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What a pleasant surprise.
In his Gandang Gabi Vice (GGV) appearance last Sun, Jul 12, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte expressed his disapproval of bullying and discriminating against members of the LGBT community.
“When GGV host Vice Ganda asked Duterte if he was a bully when he was in school, the mayor said he wasn’t and shared how he abhors the bullying of gay people,” reports Rosette Adel on Philstar.com.
Duterte explained: “I’ve always hated oppression. When I stayed in a dormitory before, I hated it when they made fun of gay people.”
The report noted that Duterte has, indeed, made moves to champion LGBT rights. For starters, under his watch, Davao City passed the Anti-Discrimination Ordinance, which bans discrimination against members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, as well as minority groups and disabled individuals.
Moreover, Duterte defended the Ladlad party-list when they were denied registration by the Commission on Elections. “I was the first to say to them, ‘Stop this hypocrisy!’ As far as I knew, they had gay people working at their office.”
To further test Duterte, Vice Ganda also asked him about his reaction if he finds out if his son Paolo has a gay partner. Duterte quipped that he would have no problem with it. “It’s more of the human dignity than anything else. All human beings are created by God. Let’s just respect each other,” he stated.
Then, when asked for his views on same-sex marriage, Duterte answered, “Everyone deserves to be happy.”
Photo: Davao City Information Office
