Thursday, February 27, 2014

Pestaño: Philippines is a gay-friendly country

Chessmoso
Thursday, February 27, 2014

DESPITE being ostracized a decade or two ago, the gay community is now embraced by many.
In the Philippines, majority of them are very well-known in industries such as entertainment, fashion and beauty care. Many are considered icons. Many are openly contemplating marriage.
A recent Gallup survey showed that about 10 percent of the population are gays.
he Catholic Church officially frowns upon any form of homosexuality. However, last year, the magazine The Advocate, which defends gay rights, had declared Pope Francis its Man of the Year for everything he has done for the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans-sexual) community.
The Pope was quoted as saying “If someone who is gay and is sincerely seeking God who am I to judge?”
Time magazine, too, made Francis Person of the Year, hailing him for his ‘rejection of Church dogma’.
I read an original and interesting evolution theory that needs more research. The process of evolution resulted in 3 sexes-man, woman and “union” of the two.
Do you know that William Shakespeare was a chess fanatic and Leonardo da Vinci was a composer of chess problems? And word has it that both were gay.
In 1998, a magazine called “Chess Pride” was published exclusively for the homosexual community.
It only cane up with three issues.
In the first issue, it featured an openly-gay chess master, Anthony E. Santasiere, who was a US Open champion in 1945 and math teacher.
The second issue featured Paul Morphy, who, for some reason, had a certain “gayness” about him. He had a habit of collecting women’s shoes. Fischer believed Paul to be the best chess player ever.
The third issue featured another professed gay master, Weaver Adams, who won the US Open Championship in 1948. He is also an author and opening theoretician.
On October 16, 2010, the city of Malaga, Spain, held the 1st Gay Chess Open Championship. The first prize amounted to 1,500 EUR. Some 81 chess players took part in that tournament and it was won by IM Ibarra Jerez Jose Carlos via tiebreak who is now GM.
The second place was taken by GM Rivas Pastor Manuel and the third by IM Munoz Pantoja. The lineup was pretty imposing.
The other GMs who participated were Abreu Delgado, Oratovsky Michael, Plaskett H. James, and Komlienovic Davorin.
In the last 10 years, the percentage of people who feel that homosexuality is acceptable to society has gone up from 38 percent in 1992 to 51 in 2002.
Now, the number is much higher. Same -sex marriage is now legal in some states of the US and in 20 other countries like Belgium, Canada, Netherlands (1st), Norway, South Africa, Sweden and Spain.
However, a total 84 countries worldwide, mostly from Africa ,Asia and to some extent South America have criminal laws against sexual activity by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people
Another famous gay athlete is Jason Collins of the NBA.
Cepca New member Mario Mangubat of LTO is the February champion Second and third is accountant Carlo Maraat and Engr. Jimmy Te.
(boypestano@gmail.com,www.chessmoso.blogspot.com)

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