Understanding the third sex

When I was governor of Tarlac, I had three trusted homosexuals working with me. They worked hard and were conscientious. They called themselves and their friends Che-Che, meaning bading. Confident of their abilities, we all adjusted to them – and they to us – swiftly. No whims, no caprices, just serious daily work made lighter with smiles. All very reliable, they were very precise in their reports and information gathering that even their male counterparts relied on them for many details.

When elections came, my opponents zeroed in on my homosexual staff like Tony, who assisted me in my sorties in barangays, Elmer at the motor pool who is an engineer, and my personal cash disbursement officer Ariel, who handled my personal allowance (from my husband) for medicine, transportation, for my constituents, as well as their meals.

I was offended that we’d been attacked because I love my friends (and to think that the bombs came from a one-legged old man). We just laughed off the attacks against us and are, in fact, still laughing at the irony of it all – that of an "incomplete" individual criticizing what we consider sane and "complete" buddies.

* * *

I can’t even imagine that it is difficult for homosexuals to live day by day even if they are different. They don’t mind having a different sexual preference and would stand by it firmly. From what I see, it isn’t taxing for them fending off jeers and getting over one single day. While the stronger souls bear the snide remarks and leers which an unforgiving society is apt to give, the more sensitive ones, in order to have some peace, allow oppressive pea brains to have the upper hand that many end up staying in the closet. To the supposed macho opponents whom time has passed by, I never hesitate to defend any Che-Che’s honesty. They’re real people whether we like it or not. I don’t think any of us have the right to judge them.

* * *

As a lover of history, I’d like to explore the history of homosexuality, something I never considered as boring. According to French scientist and historian Michel Foucault, documents concerning homosexual behavior indicate that as early as ancient Greece, the concept of homosexuality didn’t exist. Such liaisons of a specific sexual act involving two people of the same gender was eventually called sodomy in the 18th century.

Karl Maria Kertbeny coined the word homosexuality. The word homosexual translates literally as "of the same sex," being a hybrid of the Greek prefix meaning "same" and the Latin root meaning "sex." By the early 19th century, scientists found the need to classify and analyze prevailing "sexual perversions" and it was during this course of identification that led many to understand homosexuality as a legitimate sexual orientation.

While homosexuality was considered legitimate, a different resentment arose. The Nazis didn’t think they should be living among them, so gays and lesbians were targets of persecution during World War II. Then, psychoanalysts in the early 20th century considered homosexuals to be victims of "faulty development." The Father of Psychoanalysis, Austrian Sigmund Freud, considered homosexuality a deviant condition. While the society has been more understanding in recent years, many negative attitudes towards homosexuality still prevail.

* * *

Homosexual orientation is to this day unqualified. There are, however, two beliefs that rule. Some research has shown that it may be caused by genetics, that is, it’s biological. Gays are gays but do not necessarily want to be so. They are gays not by choice but by genes. To live in celibacy or not is their choice now.

The second theory is that homosexuality is caused by the environment and shows that social influences affect the sexual preference of a person. They claim that if the child is reared under a homosexual home, the child is led to understand that this is the norm. Debate continues on the issue. What moralists believe to be true is that a man liking another man or a woman liking another woman is a "crime against nature." But no matter how much flak they get, gays and lesbians will be so and this will go on for eternity.

* * *

The Institute of Psychiatry in London has made a number of tests proving that gays and lesbians have "gender-bender" brains. In a series of tests given to homosexuals, it turned out that gays do better in tests where women normally excel and poorly in exams where men normally have higher scores.

Parallel to that, lesbians do well in tests where men usually do great and weak where women usually do better. This led the scientists to conclude that lesbians really think like men and gays think like women. Therefore, the attraction to the same sex is actually a manifestation of a "crossed-sex" brain. So the next time you ask yourself why gays like men and why lesbians like women, just remember that this is because of the "gender-bender" theory. And, does this "crossed-sex" brain and "gender-bender" theory make them mental cases? Not in the least, says the American Psychiatry Association which in 1973 removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorder. In 1980 it was dropped from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). "Like anyone else, however, gays and lesbians can become maladjusted when they are treated with hostility."

* * *

Homosexuals are subject to being typecast with our pre-conceived notions. Gay men are viewed as loud and effeminate and lesbians are portrayed as manly and brusque. Why are they both pictured as abnormally obsessed with sex? Because they do opposite of what supposedly normal boy-girl couples engage in. So? One answer is that they are judged as having little restraint or morality, which is highly unfair when a "normal" couple can be even more precocious and obscene. While I am sure there are some who believe the worst of homosexuals, I know a lot more who defy the stereotype and have a "live and let live" attitude, minding their own business and enjoying their lesbian and effeminate friends.

Already knowing that there are two genders – male and female – we certainly acknowledge the existence of third sex, homosexuality. Judeo-Christian moral codes in the early 19th century viewed homosexual relations, sans science, with a tinge of sympathy as "an expression of weakness." This was probably true until Alfred Charles Kinsey demystified homosexuality in his two studies in 1958. If indeed it is true, and homosexuality is a manifestation of weakness, I’m sure we can find ours too, hidden somewhere deep within us.

Personally, I am very comfortable around the third sex. So woe to those who dislike them, because they get themselves more stressed about what they can’t change. We should stop all this gay bashing and instead toast to these brave humans and encourage closet queens to finally shed their masks . . . after all, the truth sets people free.