One of the Philippines’ longest running tv shows encourages people to write their life stories and send it to them to be portrayed , acted out and shared to others all over the country and possibly around the globe, usually ending on a note with a life lesson.

Yesterday night, the episode was about Jake Zyrus, formerly known as Charice. It was all about his rise to stardom, family struggles and, finally, his identity.

Hours after the show finished, Jake’s mother released a statement about her side of the story, saying that what Jake had shown were all lies and far too different from what had actually happened.

Although according to reports previous months ago, his mother was mad and upset about the name change as she was never told by her son (or daughter, if she still views him as one) but she was still there to support her.

I am currently a bit confused about the current status of the connection between Jake Zyrus and his mother but one thing for sure is that his grandmother didn’t like his transition and she won’t consider him as her grandson and she would accept him if he turned back into being “Charice”.

I get how it’s not that easy for other families to just accept what their child prefers and identifies as, but it doesn’t mean that they should completely shut them out because they needed your support. That is why they come out to you because they need to hear from them that they’re valid, that they’re still a part of the family no matter what.

How could one person find happiness if no one would accept them for who they are? And I thought that that was what families are for; you support one another and boost each other’s self esteem, not mortify them and step on their dignity.

A lot of Filipinos are used to stereotyping the LGBT, such as all lesbians are boyish, gay people are ladylike and other things as that. They don’t understand that being lesbians, gays, bisexuals, pansexuals and asexuals only indicate their sexual reference, not their whole personality.

The worst part is when they make crossdressing males or transwomen a mode of entertainment (I don’t know if that’s a positive thing or not) but they won’t accept transgender men, as the fact that they are “so much better off as pretty, talented young ladies”.

See, there’s misogyny right there, which is a hundred times worse than being a gay person in a supposedly “Catholic” country, and they do nothing about it. Even the president make jokes about rape culture, which is one of the most fucking disgusting things I’ve heard in my life.

Speaking of the president. During his campaign for presidency last year, he said that he was going to support same sex marriage when he gets on the position. Fast forward to 2017 during a speech in another country; he said that he doesn’t support it.

Yes, you’ve read it right. Although he sends best wishes and all happiness to our lovely LGBTQ community, he doesn’t support the one thing that is considered to be the indication that this country approves love in all forms because he’s going to break the law regarding this issue.

I have mentioned earlier about the Philippines being a Catholic country. Most of the self-proclaimed religious people, who gets triggered easily and fights anyone who comes their way, wants to banish the LGBTQ. Yep. These people, who praise the merciful, welcoming and loving God, are promoting hate and non-acceptance and pretend to be a good person by praying so many times in a day but don’t change a single negative thing about themselves.

This is a messed up world we’re living right now. People don’t accept other people for being who they are, may it be a member of the LGBTQ or a person with a different skin color, because they don’t actually consider the fact that we all belong in one race.

We are the human race and God had assigned us to become the stewards of creation, which includes us,  and everyone must be protecting each other, not pitting against. It shouldn’t matter if you are straight or gay, or white or black because we are all the same in God’s eyes and He is the only one who could judge us.