Reactions to Ricky Martin’s coming out

To very few people’s surprise, Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin announced that he is gay. What I found interesting regarding this news is the extremely varied reactions people have upon his coming out.

Most people. “Duh!” “In other news, CNN declares that the sky is blue." "His closet must’ve had glass doors.” “The only news is the fact that this is news.”

Naive people. “OMG! I can’t believe Ricky Martin is gay!”

Cynics. “He just wants the attention to boost his faltering career.” “This is a publicity stunt. Nothing more.”

Positive LGBT rights activists. “His coming out is a big deal since it will serve as an inspiration for countless LGBT people and a means to help end discrimination and hate in the U.S. and especially Latin America, where homophobia still reigns supreme.”

Grammar Nazis. “Ricky, it’s ‘were’ not ‘where’!”

Clueless. “Why is this a big deal? All of these coming out stories are so overrated. It doesn’t matter what people do behind their bedroom door.”

Loyal fans. “We’re so proud of you, Ricky!”

Negative LGBT rights activists. “He should have come out at the peak of his career when he could have made a bigger impact to the gay community, not now when he has nothing else to lose.”

Extremist Bible thumpers. “God hates fags and God hates Ricky Martin. He will burn in hell.”

Local showbizmongers. “Piolo, you’re next!”

So, what do you think? While I wasn’t surprised (c’mon, those pictures of him at the beach in Speedos with an equally hunky guy and his having twins via a surrogate pregnancy are damning evidence), I think that this will have a huge positive impact on the acceptance of LGBT people worldwide. It’s just too bad that coming out has to be an issue at all. I can’t wait for the day when one’s sexuality is no longer something newsworthy.

Enjoy Puerto Galera, guys!

So Holy Week is upon us and that means one thing: it’s the annual gay pilgrimage to Puerto Gaylera once again! And just like last year, the date of Araw ng Kagitingan (April 9) makes it so that we have two back-to-back long weekends. In 2009, the extra long weekend was the Palm Sunday weekend. This year, it will be the weekend after Easter Sunday.

Well, just like last year, I would guess that the better long weekend to go to Galera would be the non-Good Friday weekend. The reason is because I think that the other long weekend would be not as crowded but still be gay enough that you will still have plenty of cruising opportunities if that’s your thing. Hehe.

You should check out my Puerto Galera gay guide if you haven’t yet and you’re trooping to this tropical party destination. Warning: it’s been years since I’ve been to Galera so this guide might be outdated. I would certainly appreciate very much any tips and info so I can update the guide.

TLF SHARE Collective goes to Queeriosity Palace

TLF Share Collective, a LGBT NGO offshoot of The Library Foundation, and Queeriosity Palace are teaming up for an HIV awareness event over at Q this coming March 21, Sunday, starting at 10 pm. A couple of comedians will be hosting the program and providing entertainment while at the same time dishing out education about HIV/AIDS. You can also avail of the early bird entrance rate of P200 when you come in between 6 and 8 pm.

Check out the Facebook event page to learn more.

According to Q’s owner, as far as he is aware, this is the first ever HIV awareness event held in a bathhouse in the Philippines. As far as I am aware, yeah, he’s right.

SRO: a Sucky and Ridiculous Offering

I guess I had nothing better to do and that’s why I decided to watch SRO a few weeks ago at Robinsons Galleria. This gay indie film is about the lives of people—gay or straight, but mostly gay—who engage in the sex trade at a run-down cinema called “Maharlika” in Manila that screens sexy films. The film’s title obviously refers to the phrase “standing room only,” often used in cinemas where all the seats are already taken and so other patrons who want to watch have to stand. The phrase can also refer to the practice of many PLU patrons of old cinemas of standing at the back of the theater to cruise and to get a booking even if there are seats available. But in this particular film, SRO also—in a lame bit of literary trick—stands for the initials of the three main characters: Sonny, Roldan, and Oscar.

I’ve heard and read plenty about the goings-on that occur inside these dilapidated theaters. Probably the most famous haunt of them all is the Alta Theater in Cubao. I personally have never been inside one of them and it’s unlikely that I’ll muster enough courage to see for myself so I guess curiosity made me watch SRO. I wanted to see at least this particular gay subculture shown through a filmmaker’s eyes.

Now that I’ve satiated my curiosity for a bit, let me say that if you haven’t seen SRO, then you’re not missing anything. The movie is just another one of those run-of-the-mill gay indie features that serve nothing to advance the state of the art in gay filmmaking. I really did not see the point of Ana Capri’s histrionics nor find any relevance for the plot twist at the end that just came out of nowhere. Aside from the actor who played Sonny, whom I have found cute, there’s very little else to enjoy. I did not even like Paolo Rivero’s participation in the film (and I generally like his gay film roles).

Sigh. (That’s the sound of gay-indie-film fatigue setting in.)

Read this ClickTheCity review for another scathing perspective.

The guy at the gym

So there’s this guy I’ve been crushing on at the gym. He’s a bit tall (maybe 5′9″), moreno, and with a good homely face. He’s not as ripped as the other guys I’ve seen in that gym but he looks oh so fine and at least has a nice enough body.

I always notice whenever he enters the gym and I always keep stealing glances as him as he goes through his workout. I didn’t think that he’s PLU since I have never seen him glance back for more than a moment and I never caught him staring at other guys in the gym. He just kept to himself as he does his reps and sets.

Well imagine my surprise when I saw him enter the gym one night wearing a black shirt with the Government club logo at the back! (At that time, Government had already closed). I was a bit shocked since if he were PLU, he was hiding it pretty good and then he shows up wearing a gay club shirt! Is he really PLU? Maybe he’s a former employee, but then, why would he go to this gym? Or maybe he doesn’t know the significance of the logo? Nah. It’s very unlikely that he does not know what the logo means. So he must know that the logo is and made a deliberate choice to wear it. Or he grabbed some black shirt from the closet and didn’t realize that it had the G logo at the back? In any case, that shirt proves that he’s indeed PLU or at least gay-friendly.

Being the really shy guy that I am, I never acted on this discovery. If you were in my shoes, what would you do?