Drag queen or drug addict?

In a display of abandonment, a guy who calls himself Pura Luka Vega and is a member of the gay community, just made the unthinkable. In a recent ‘art exhibition’ that earned unprecedented public ire, he presented himself as the crucified Christ dancing irreverently to ‘Ama Namin.’

The drag queer (not queen!) described his performance as a form of art or an invocation of the right to express one’s opinion. In both counts, he missed the point.

As a general rule, art is ‘the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power’ while the freedom to express an opinion should not hurt religious sensibilities, which is a crime in our penal code.

The senators were no less angry and fuming. Sen. Joel Villanueva said it clearly and bluntly, saying: “In the eyes of God and the law, this is totally unacceptable and preposterous. This disrespect and blasphemy towards our Lord should never be tolerated or allowed. It’s not art to make a mockery of God’s Word.” Have we come to the point that laws that impugn on religious beliefs can be used for sacrilege, blasphemy, and desecration?

On the other hand, some sectors have sarcastically shown gratitude Vega for imperiling the passage of the much-delayed, fiercely gay-backed Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression (SOGIE) bills languishing in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Consequent to the guy’s bizarre behavior is the irretrievable damage to his reputation, loss of income, and his becoming an outcast among gay cliques. Rep. Geraldine B. Roman, a certified transgender in the House, has called out on Vega to refrain from using the gender card in further destroying the image of the LGBTQ+ community.

But these are not just the pointed vitriols demonized Vega has gotten. Some houses of worship, including a handful of offended Roman Catholic churches, have declared him persona non grata, an ingrate, a strong statement that he is not welcomed anytime to join liturgical rites, much like the excommunication imposed against erring Catholics.

Worse, apparently ashamed at what he did, the clubs where he was performing have almost collectively said they would eschew him from acting any piece, comedy or otherwise, in their establishments anytime soon. That along translates into hurting Vega’s pocketbook.

For now, the question that begs an answer is this: If the exhibition was rooted on religious disappointment, why did he use it for anger and abhorrence when the Being he was depicting has never preached the gospel of hate during his lifetime on earth?

And if I may add, at least etymologically, the Dipolog native’s full name carries interesting elucidations. ‘Pura’ is Hispanic for ‘pure’ (insanity?); ‘luka’ sounds like Spanish ‘loca,’ or crazy; and ‘vega’ sounds oddly similar to Cebuano ‘biga,’ meaning lustfulness.

Finally, we must be reminded that being queer is a fact of life but it cannot be used to destroy existing social order, like the reality that the world is binary, i.e., a universe of male and female. Even if medical intervention is done to alter a person’s outward appearance, that does not overturn the fact that our DNA as man and woman are as distinct as night and day.

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Kjeld Renato Lings, a Danish scholar who holds degrees in Spanish, Translation Studies, and Theology, decodes Leviticus 18:22 of the Old Testament, which is misleadingly referred to as homosexuality (coined on May 6, 1868) and effeminateness, is about incestuous sexual relations.

His translation goes: “Sexual intercourse with a close male relative should be just as abominable to you as incestuous relationships with female relatives.”