Various organizations serving Asian and Filipino American lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) community in the United States, instead called for a more open and transparent dialogue with Pacquiao, and all their "kababayans," about their lives as Filipinos and as LGBT.
In a joint statement issued following Pacquiao’s recent comments on gay marriage, the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA), Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), and Kaya: Filipino Americans for Progress called for "more civil discourse that does not simply focus on how we are different and where we disagree, but can instead move us beyond to an understanding of the experiences and values we do share."
"We call for moving beyond judgments about how we live our lives and whom we choose to love, and getting to the profound problems these tough times present to us all," they said, in a statement.
Pacquiao came under fire from the LBGT community after he expressed his opposition to US President Barack Obama’s recent statement in support of marriage equality during a recent interview with US-based freelance writer Granville Ampong.
News reports of that interview with the boxing champ directly attributed quotes from the book of Leviticus in the Bible to the lawmaker which, according to LGBT groups, was seemingly "taken out of context."
Pacquiao has since denied calling for “gays to be put to death,” and has apologized to the gay community in a televised interview with a US entertainment talk show.
"Regardless of who dealt the blows, they have landed," the LGBT alliance said. "As he himself can tell you, once a punch is thrown, it cannot be unthrown."
Nevertheless, the LBGT group hailed Pacquiao as "the most famous Filipino living today."
"He is a person who rose from humble beginnings to be the best in his field anywhere in the world," they declared. "He has become a fighter not only in the boxing arena, but in the political arena as well."
"But on the issue of marriage equality, he is wrong," they quickly pointed out. "To rely on religious scripture to justify ongoing discrimination against the LGBT community is wrong."
According to the LBGT alliance, Pacquiao's decision to come out publicly on this issue and to "dip his foot in the political waters surrounding it is wrong."
"Not because, as some in the LGBT community in the United States would say, because of convenient geopolitical categories that place him outside of the United States’ political context," they said. "As an elected official in the Philippine Congress, but one who lives in Los Angeles, he embodies the term 'citizen of the world' and reflects the globalized nature of Filipinos and the diasporic communities we build."
source: mb.com.ph
