years of his life he attended Mass regularly with the Jesuits in Dapitan. Two Jesuits, from his Ateneo days and his Dapitan days, accompanied him to his execution.

Likewise, if I may say, I pray the Mass everyday and respect and believe the teachings of the church which are not un-Biblical and unlike (contradictory to) Jesus’ life and message of love.

This assessment by Rizal of the friars of his time resonates with my assessment of the modern-day friars who are not brown or black-robed friars but colorfully-robed hierarchy in purple and red.

Everything that Rizal combats can easily be applied to my attitude toward their control of the lives of people today (of all faiths and non-faiths) with regard to such things as divorce, condoms, same-sex love, and justice for women.

Rizal about the Friars

“The friars utilize religion not only as a shield but also as a weapon… I was forced to attack their false and superstitious religion, to fight the enemy that hid behind it!...

God ought not to be utilized as a shield and protector of abuses, and less to use religion for such a purpose.

If the friars really had more respect for their religion, they would not use so often its sacred name and would not expose it to the most dangerous situations.

What is happening in the Philippines is horrible. They abuse the name of religion for a few pesos. They hawk religion to enrich their treasuries. [Imagine] Religion to perturb the peace of marriage and the family, if not to dishonor the wife!

Why should I should I not combat this religion with all my strength when it is the primary cause of all our sufferings and tears? The responsibility falls on those who abuse the name of religion!

Christ did the same to the religion of his country, to the Pharisees who had abused so much. (Letter to Blumentritt 1890)

Terrorism, Nine Eleven, Rizal, and Sex-Positive Theology

By Fr. Richard R. Mickley, C.D.O.S, Ph.D.
saintaelred@gmail.com


We have all been reminded of the demonic evils of religious extremism and bigotry in the observance of the tenth anniversary of “nine eleven” today.

Religious extremism, whether Islamic, Protestant, Fundamentalist, or Catholic is not religion, is not of God, is direct from the demons of evil.

Those who plotted and those who flew the suicide planes that killed nearly 3,000 people on 9/110 — said they were doing it to please their god, but indeed the truth is that such insanity was very displeasing to the God of Islam, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus came and lived and loved and as we live and love. Look at his life. He was completely free of prejudice. Look, for example, at how he made heroes (e.g. the Good Samaritan) of foreigners, people of a different religion from his and most of his kababayan. That is already a clue to see what Jesus was like for 33 years among us.

Jesus came to show us what God is like, that God is love, and he showed it by his behavior toward the hated foreign Samaritan people. Imagine him, who came to show us what God is like, being anything but horrified by the 3,000 lives wiped out on 9/11.

Now let us examine some other things that misguided extremists do in the name of religion.

We all know that bombing of cathedrals and mosques comes from the insanity of religious extremism. A nun friend of mine who had just completed her master’s degree at Ateneo in Manila was disabled for life by a bombing while she was praying in the Catholic cathedral of Jakarta on Christmas Eve.

It was the same insanity that caused my nephew and godson, Joseph Mickley, to lose his wife in the Pentagon on 9/11. My son, Pete, was with Joe that fateful day in the Pentagon as they franticly helped the officials and ambulance drivers pull out the mangled bodies, including Joe’s wife, Patty.

The terrorism of religious extremism is not limited to insane suicide bombing or suicide plane crashes.

We don’t have to think very long to see the parallel in the stranglehold of religious extremism of one religion which has a hierarchy extreme enough and strong enough to deprive every Catholic, every Protestant, every Moslem, every person in the Philippines of the right to seek divorce in a marriage of incompatibility and perhaps violence for at least one of the partners. The Philippines is the only country in the world victimized by this form of religious extremism.

That same modern day religious extremism is preventing every woman in the Philippines from having the benefits of an RH Bill (which in no way fosters or condones abortion). At the same time it deprives every citizen, of whatever religion, from the freedom to choose the benefits of the RH Bill because of the power of the hierarchy of one religion.

In a letter to Fr. Pastells, Rizal showed his high regard for religious tolerance or respect for another person’s conscience. He tells the story of his conversations with a Protestant Pastor in Germany. “There, in calm and slow conversation, with freedom to speak, we talked about our respective beliefs, of the morality of peoples, and the influence of their respective creeds on them. A great respect for the good faith of the adversary and for the most contrary ideas that must necessarily arise due to the difference in race, education, age, led us almost always to the conclusion that religions, whatever they might be, should not make people enemies of one another, but rather brothers and real brothers,…I obtained … profound respect for every idea sincerely conceived and practiced with conviction.”

Of course we wish that every religious extremist would heed the experience of Rizal. It would be uplifting if even the senators of this republic would practice these “principles” of Rizal in the RH Bill debates.

When it comes to one religion and its own adherents, it is a different story. If a religion demands that its followers never play cards, never smoke, never dance, then it is up to the members of that religion to make their own free choice to follow those rules or if they stay in that religion or not. If the Roman Catholic religion requires celibacy of their priests, that is an internal discipline. But if that church requires lifetime celibacy of all LGBTq people, that is not an internal issue. It is sex-negative theology imposed unjustly upon all who will bow to it. The problem is, because of the influence of the teachings of that church, this becomes a “law” of society.

If one religion dominates a whole culture, such as Islam in Saudi Arabia which forbids and punishes the practice of all other religion, e.g. for all Christian Filipinos working in Saudi — we are not speaking of choice, but of injustice. If one religion dominates the whole culture of Philippine people, and its views are “enforced” in law or in the acceptance of society, because it is the religion of the majority, then we are no longer speaking of choice, but of injustice...

The list of prohibitions goes beyond divorce and the RH Bill. The “no-nos!” go deep into the lives of the citizens, in the bedrooms and out of the bedrooms. It is no laughing matter when a teenager is ridiculed to suicide because of the attitude of the church toward masturbation or feelings of same-sex attraction. It is no small matter when parents are driven to desperation because their church tells them, “No Condoms!” when they already have more (beloved) children than they can feed or send to school.

And to where can we trace the gay bashings, the murders of young and older gay men, the senseless slaughter of transexual people here and around the world? Can we see that it is all traceable back to religious extremism and societal prejudice which springs from religious extremism?

The whole matter of the treatment of women as inferior in society is no small matter. Perhaps nobody says, “In the name of God, for the glory of God, I declare you are a woman and you are not equal, not entitled to equal pay, equal rights, equal opportunities, access to ordination or leadership roles.” But where did this attitude of male supremacy come from? Look to patriarchal society which originated in religion. Look to one religion in particular with a male only priesthood, a male hierarchy.

My friends, it is not only Islamic religious extremism and 9/11 which bomb and kill and victimize society. Religious extremism of any religion brings about oppression and death — even today. Yes, in the Near East in Islamic countries, the government hangs men caught in same-sex sex or women caught in any forbidden sex. But here, in our own country, we see and feel the pain of incompatible marriage in the absence of divorce, the horror of bashings and murders and suicides and job losses and evictions — every day because of the attitude fostered by religious extremism and sex-negative theology and the powerful influence of its propagators.

As always we offer Sex-Positive Theology as a solution. We join in our time hundreds of scholars, theologians, teachers and authors who have thought through the unscriptural and un-Jesus-like evils of all these oppressive controls of one religious view over the lives of all citizens.

I have been pondering what might be “eight pivotal truths” for sex-positive theology for LGBTq people. What would I include in eight cardinal truths or eight key principles?

What would I consider the eight foundational elements of sex-positive theology?

This is my first draft.

1. I believe God is Love. Those who live in Love live in God, and God lives in them.

2. I believe the Bible is sex-positive. There is no passage in the Bible which condemns same-sex love or gay and lesbian relationships. There are good examples of same-sex love.

3. I believe all sex is good if it is not harmful or forceful; some sex is better if it is in the context of loving and caring; and some sex is best when it is in a committed enduring loving relationship.

4. I believe women are created equal in rights and justice and opportunity. Thus God loves women unconditionally and welcomes them into the fullness of Christian witness, including ordained ministry.

5. I believe heterosexual expressions of love and homosexual sexual expressions of love are equally good in the eyes of God. Thus God loves LGBTq people unconditionally and welcomes them into the fullness of Christian witness, including ordained ministry.

6. I believe the body and soul are equally good with a goal to uniting spirituality and sexuality.

7. I believe that since God is Love, love-making is a sacrament of God’s presence.

8. I believe God is Friendship, and friendship with God and with people and a good life go together for the fullness of life.

These eight points just scratch the surface of Sex-Positive theology. We discuss the subject fully and extensively with those who want to really get a complete mastery of Sex-Positive Theology in our free Seminar in Sex-Positive Theology by email. Just email me and let me know you are interested. saintaelred@gmail.com

MCC and SPT Carry on the Work of Rizal: Reflections for the 20th anniversary of MCC in the Philippines (September 7, 1991 – September 7, 2011)

Sunday, September 4th, 2011, MCC Manila celebrated the 20th anniversary of MCC in the Philippines. It was a well attended, lengthy service with a six-piece band of Gospel musicians and multimedia presentations throughout led by Pastor Egay and his assistant, Val.

It may have been the first time in history that an MCC service was held in a five-star hotel and capped off by a tasty banquet in the dining room of a five-star hotel, the Grand Opera Hotel of Chinatown, Manila.

My message, too heavy for oral presentation in a Gospel service, was distributed in pamphlet form. I delivered only the final prayer.

I present my anniversary reflections here...


Little did I know when I came to Manila in 1991 and opened the doors of MCC Manila with the encouragement of Edgar Mendoza – little did I realize I was carrying on the work of Jose Rizal.

The revolution was over, but as I learned more and more about our national hero, his work and his advocacies, the more I realized the work of Rizal must go on, and MCC must be part of it.

Padre Damaso and sex-negative theology and oppression of the Filipino people did not die on that somber December morning in 1896, and neither did the work of Rizal come to an end.

MCC and Sex-Positive Theology have a big role in carrying on the work of Rizal, even now 150 years after his birth.

In many ways, the Philippines is a perfect place to learn and apply the benefits of Sex-Positive Theology.

First of all, the country is a society deeply influenced by Spanish culture. It is a great place to put into practice the ideas we have developed over two decades in the Philippines, and MCC has developed over four decades since 1968.

It is a country which has long rolled over and accepted the heavy residue of foreign oppression. Long after the political control was gone after Rizal inspired the gaining of political freedom, the moral slavery has lingered.

The stifling oppression of “religious dominance,” sometimes called friarocracy or friararchy, “control by the religious attitudes of the friars,” has held its tenacious grip on the lives all Filipinos, of all religions and beliefs. Today every Catholic, every Protestant, every Muslim, every believer or non-believer is subjugated, even by law, as well as by culture, under the mandates of friararchy (theocracy) passed down and passed on by the hierarchy of today. Examples are the prohibition of divorce (in the only country in the world) and the iron fist over the RH Bill (not to mention the unmentionable – same-sex marriage).

What are some glimpses of light, especially in the yearning of LGBT people for justice?

After MCC opened its doors as the first openly “gay and lesbian” organization in the country, one by one, after ProGay, organizations sprang up to serve the needs of the community (of perhaps ten million persons with same-sex attraction). Friendly organizations began to align themselves with our pro-justice stance. Even some members of congress, such as Congresswoman Etta Gonzales, now Human Rights commissioner, began to espouse LGBT causes in Congress. In her case it was her heroic efforts to get the Anti-Discrimination Bill passed that was prominent in her long-time efforts (although defeated by the powers of prejudice).

A very significant bright light in the freedom landscape is LadLad Party List political party with its avowed LGBT agenda and advocacy. Initiated by well-known columnist, author, and professor, Danton Remoto, this party has made a reality of the unbelievable suggestion in the early ‘90’s that there be a “gay and lesbian” party-list party. It has now happened, despite the prejudice of the Comelec (against LGBT “morality,” another example of government and society being influenced by religious attitudes). It moves forward under the leadership of Bemz Benedicto with celebrity host and promoter Boy Abunda as political advisor.

A sample of the fight is given in this paragraph from a speech by Bemz at an event in the Congress. “And now, we are fighting for equal rights right here, in the halls of Congress. We are asking our congress members to finally pass the Anti-Discrimination Bill that makes sure no lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender Filipino will be oppressed again in his or her own country. For this is our country, too, and we are all the children of God. In His – or Her – infinite wisdom God made us all different. For only in our differences can we see our similarity, which lies in the human soul that is found within us all.”

With Ladlad fully in the leadership of the political arena for the battle to end oppression, what is needed is continued education, savvy and strategy in the country-wide, world-wide war against the moral slavery of sex-negative theology. For this purpose we have initiated a series of free cyber seminars, one-on-one learning experiences by email to provide mastery in the theory and practice of Sex-Positive Theology.

Logically the situation requires a faith-based program. The problem is caused by a negative and untrue theology of the nature and will of God. There is much good in Spanish culture and the religion brought by the Spaniards. But there is much that is not good theology in the sex-negative theology (with its false picture of God) which was also brought by the Spanish missionaries along with the redeeming value of their religion.

Surely the picture is wrong: the white bearded policeman in the sky watching over a cloud to catch every boy enjoying playing with himself, every older boy and girl making love in a secluded place, every man who loves a man and every woman who loves a woman – in order to zap them into the fires of hell.

And that same policeman has crept into the bedrooms of married men and women, forbidding them to use condoms or common sense in planning their family, and elsewhere forcing the continued “marriage” in a situation of incompatibility.

LGBT people have borne the heaviest weight of rejection, denunciation, deprival by society and excommunication by church.

Scandalously (from the point of view of justice and from the Constitution of the Republic) the power of the hierarchy’s sex-negative theology is so strong that all these prohibitions of the hierarchy have become ingrained in law and culture – so that not only church but society conspires to deprive LGBTq people of their rights to love and to freedom of conscience.

Thus it is clear that a faith-based “answer” must be added to the political “answer” begun by Rizal and carried on by Ladlad and others. A society warped by a false faith-based attitude must find answers in a true faith-based solution.

For twenty years MCC has been bringing that answer to LGBTq people of the Philippines who have been able to hear it. The answer simply is God’s unconditional love. But even that love is warped by the hierarchy. God’s love and God’s true nature and description must be spelled out in the full length story of Sex-Positive Theology. That full answer is spelled out in the full-length story of Sex-positive Theology available free by emailing me at saintaelred@gmail.com

A light on the hierarchy-darkened scene is the known presence of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), now serving God’s people in three locations in the country, along with the Christian United Church (CUC), and the Center for the Study of Spirituality and Sexuality (CSSS).

For twenty years MCC has dared to contradict sex-negative theology in all its oppressive expressions. Its known presence has made known throughout the land that there is an alternative to NO masturbation, NO condoms, NO premarital love-making, NO same-sex love.

On the contrary MCC has proclaimed the gospel with the truths of Sex-Positive Theology. Yes, MCC is a faith-based community of believers. Their Gospel is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Their truths are the truths of the God who became human and dwells in us. They have long summarized Sex-Positive Theology in four simple spiritual truths for LGBT people.

1. God loves LGBT people unconditionally. God smiles upon their love and blesses their love – for God is Love, and those who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

2. The Bible does not in any word, verse, or story condemn same-sex love. The few verses quoted to claim this are totally wrongly interpreted and proven wrong by countless scholars. (I do a full-length seminar just in proof of the falsity of these claims, and a whole module of the Sex-Positive Seminar is devoted to this.)

3. The Bible offers examples of beautiful same-sex love. The stories of the love of Ruth and Naomi and David and Jonathan and Jesus and the beloved disciple are an inspiration to LGBTq people.

4. LGBTq people can be Christian, and countless thousands are fulfilling their vocation to “come, follow me,” and live the fulfilled life that comes from realizing God’s unconditional love and responding by living a loving life in friendship with God and with others. Thousands are fulfilling this call to “life in Christ” in MCC around the world and in the Philippines.

In conclusion, there is light in the darkness of sex-negative theology imposed on our culture. MCC first turned on that light 1n 1991, two decades ago. The light of MCC and Sex-Positive Theology now, more than ever, must be a defining light, a guiding light with an ever increasing wisdom in the knowledge and application of Sex-Positive Theology.

Religion has long been used against LGBTq people in direct contradiction to the all-loving, unconditionally loving God known in the true theology of God. But that does not call for rejection of God or the truth of God. It only calls for the rejection of the false things about God. I think Jose Rizal is an example of practicing that. He never heard of the term Sex-Positive Theology, but while he attended Mass regularly, he never stopped his work against oppression, regardless of where it came from.

MCC, with praise and worship pleasing to God, and sound Sex-Positive Theology pleasing to God must liberate more and more of God’s beloved LGBTq children and set them free to worship God, be friends with all, and love the one they love. MCC must bring a happy fulfilled life to more and more of God’s children who have been experiencing oppression.

And surely bringing the people out of oppression is a continuation of Rizal’s work and God’s will.

(RRM, September 4, 2011)

My prayer for the people of MCC and the future people of MCC is in unison with St. Paul: “We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and your love for all God’s people. When the true message, the Good News, first came to you, you heard of the hope it offers. So your faith and love are based on what you hope for, which is kept safe for you in heaven. The Gospel is bringing blessings and spreading through the whole world, just as it has among you ever since the day you first heard of the grace of God and came to know it as it really is.” (Colossians 1:3-6)

What Does Pepe Say to His Sisters?

By Richard R. Mickley, Ph.D., a 21st century Rizal admirer


We are all preparing to observe and celebrate Rizal’s 150th birth anniversary.

I have viewed favorably the advance stories published in the Inquirer.

Because my ministry for the last 20 years (since Rizal’s 130th birth anniversary in 1991) is an affirming ministry to gays and lesbians and all LGBT people, I began thinking again about that overworked and meaningless question, “Was Rizal Gay?”

That question is really irrelevant. I have written about it; Neil Garcia has written about it, others have. The most important thing is that Jose P. Rizal embodied so many sterling qualities of intellect, character, and talent that would make a perfect LGBT person, or, in his case, a perfect gay man.

Rather than revisit that question, I began to ask myself a new one, “What does Jose P. Rizal say to LGBT people today 150 years after his birth?

Every Sunday we hear in the sermon, “the Bible tells us… [today in the 21st century]…” The Bible written 2000 years ago — still speaking to us today.

So I began to ponder, “What does Rizal say to us today?” Then I looked at all the volumes of Rizal correspondence and other writings on my book shelves. It’s longer than 10 Bibles. So I got the idea for writing ten books, but not today. Today I will just take a look at what brother Pepe has to say to his sisters.

Actually I am an addict when I pick up Rizal’s writings, especially his correspondence. I want to look up something, but my addiction takes over and keeps me reading and reading and reading and pondering and pondering. He has so much to say.

I am glad they have “Rizal Excellence” programs in the schools. There should be more of them. His excellence is inexhaustible and more of his excellence would make his “patria” more excellent. The most recent seems to have been when 400 students gathered at Teacher’s Camp in Baguio in May for the 49th National Leadership Institute Conference aimed at making the youth become pro-active agents of change through Rizal’s example.

What does Rizal say to LGBT people today?

It seems to me the most obvious message is his most pronounced stance against the abuses of the Friars and the Spanish government of the time. What were the abuses of the Friars? In general we could today group them under the heading of sex-negative theology in preaching and disregard in the lives of those who were like Fr. Damaso. And, of course, my theme sex-positive theology.

He was against oppression, injustice and, yes, hypocrisy. To make a long story short, if our national hero was vehemently against injustice, would he not also be against injustice to LGBT people. As we shall see in a letter below he had no tolerance for that very thing. “I have glimpsed a little light, and I believe it is my duty to teach it to the people of my country,” he writes in an oft-quoted passage. Surely he would include us in the people of his country.

Quotations

The first book I picked up today from my “Rizal Shelves” was Quotations from Rizal’s Writings, from the National Historical Institute (1992) (and the Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, 1961).

What is more appropriate than the advice he gives to his sister Soledad (and his other sisters), “You are no longer a child… nor are you uneducated. I speak o you as my sisters and I repeat to you… You have many nieces; give them good example and be worthy of yourselves.”

As soon as I saw that word “worthy,” I thought of what the homosexual Roman centurion said to Jesus, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come [to my house].” The (Catholic) church makes those words speak to us by putting them in every Mass.

When Pepe says to Soledad and his other sisters, “Give good example and be worthy of yourselves,” he says to us, “Don’t let society devalue you; don’t devalue yourselves. You are adults now. Take responsibility for your lives and your behavior. Give good example, but don’t be a slave and victim to everything Fr. Damaso says. You are no longer a child. Think. Decide. Give good example.”

I am sure each of us could think long and hard about how that applies to our life. One person said to me that he was glad I was teaching sex-positive theology, so now he can do “whatever he wants.” My advice and Rizal’s advice: “You are an adult. Think. Behave appropriately. Give good example.”

To Soledad, he also writes, “If you have a sweetheart, behave towards him nobly and with dignity… rather than resort to secret meetings… Value more, esteem more, your honor, and you will be more esteemed and valued.”

What Pepe was saying to that sister with so much personal caring and love, he says to us as a rule of life. He did not shake his finger at her about having sex. What he says to us is “Don’t use people. Don’t be used. The key to honorable behavior is respecting the other person.”

In another letter to Trinidad, he seemed to admire women who are “somewhat masculine.” I present it here and let it speak for itself. “If our sister Maria had been educated in Germany, she would have been notable, because German women are active and somewhat masculine. They are not afraid of men. They are more concerned with the substance than with appearances…”

Quiet, not very lively, fine and affectionate

In our country, many a gay boy is subjected to and victimized by ridicule, bullying, harsh treatment and all too often physical abuse because of having “refined qualities.” Pepe seemed not to look down upon these qualities in his sister’s son, Alfredo Hidalgo. “Alfredo’s letter,” he wrote, “brought me great joy… He seems to be a lad of clear intelligence, quiet, not very lively, fine and, with time, he will be reserved and will know how to keep secrets, his own and other people’s… He will be pensive, a thinker, polite and considerate… He is besides affectionate.”

Never-wavering faith

In closing, as a priest-admirer of Rizal, I want to comment on his faith and spirituality. I teach that a well-rounded person must have a well-rounded, balanced life with health in one’s intellectual, physical, spiritual, and emotional components. The more one reads Rizal’s correspondence, the more it is abundantly obvious that his was a wholistically constituted life with all components in balance and harmony. But most of all I am stricken by his strong faith and spiritual basis, shown in letter after letter. In one, he gives, probably unknowingly, a perfect definition for “spirituality” — a person needs to believe and to love, needs a goal towards which to steer one’s actions, to formulate for oneself a purpose, to see something more beyond matter and noise; in short, one needs an objective worthy of one’s being and facilities.”

I see now it is an impossible venture to capture even the faintest glimpse of the greatness of Rizal in one essay. I opened one book, made a few quotes, and there is still the whole book before me, and volume after volume of Rizal’s wisdom on the shelves.

Light reading

I will just add one little light-reading moment. There is no evidence, that I can find, of any love-letters of Rizal to other boys when he was a boy or to men anytime in his life. But I found a cute love poem to him from one of his classmates at the Ateneo, who seemingly had a crush on Jose when Jose was about 16. A few lines of it are:

“Dedicated to Rizal by his classmate Ricado Aguado: to my dearest Friend, Jose Rizal, on his saint’s day, 19 March, 1877.”

“Your pleasing image alone,
in my soft heart always engraved,
now removes from me the fraud
the star from sailor forlorn
as in an agitated sea.

For you’re, sweet friend of mine,
the only joy of my soul,
and always to be with you
is my incessant desire
in this sad, unfortunate land.

But since luck denies
me such happiness this day
my Muse with tenderness
its affection doth send to you
at this pleasant hour of joy.


When Ricardo gave this love poem to Jose, he added a little personal note in prose, “Don’t show these verses to anybody…” Of course, they already had closets in 1877. [Note: I read these lines from the projective reading of a gay man of the 21st century. I will let you know if some learned straight professor informs me that this poem was indeed an allegorical writing and had nothing to do with gay love.]

Anyway, Rizal saved it, and that itself says a lot about his understanding, to say the least, and it has come down to us in the National Historical Institute’s Miscellaneous Correspondence of Dr. Jose Rizal.

Let’s say this all comes from one page of thousands of pages of Rizal wisdom, in word and action. Can you imagine what is in store in reading all the correspondence and works by Jose P. Rizal? May I recommend that you take a look for yourself as one way of celebrating his memory on his 150th birth anniversary?

Happy 150th birthday, Pepe, Big Brother, (no matter how short you were), our Kuya forever! Many of us who are not poets have a great love for you, too.

Condoms, Divorce and Congratulations

Congratulations! Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

It finally has happened!

So far, in the very first press account, three law makers have shown themselves to be brave, courageous, independent, and full of integrity!

For years, the Philippines and the Catholic island of Malta have been the only countries in the world which do not give residents the right to divorce.

Now Malta is on the verge of granting divorce rights to its people. That leaves only the Philippines (and the Vatican), the last standout refusing to give this right.

Until now lawmakers of the Philippines have cringed in fear of the power of the hierarchy at the next election and have not dared speak the word “divorce” in the halls of congress.

Now three, at least, in the first press mention of the possibility of divorce here, three at least have boldly expressed approval of the idea.

Why divorce? Do all the nations of the earth have divorce to defy the Catholic bishops? Do they have divorce to destroy the family? Do they have it because it is bad? Is it not logical that they have it because there is a human need for it? Some couples simply find themselves incompatible. Well, it’s not so simple when children are involved. Does it save the children? Does it save the family to force incompatible people to stay together? Does this unpleasant situation help the children?

Our hats are off to the first three names mentioned in the Inquirer article today, “After Malta vote, House body tackles divorce bill.” It takes guts, and they got it.

Gabriela Rep. Luz Ilagan

Speaker Sonny Belmonte

Senator Pia Cayetano

Why is this “heterosexual” issue important to us? It is important because it is a big blister on the landscape caused by sex-negative theology promoted primarily by one hierarchy and imposed upon the whole nation, people of every religion and non-religion. And to think, it still is not clear to them that there is a human need for it demonstrated by the fact that every nation on the face of the earth recognizes the need except the Catholic hierarchy of the Philippines who will fight tooth and nail to keep it that way.

There was a time when that world-wide hierarchy prevented every nation on earth from recognizing the love and relationship of same-sex couples. Now a growing number of countries, including Catholic Spain, with a courageous legislature, have granted their people equal marriage and more have granted recognition of same-sex relationships.

Meanwhile, the battle of the condoms continues in the Philippine Congress — and the shame and guilt of no condoms, no masturbation, no premarital sex, and no same-sex love, and, and, and… no, no, no… And how nice it was to see a word on this in the same newspaper today from our long time friend, the reclusive Margie Holmes.


Time bishops learned from the poor
Philippine Daily Inquirer
11:19 pm | Monday, May 30th, 2011

THIS is in reference to the comment of Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, “Will you be calm if you are held at gunpoint?” (“Cool it? Bishop says Malacañang provoked Church,” Inquirer, 5/17/ 11)

Perhaps the good Archbishop should reflect on the fact that the Roman Catholic Church has held the poor of this country at gunpoint for decades over the issue of contraception, and learn from the poor’s long-suffering calmness in the face of adversity.—MARGARITA HOLMES and JEREMY BAER, Quezon City


Yes, it is true that 3 million Frenchmen or Maltese or Filipinos cannot vote to make wrong right. It don’t work that way. What’s bad is bad, and rape and child abuse will always be wrong. But if every nation on earth sees a need for divorce, it’s time to look at it from a different angle — starting with common sense.

Remember the three steps of forming conscience are:

Step one: Listen to the teaching voice of your church.

Step two: Listen to God’s truth in human nature and in the situation.

Step three: Make a JUDGMENT of what’s right.

And that is a basic human right which apparently Speaker Belmonte, Senator Cayetano and Rep. Ilagan are exercising. Congratulations!

Surely, surely we will hear more about this. Surely there are more than three!


After Malta vote, House body tackles divorce bill
Philippine Daily Inquirer
3:16 am | Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

MANILA, Philippines—Overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Malta has voted to legalize divorce, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi announced on Sunday after a referendum, leaving the Philippines as the only country where it is banned.

The vote in Malta spurred moves in the House of Representatives to legalize divorce amid an already widening split between the influential Catholic hierarchy and the administration of bachelor President Benigno Aquino III over a population control measure.

Gonzi, who campaigned against the introduction of divorce ahead of Saturday’s nonbinding referendum, said it was now up to the Mediterranean archipelago’s parliament to legalize the dissolution of marriage.

“This is not the result that I wished for, but the will of the people has to be respected and parliament should enact a law for the introduction of divorce,” said the conservative prime minister.

The divorce measure was passed by a majority of 53.2 percent of those who cast ballots, although nearly a quarter of eligible voters did not bother to go to the polls, election officials said.

Apart from the Vatican city-state, Malta is one of only two countries in the world—the Philippines is the other—that bans divorce. Chile was the last country to legalize divorce in 2004 after overwhelming public pressure.

Saturday’s nonbinding referendum asked the country’s 306,000 mainly Catholic voters whether parliament should introduce a new law that would allow couples to obtain a divorce after four years of separation.

Separation widespread

Legal separation is widespread in the European Union’s smallest member state, but there are many legal obstacles to re-marrying.

The Church, which looms large over the archipelago where 95 percent of the population claim the faith, did not campaign officially in the referendum.

However, Valletta’s Archbishop Paul Cremona had warned churchgoers in a letter they faced a choice between building and destroying family values.

“By this vote, the citizen will either build or destroy. A choice in favor of permanent marriage is an act of faith in the family, built upon a bond of love which cannot be severed,” said the letter, which was read out at Masses.

In addition, priests have reportedly threatened to refuse communion to those who vote “yes” in the referendum.

Philippine moves

Following the vote in Malta, the Philippine House committee on revision of laws announced it would begin on Wednesday discussions on a bill seeking to legalize divorce.

“Let us not keep our country in the dark ages,” said Gabriela Rep. Luz Ilagan. “I appeal to my colleagues in Congress to let the legislative mill run its course on the divorce bill without further delay and give Filipino couples in irreparable and unhappy marriages this option.”

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, a widower, told reporters that he favored the move. “It is very difficult to let two people who cannot live together continue to live together.”

Expand annulment

Sen. Pia Cayetano, chair of the Senate committee on youth, women and family relations, said it was time to expand the definition of annulment of marriage granted under Philippine law on grounds of psychological incapacity.

“Call it divorce, call it another animal (but) there has to be some change because the reality is, it is one of the discriminatory practices we have (against women),” she said.

But Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III is adamant: “Let’s not get into the habit of copying what other countries are doing.”

Not a question of votes

The Philippine Catholic hierarchy, echoing the position of the Church in Malta, announced that it would oppose any attempt to introduce divorce in the country through a referendum as the Mediterranean country did.

“Referendums are merely a political, not a moral exercise,” said Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, head of the bishops’ Episcopal Commission on Family and Life.

“What is right or wrong is not dependent on how many voted for it,” said Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, judicial vicar of the National Appellate Matrimonial Tribunal. “What is moral or not moral is not a question of popular vote.”

Cruz is happy that the Philippines remains to be the only country without divorce.

“It means that the Filipino cultural values are still solid, that we are profamily, which is a wonder because you cannot find that anywhere else in the world,” he said. With reports from AFP, Cynthia D. Balana, Gil C. Cabacungan Jr., Christian V. Esguerra and Jocelyn R. Uy