THERE’S nothing a girl loves more than a parade – but the “girls” who dress up for religious festivals in the strongly-Catholic Philippines have outraged the Archbishop of Manila, Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales.
Why?
Because they are MEN – and by dressing up as female saints, they are “insulting the Virgin Mary”.
Grumped Rosales:
We should keep sacred what is sacred.
The Archbishop, according to Worldwide Religious News, has admonished parishes for allowing male homosexuals to play Saint Helena and other female roles traditionally given to local beauty queens.
But leaders of the gay community maintained that “Marian devotees” among them deserved a place in the Feast of the Cross processions.
Rosales added:
The procession is religious. [But] what the [parishes] do is organise a parade. That’s an insult to the Blessed Mother. Instead of pious young women, gay men are paraded, which makes [the procession] ridiculous.
Rosales said he had taken the leaders of one parish to task for having gay cross-dressers participate in these processions.
I told them that’s not right because that’s a procession. You are destroying the purity of the devotion.
Rosales stressed he was not discriminating against homosexuals but only wanted to preserve the solemnity of the processions.
Jonas Bagas, secretary-general of Lagablab (Lesbian and Gay Legislative Advocacy Network), said he doubted Rosales’ remarks would stop the participation of homosexual men who count themselves as “Marian devotees.”
Speaking for another gay advocacy group, Ang Ladlad chair Danton Remoto said:
I don’t think they intend to make a mockery of the procession but they are there because they are true devotees of the Virgin Mary.
Remoto, a professor at Ateneo de Manila University, also noted that most gay participants were low-income folk who had saved up for expensive gowns to would wear in the procession “out of the goodness and love in their hearts for the Virgin Mary.”
There is really no intention to malign the Catholic Church.
Rosales also discouraged the holding of dances at town plazas to cap Marian processions and prayers.
We should not set aside the fact that our beloved Blessed Virgin Mother Mary is the centre of these activities and celebrations. We should give importance to Mary and reflect on her life. Everything we do in this time is for our devotion to her.
The Philippines has a sizeable population of “lady-boys”, and it hosts the annual the Amazing Philippines Beauties contest open exclusively to transvestites and transsexuals.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
