Beautiful Vid from Italy

From our friends in Italia comes a great pro-marriage video.  Even if you don't understand Italian, the message needs no translation.



A very happy (albeit one day late) Valentine's Day to everyone!  And when I say everyone I mean everyone, including all the wonderful same-sex couples out there; especially the ones in the Philippines!

February 14th represents the very thing that is always worth taking a stand for:  Love.  Keep your eyes on the prize and never stop pushing for full equality!  Pray for the day when Filipino same-sex couples will be able to freely, publicly celebrate their love and commitment on Valentine's Day, and every other day, too!

Awesome Australian Marriage Equality Ad

This is a truly beautiful advertisement from Australia.  If you're a human being, and if you've ever been in love with another human being, it will be impossible for this not to tug at your heartstrings.   

Great ad!

Happy Filipino Family Day!

The fourth Monday of September (the 26th) is designated as Family Day in the Philippines.  So may I wish you all a wonderful day with your families -- no matter what type of family you have!  Family Day also happens to be the culmination of the DSWD's National Family Week in the Philippines.

All families are equally valid and of equal value and worth.  No matter what your family looks like -- whether you're a traditional family with a mommy and daddy, a single parent family, a same-sex family with two mommies or two daddies, a step (blended) or adoptive family, or a grandparent family -- have a great day sharing the love and bond that makes a family a family.

Happy Family Day to ALL families out there, in the Philippines and beyond!

Harmless fairytale...or EVIL GAY PORN!!

Over the past several months I have gotten quite a few questions regarding the children's book King and King, which I mentioned on my Equality 101 page.  Some are wondering what it's all about, or if it's "a threat."

My reply:  Yes actually, it is a threat.  It's a threat to bigotry and homophobia.

One rather upset email commenter said "This is nothing more than gay porn propaganda for kids!"  Interesting, considering it is neither pornographic nor propagandist.  It's a fricking fairytale, people.

This is a brief rundown of the book which, along with other books like it, can be found in elementary schools in my country.  You decide if it's evil or not.

Love For All

A great pro-equality commercial/public service ad by Björn Borg, a Swedish clothing company.  I had seen the ad on TV in Scandinavia several times, but I can guarantee you it won't be allowed to be aired in the Philippines or anywhere else in Asia -- it would cause an uproar for sure.  That's unfortunate because it's a beautiful ad, and kudos to the Björn Borg Company for making it!

("True Colors" sung by Ane Brun of Norway.)

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After ten years, the sky still hasn't fallen

An OpEd by Boris O. Dittrich, appearing in the Los Angeles Times, April 17, 2011:

After the Netherlands acted, civilization as we know it didn't end.

Ten years ago when the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, most Dutch people were in favor of the law, but a vocal minority insisted that same-sex marriage would mean the end of Western civilization.  It took a political slugfest to get the law passed.

I was a member of parliament at the time and the initial sponsor of the same-sex legislation.  The Netherlands had introduced gay civil unions in 1998; I regarded them as a step forward but still insufficient.  Why should heterosexuals be able to fence off a part of civil law — marriage — and defend it as exclusively theirs?  This "separate but equal" status reminded me of apartheid in South Africa and Jim Crow in the United States.  When two people decide to share their responsibilities and commit themselves to each other by entering civil marriage, their sexual orientation shouldn't matter to the government.

According to the Brain: Love is Love

Gay or straight, female or male -- the brain activity connected to romantic love is the same.

A new study out of UCLA shows that love doesn't discriminate... at least not when it comes to brain activity.  In the study, 24 volunteers were connected to an fMRI machine and asked to look at pictures of their sweethearts.  They were then shown pictures of people of the same gender as their partner, but no romantic connection was shown.

The participants ranged in age from 19 to 47, and the study was conducted half and half between men and women, some gay some straight.  The common denominator was that all reported to be very much in love with their partner.

Measurement results showed that all groups had an identical pattern of activity in the brain.  Especially active areas were the hypothalamus, the ventral tegmental area, caudate nucleus and putamen -- areas of intense neurotransmitter activity stimulated by dopamine.

Dopamine has varying degrees of significance in the regulation of emotions, and how we relate to others. Love not only enhances the activity in key areas of the brain, but it also disables most of the cerebral cortex.  Among the areas which calm down when you look at your significant other, are sections of the temporal lobe, parietal lobe and frontal lobe.

According to Professor Semir Zeki, one of the researchers behind the study, "Passionate romantic love is usually triggered by something visually, and is an immersive and disorienting state.  Previous studies have shown that no matter how complex this feeling is, it appeals only to a few areas in the brain." 

This enabled Zeki and his colleagues to conclude that it would be easy to spot any differences between gender or sexual orientation -- differences they did not find.

Yet another example, thanks to modern science, that the brain sets sexual orientation, and that the romance experienced in same-sex love is identical in strength and innateness to opposite-sex love.  According to the brain:  Love is love.

Ref. report on www.forskning.no