Hurt Allauigan
October 10, 2023
Recently, news broke out on the arrest of an embattled drag artist who is known for their act of portraying the image of Jesus Christ dancing to the tunes of 'Ama Namin Remix.'
Amadeus Pagante, known to us by their drag name Pura Luka Vega, found themselves in a series of tumultuous legal, and political drama highlighted by strings of persona non grata declarations in various localities in the country — including Malolos City that recently declared itself as "LGBTQIA+ friendly."
Pagante also came under intense criticism for their apparent "blasphemous" act with netizens canceling the drag queen, and hopping aboard the hate train.
Some Catholic and Christian hardliners were quick to point out their act as "offending religious belief" which can be penalized under Article 201 of the Revised Penal Code.
However, what lies beyond these series of scalding comments, and criticisms were Filipinos' inherent homophobia, jarring hypocrisy, and selectiveness— an abhorrent display of everything wrong with our beliefs, and moral standards.
We are no strangers to troves of satirists and impersonators of Jesus Christ, and to the predominantly Christian public, this in itself should be subject to the intense flak that Pura Luka Vega receives.
But alas, our broken values were to crucify them because they do not conform to the standards of straight sex. Labeling Pagante as "bakla," a disgrace to the image of Jesus Christ, and a spawn of Satan because of this.
We excuse impersonators of Christ because they were "real men," just like certain Marlon Tapalord for example. His content on Facebook involves jokes on women and sex, various ill-advised skits, and calling Christ by different names—acts that should constitute similar hate that Pura receives if we go by that logic.
Yet, here we find Pura Luka sinful while justifying the other as just "plain poking fun" on the pretext of homophobia, and outright hate.
We are so full of troubles that we find other issues to be the norm, comforted by the status quo. That was why Pura Luka Vega, and their art of drag, should exist; it is to challenge our morals, and values that refuse to adapt with time, new concepts, and ideals.
A messianic arrival for us to reflect upon ourselves, and question why we continue to excuse corruption; why we continue to venerate self-serving politicians; why we still accept killers in the name of preserving peace; why we believe in people with twisted beliefs as incarnations of the divine—all these and other societal ills we glance over because we tolerate it.
Basic human decency would tell us that no, this hatred was unfounded, selective, and unnecessary. We find ways to absolve true criminals, but when someone in the LGBTQIA+ community does something, all our bells and whistles suddenly ring rampant.
Their drag is truly an art, and arts like these do what art typically does, agitate its observers and Pura Luka Vega succeeded in doing so.
Pura Luka Vega was no Jesus Christ, but they will continue to serve as a reminder to us that we intend to crucify someone in excuse our morality, or the lack thereof.
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