This June has been celebrated by
the world as Pride Month, as it has always been in past years to commemorate
the 1969 Stonewall protests in New York City. Parades and events putting the
LGBT Community front and center have been occurring in many countries within
this period. And earlier still, some territories have taken significant steps
in securing the rights of their LGBT citizens. One major example has been
Taiwan which had legalized same-sex marriage in May. And that is something former
Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach would like to see happening in the Philippines too,
hence her public support.
Inquirer.net has it that Pia Wurtzbach, who gave the country its
first Miss Universe title (2015) since Margie Moran (1973), publicly expressed
her hope of seeing the Philippines pass legislation providing for same-sex
marriage to LGBT couples. The former titleholder said her piece back in June 20
while being interviewed by Inquirer
Entertainment at US Ambassador Kim Sung’s residence at Makati, where the
Embassy was hosting an LGBT reception dinner in celebration of Pride Month
2019. Wurtzbach is well aware of the obstacles to such a right being extended
to the Filipino LGBT community, and expressed dismay at organized opposition to
it by certain sectors.
Pia’s LGBT support has been
ongoing since even before she participated in the 2015 Miss Universe pageant.
She has also opined that there is nothing objectionable in the idea of
celebrating LGBT pride at times such as these, also pointing out that Ecuador,
a Catholic country in South America has not let religion overcome its own
decision to allow same-sex unions in its country earlier this month. “Let’s see
how long it will take us, the Catholic Church or the government, before we
follow suit,” remarks Wurtzbach. “I hope I’m around to see that day.”
And the once-Miss Universe is not
alone in her opinion during that event. Her host, US Ambassador to the
Philippines Kim Sung himself, lauded the local LGBT community in its efforts to
uplift their marginalization in their own country. He notes that important
milestones in developing LGBT rights in the Philippines have been achieved
almost every year, such as the diversity and inclusivity index launched by the
Philippine LGBT Chamber of Commerce that tracks which companies in the private
sector are genuinely supportive of LGBTs. Kim does note that this is still a
work in progress and more work needs to be done to advance these equal rights
in employment, education, medical and social services.
On this, Wurtzbach agrees with
more focus on the positives. “There’s been a lot of changes, in the past 10
years, maybe even five,” she tells Inquirer.
“I’m glad that we have get-togethers like this. We’re now celebrating Pride
Month!”
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