Boy Abunda: ‘Why can’t we have a gay president?’

TV host Boy Abunda PHOTO/RICHARD REYES

“WHY can’t we have a gay president?”

That was the question posed by the Philippines’ “King of Talk” Boy Abunda during the TedXADMU event on Sunday after dismissing common misconceptions about the traits of members of the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender (LGBT) communities.

His talk, which received a standing ovation from more than a thousand people at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, toyed with the possibility of having a gay president on the predominantly Catholic Philippines.

Abunda recounted that as a young boy who had a “wonderful childhood,” he was bullied because of being gay.

“They would shout at us. They would holler: ‘Bayot! Bayot!’ That is the Waray word for bakla. And Royal Street broke me in a way that I became so defensive with my posture. I became very defensive about my sexuality. In my youth, Royal Street was equivalent to hell. As a young boy, I started to ask so many questions–some have been answered, some I am still trying to figure out,” he said.

The multi-awarded host and television personality shared the responses he got when he posed the question on why Philippines can’t have a gay president. The responses were varied and reflected the common biases and prejudices toward the LGBT community–such as the thought of gays as being promiscuous to downright relegation of the LGBT community members as second-class citizens.

“Why can’t we have a gay president? Let me borrow some words from the great Martin Luther King: ‘Because sadly, we are still crippled by the manacles of homophobia, transphobia, discrimination, and bigotry’,” Abunda said.

He said that nothing in the Philippine Constitution prohibits gays to become a president.

Also, being heterosexual was not part of any traits which make a person a great president, the host added.

“You just have to be a human being to become a great president,” Abunda said.

The host then enumerated the positive things that a gay president will bring should he be elected to office.

“A gay president will nurture and strengthen the Filipino family. A gay president will be a servant leader. A gay president will subscribe to the concept of politics making the impossible possible,” he said

Believing that the country is in a time of exploration, he urged the audience to think of the possibility of having a gay president.

“Can we can have a gay president? Yes we can. Presidency is our destiny. Yes we will, yes we must,” he said.

Abunda led a number of speakers coming from various backgrounds: philanthropist Nanette Po, spoken word artist Abby Orbeta, and magician Mandrake.

The TEDxADMU is the biggest TEDx event in the Philippines.