Behind Every Gay Is A Loving Mother

Screen grab from Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho on GMA7 (L-R): Bigboy, Angelo, Karen.

 

I had an LOL moment watching Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho on GMA7 while ago. That feature on gays as young as 12 and old as 17 competing for Miss Super Sireyna Teen 2014  in Tondo, Manila was really entertaining. They are so young but oh so talented and promising. And very interesting at the same time because of all places, it has to be in Tondo—home of the astig, maton, macho, and anything masculine.

The feature focused on three friends Big Boy (Annaliza), Karen (Kathryn Bernardo) and Angelo (Angela), who have been to many gay pageants and have won titles already. They are all 12 years old. Big Boy’s mom is a single parent. She has bicyles for rent which is their main source of income. Karen’s mother sells bags and RTWs in Tutuban. Both mothers have embraced their children’s sexuality. It is not the same with Angelo because his dad has not yet accepted the fact that his son is gay. His mother hopes the time will come that her husband will be comfortable of his son’s preference.

Of the three mothers, Big Boy’s is the funniest. According to her, she can have as much as P300 a day from her bicycle for rent business. She would give P50 to her son for “rampa.” Then she advised her son to just enjoy and no to boys yet. Karen stopped from his studdies last school year because he has been joining pageants and got tired of attending classes eventually. But he will go back to school next month because his mother told him, being gay, education is his only key to success.

Bigboy

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On pageant night, Karen finished 4th Runner-up, Bigboy was 2nd Runner-up and Angelo was 1st Runner-up. They were all happy and said it was okay if they did not win the title because there will be more pageants for them in the future.

 A child psychologist meanwhile said gay children should be taken cared of because society is yet to fully embrace their sexuality. In this case they can be subjected to bullying.

That feature reminded me of my college years at the University of San Jose Recoletos, especially that part where Karen admitted he had to stop schooling because he had no more time for it because since he became occupied with pageants here and there. You see, at USJR we had an organization called “Gays Unlimited” where we comfort eah other and became family. We had mock gay pageants at the university’s quadrangle that sometimes ended in a chasing game with the guards because we became noisy and unruly. It was fun and memorable.

But the best thing of being part of Gays Unlimited then was that it pushed us to do well in class because every end of semester we would compare our grades and find out who was in the dean’s list and who was not. The success of a member was an achievement of the organization because we would help each other in doing our projects and class assignments.

Interestingly one of the organization’s founders visited me at the station last week and we had a good chat. He is now a successful educator connected with the research department of DepEd and he has been to a lot of countries for futher studies and research assignments. A member is also with DepEd and recently finished his Phd. I learned that a lot of our members are employed in various companies in Cebu as managers. It is good to know that we are successful in our respective fields.

You see being gay is a gift. And because it’s a  gift it has to be nurtured with love and acceptance. With proper guidance, a gay child can very well become tomorrow’s inspiration and pride. Thank you so much to all mothers out there because they are always and surely there for every gay child who is ridiculed, bullied, and abused by close-minded people around. Happy Mother’s Day!