MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 4, 2011) – Human rights activists recoiled in horror at homophobic remarks made by Philippine Health Secretary Enrique Ona before an AIDS convention and demanded his resignation from office for discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations who are part of the country’s priority populations for HIV prevention.
Speaking before the Plenary Meeting of the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) at the Manila Grand Opera Hotel, Ona suggested that parents should have their homosexual children tested for AIDS. He was immediately met with angry hoots and whistles from AIDS activists.
“We want Ona ousted. Bigots do not deserve high government posts, and more so he should not serve as a chair of PNAC if we do not want his unscientific biases to taint the good work of our unsung AIDS preventions heroes nationwide,” Marlon Lacsamana, the founder of the Philippines LGBT Hate Crime Watch, a human rights watchdog, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
“We’re wasting our hard-earned taxpayers’ money on homophobes as he is undoing decades of evidence-based prevention practices that aim to encourage homosexuals and transgender to voluntarily seek testing, counseling, and treatment. Ona’s words will drive LGBTs away from HIV programs and make us so vulnerable to infections,” Lacsamana said.
Speaking before the Plenary Meeting of the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) at the Manila Grand Opera Hotel, Ona suggested that parents should have their homosexual children tested for AIDS. He was immediately met with angry hoots and whistles from AIDS activists.
“We want Ona ousted. Bigots do not deserve high government posts, and more so he should not serve as a chair of PNAC if we do not want his unscientific biases to taint the good work of our unsung AIDS preventions heroes nationwide,” Marlon Lacsamana, the founder of the Philippines LGBT Hate Crime Watch, a human rights watchdog, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
“We’re wasting our hard-earned taxpayers’ money on homophobes as he is undoing decades of evidence-based prevention practices that aim to encourage homosexuals and transgender to voluntarily seek testing, counseling, and treatment. Ona’s words will drive LGBTs away from HIV programs and make us so vulnerable to infections,” Lacsamana said.
Oscar Atadero, human rights officer of the Progressive Organization of Gays in the
The global call by the United Nations for Zero New HIV Infections is designed to ensure that most at risk populations get much improved access to treatment for all. “Instead of achieving zero deaths, suggesting that gays, bisexuals and transgender get tested en masse will achieve zero access, zero treatment and zero saved lives. It feels like gays, bisexuals and transgender being given a marching order to file into gas ovens in Europe during the time of Hitler,” Atadero said.
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