GAY rights activists are seething in anger over homophobic cyberattacks that defaced the Wikipedia page of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona in order to discredit the chief magistrate of the Supreme Court.
This was after the vandalized page which was hacked briefly on January 3, branded Corona the “Thief Justice” and portrayed him as having gay sex with court administrator Midas Marquez. The page has been restored four hours after the attack.
It was even stated in a passage from the posted attack which reads: “Rumors are circulating that the Supreme Court Administrator — “Midas Marquez” is having intimate relationship with the Chief Justice.”
In a statement of the Progressive Organization of Gays in the Philippines (ProGay), the slur is below the belt since the attacks was not only limited to Corona and Marquez, but also to the members of the third sex.
“We totally deplore this heinous way of using gay slurs for launching political attacks between the opposing sides in the impeachment trial,” declared Goya Candelario, spokesperson Pro Gay.
The ProGay leader said that the defacement proves that homophobia and discrimination are real social problems of Philippine society that make life for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) very dangerous.
A day before this incident, a heterosexual male youth was stabbed and mauled to death by an armed gang of hoodlums after the youth defended two gay passengers in a minibus from the gang’s taunts.
“We mourn the death of Fernando Mendoza who died defending gay rights and because of unchecked homophobia that is being stoked by religious zealots and machismo. All levels of our society should really address and correct homophobia, because both ordinary men who are not gay like Mendoza and powerful government officials such as Corona and Marquez are not safe from these stupid hate crimes,” Candelario said.
With this, ProGay called on Congress to immediately pass the Antidiscrimination Bill with protections for sexual orientation and gender identity even as the impeachment trial of Justice Corona in the Senate weeks is set to dominate the attention and time of both House of Representatives and the Senate. (Mla. Times)
PINOY SNIPER 