<html>
<body>
<font size=3><br><br>
<b>Philippine Daily Inquirer<br>
Reds officiate first gay marriage in NPA<br>
</b>By Rolando B. Pinsoy<br><br>
DARE to struggle, dare to win ... as married gays. After raiding a
few<br>
Army camps, two communist guerrillas hid in a forest gorge and fell in
love.<br>
Deeply.<br><br>
That was three years ago. On Friday, under a romantic drizzle in a
muddy<br>
clearing in Compostela Valley province in Mindanao, Ka Andres and Ka Jose
exchanged vows in a heavily guarded ceremony before local
villagers,<br>
friends from the city and their comrades in arms.<br><br>
They are considered the first homosexual couple in the New People's
Army<br>
(NPA) who were wed by the Communist Party of the Philippines
(CPP).<br><br>
During the "wedding," sponsors draped a sequined CPP flag
around the<br>
couple's shoulders. The flag was held in place by a long, beaded
cord<br>
which also went around the couple and the sponsors -- symbolizing
that<br>
their marriage would be made stronger with the help of comrades and
the<br>
masses.<br><br>
Andres held a bullet, as did Jose and each other's hands. The
bullets<br>
represented their "commitment in the armed struggle."<br><br>
Throughout the ceremony, a choir serenaded them with revolutionary
love<br>
songs. After they signed their "wedding contract," the
newlyweds kissed<br>
amid the usual applause.<br><br>
Jose recalled the day he first visited the NPA camp for his
revolutionary<br>
integration -- a practice resorted to by city-based revolutionary
activists before their deployment in the countryside.<br><br>
This was the first time he met Andres, who was preparing
audio-visual<br>
materials for a basic revolutionary education seminar.<br><br>
Jose was young and had a sexist, macho attitude and thought Andres was
a<br>
typical tiguwang bayot (old gay), an object of scorn and
ridicule.<br><br>
Andres, an education instructor in the movement, was busy with his
work<br>
and did not take too much notice of Jose.<br><br>
Besides, Andres already had a boyfriend. Later, the two started to
discuss<br>
politics.<br><br>
"I began to understand the revolution and why gays are discriminated
by<br>
society," Jose said in an interview.<br><br>
When Jose's integration program ended, he decided to join the NPA. It
was<br>
Andres who accompanied him to the armed unit -- his first
assignment.<br><br>
They met several times during education training. At the start, it was
purely a comradely interaction. Later, it became romantic.<br><br>
"I realized he was caring and malambing (affectionate). He would
never<br>
leave me in times of difficulty," Jose said.<br><br>
Andres recalled when they both got separated from their comrades on
their<br>
way to get supplies. It was raining and Andres spent the night alone in
the forest without provisions. The following day, he ran into Jose, who
had also spent the night in the woods, looking for him.<br><br>
Jose once confided to Andres that sometimes, he would find himself<br>
attracted to female comrades.<br><br>
"I don't get jealous. Even if we are away from each other for
months<br>
because of the nature of our respective works. I trust him," Andres
said.<br><br>
Neither is their age gap an issue. Jose is 21 while Andres is 54. They
call each other "sweetheart."<br><br>
"Andres helps me overcome the challenges and to become strong
politically<br>
and ideologically," Jose said.<br><br>
When the couple realized they were falling in love, they immediately
sought the approval of their respective "collective" or cell
unit.<br><br>
It is the collective's responsibility to foster a strong relationship
within the group and members are assessed every four months.<br><br>
As the first same-sex marriage in the NPA, theirs is a union long awaited
by comrades who support gay rights in the movement. It is also a
manifestation of the communist movement's recognition of the right to
engage in gay relations and to marry.<br><br>
Although the CPP already recognized gay relations and same-sex
marriage,<br>
it was not easy for Andres and Jose to make the decision to finally
marry.<br><br>
First, the couple worked hard to change the traditional mind-set of
some<br>
comrades regarding gays and gay relationships. They attributed these
biases to the prevailing "patriarchal" culture in Philippine
society.<br><br>
"[We] conducted painstaking discussions to make comrades understand
gay relations and gay rights," Andres said.<br><br>
"Gay cadres adhere to the strong Party discipline. They enhance the
prestige of gays in the movement. This has gained positive results
through<br>
the years. Comrades (male and female) and even the masses have learned to
respect and recognize gays and their contribution to the
revolution," he said.<br><br>
As early as 1995, the CPP's Southern Mindanao Regional Party
Committee<br>
started to discuss gay rights in the movement.<br><br>
In 1998, a provision on gay relations and same-sex marriage was added
to<br>
the CPP's guiding policy on relations contained in a document titled
"On<br>
the Proletarian Relationship of Sexes (OPRS)."<br><br>
Under the OPRS, the communist movement is committed to guide and ensure
there is no exploitation in any relationship-heterosexual or
homosexual.<br><br>
During the wedding ceremony, comrades asked Jose -- in jest -- if
Andres<br>
could sexually satisfy him.<br><br>
"If there is love, everything follows, including sexual
satisfaction," Jose confessed.<br><br>
The couple was also asked if they planned to have kids. The newlyweds
said they would deal with the issue later.<br><br>
"What we have to do now -- with the help of the Party -- is to work
on our<br>
marriage and to be strong while serving the people," Jose
said.<br><br>
<br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
</font><font size=3><a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">www.freedomarchives.org</a></font></body>
</html>