An Open Letter to Manny Pacquiao From a Gay Filipina American

[Are_grits_groceries]

"I feel too sad to celebrate your fights right now"

Editor's Note: Last week, after President Barack Obama endorsed same-sex marriage, Manny Pacquiao — the world champion boxer, Philippine congressman, and staunch Catholic — was asked for his opinion on the issue. He does not support gay couples' right to get married, and early reports of his stance misquoted Pacquiao in a way that led readers to believe he had quoted an Old Testament passage that says homosexuals "must be put to death." Pacquiao denies that he said those words, as does the author of the Examiner.com post that quoted him. He clarified his position on gay marriage in the Philippine press Thursday.

Dear Manny,

Hello, Kuya Manny. May I call you Kuya Manny? You feel like "Kuya" to me: Whenever you fight, my other Filipino American friends and I light up our Facebook feeds with pugilistic patriotism for our parents' homeland. You feel like ours. Your wins are our wins.

But today my friends had a lot of names for you. "Bigot" and "idiot" were their favorites. I keep looking inside me for some anger at you, but, weirdly, I just can't find it. Instead, I find that I just want to talk to you.

Well, Kuya Manny, I have to say, first: I'm glad it turns out that you don't want me to die. I believe you when you say you haven't read the Book of Leviticus yet.

But I have read Leviticus, Kuya. I've read it too many times. When I was in Catholic high school, and I couldn't help but know, more and more, what I was, I'd page through it in secret. I'd page through that passage in the Book of Romans, too. And I'd look at the Corinthians verse you cited. I kept looking for those passages, hoping that maybe, somehow, magically, their verdict had changed when I looked away. But the verses didn't change. So I repeated to myself what the verses meant — that I was condemned to death and/or a life alone. That I should be left outside of every good, lasting kind of intimacy. That I would never get the chance to make my own family, because I was different in a way that prevented me from getting to do so. Knowing this at age 16 made me feel OK about dying early. Knowing this at age 16 made me wonder if I should speed my own death along.

But like I said! You don't want me to die for being gay! That's good. I'm glad. (I hope you don't change your mind about that when you finally do get around to reading Leviticus.)
More:
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7940841/an-open-letter-manny-pacquiao-gay-filipina-american-concerning-champion-boxer-recent-comments-gay-marriage

Whether you follow boxing or not, you should realize that Pacquiao has a great deal of influence in the Phillipines. His views carry weight there, and that is not something to overlook.

This country is also where the Tebows have worked for years converting people to their version of evangelicl Christianity. They consider Catholics such as Manny to be outside of the required beliefs. Their beliefs are not as benign as they would have you believe. Tim Tebow is the happy face of a dangerous trend.

I hope Manny reads this and understands its meaning and heartfelt hopes. In addition, I realize Floyd Mayweather, Manny's erstwhile nemesis, has supported marrige equality. I'm not convinced this isn't a cynical PR move. We'll see.

BTW this piece is from a site on ESPN.com called Grantland. It is named after the gret sportswriter Grantland Rice. They cover a variety of topics that do relate to the country as a whole. For better or worse, sports is an influential part of US culture. To just disparage it is to ignore a part of the fabric of this nation that can help move important issues. Jackie Robinson was more than just a great baseball player.

[Scuba]

1. Moving. Thanks for posting.