For the conservatives, like those depicted by Ralph Semino Galan in The Southern Cross, Christian churches condemned homosexuality and cast the “bakla” out of their communions and other religious celebrations. As a sinner, they say, the “bakla” needs to repent and seek forgiveness because even if he does not have the power to change his sexual orientation, God, being all knowing and all powerful, does. This is the view of Jaime Ruiz's family and relatives and it was evident when he said:
Masakit mang isipin, pero totoo na kaya nila ako ipinasok sa seminaryo ay para baguhin ako, para mapunan ang sa tingin nila at ng iba pa naming kamag-anak. Gusto rin nilang matuto akong sumayaw sa saliw ng kultura, sa awit ng istruktura at sa himig ng lipunang aming ginagalawan.
Conservatives normally hold a higher perspective of biblical authority and of God's life-transforming power. In At Nakialam Siya sa Akin, Ruiz viewed conservatives as products of distorted mental faculties. While it is true that God has the power to change a person's sexual orientation, He has also the power to cure cancer and diabetes, but He usually does not. The only moral alternative left is for the “bakla” to live in a completely celibate life-like being a gay priest in Jaime Ruiz's At Nakialam Siya sa Akin. If not, be moral-like being monogamous. This alternative recognizes the difficulty of the “bakla” in changing his sexual orientation and at the same time recognizes the scripture, the situation, and the pain of the “bakla” seriously.
Progressively, though the Bible always speaks about homosexual acts in negative ways, it actually says very little about homosexuality. Theologians affirmed that there is nothing intrinsic in the scripture that condemns homosexuality. Certainly biblical writers did not know much about homosexuality as we do. Jesus Christ did not even mentioned homosexuality and did even condemn homosexual acts at all. Neither Saint Paul nor Saint Aquinas and Saint Augustine understood human sexuality to fully understand homosexuality. Although the story of the destruction of Sodom has been identified in the popular mind as a condemnation of homosexuality, it is in truth a condemnation of greed, pride, and inhospitality.
Perhaps, homosexuality must be examined in the light when Peter was given the vision of unclean animals descending from heaven and God told him to rise, to kill, and to eat. Peter objected because the Old Testament told him that it was sinful but God told him that he must not declare anything unclean the things that God had considered clean. Peter took this vision to be a divine authorization to take the gospel to unclean Gentiles. The vision helped him realized that what the Bible said was culturally bound and not universally true.
While there is no biblical warranty that homosexuality is a gift from God, Ruiz considered his homosexuality a blessing from his Creator. Because of the assumption that God created men in his own image, whoever and whatever the “bakla” is, he is what God has made him. The sexual orientation of the “bakla” then is of no moral significance than skin color and left-handedness. The truth is, the “bakla” knows that his sexuality is distorted, that he will never compliment the desire of the opposite sex, and that the purpose of sex, though not the only one, is biological reproduction. What is important, Ruiz said, is that the “bakla” must find homoerotic freedom and sexual liberation, must find more meaning in this seemingly meaningless life, and must discover the he do not need to reconstruct himself because there is nothing wrong in him.
Homosexuality is an orientation and not a sexual preference. Homosexuality is a gift from God and it should not be necessarily condemned. While the legal, moral, and ethical implication are far from resolution, the “bakla” must discover the joy, the beauty, and the essence of his body and his being, which is considered the process of unfolding and disclosing his inner feelings. When social, spiritual, and psychological support abound, the “bakla” will experience an increased sense of belonging in his community and sense of integrity about the soul, the body, and the spirit. The increased sense of integrity allows the “bakla” to develop spiritually as loving and caring human being in the eyes of God.
For Ruiz and the rest of the “bakla” in the country, bakla na kung bakla, basta alam kong may misyon ako na mas higit pa sa kabaklaan. Ito man ang sexual orientation ko, alam kong may gusto Siyang ipagawa sa akin at tanging ako lang ang makagagawa.
