SENOLOS, RECHELLE ANN J.

BS ACCOUNTANCY 4A

Legal Cases Following Pura Luka Vega’s “Ama Namin” Drag Performance

People have different personalities and perspectives in life, one may be vocal or vulgar to

express their opinions or feelings, and one may be silently expressing and showing their opinions or

feelings towards one thing, but I strongly believe that how the way a person behave is the reflection of

how he/ she raised, grow and learn in a family and in the society he/she lives in. As we all know,

LGBTQIA+ is now widely accepted by the society but obviously there are still people whose minds are

closed and nonprogressive towards this concept or idea that gender is not defined by body parts and,

furthermore, is a social construct that varies from society to society and can change over time (Kari,

2023). Moreover, in a religious aspect, they believed that God categorized people only into two, hence,

third gender feels that they’re unwelcome at a worship place or religious organization at some point in

their lives (Drake, 2013).

The complicated relationship between religions and the LGBTQIA+ community

unintentionally brings Pura Luka Vega into fire for uploading a video on Twitter (now X) dressed up

like Jesus Christ while performing “Ama Namin” (Our Father) in a rock version. For this reason, Pura

Luka Vega itself ignites firestorm of criticism from the politicians and leaders of the Catholic

community (Antonio, 2023). Vega is understandably a drag queen and is part of the LGBTQIA+

community as he called himself a “non-binary” (Reynoso, 2023), but that doesn’t give them the right

to express or show their faith in that way just because they are LGBTQIA+ or in a third gender. There

is no required act of worshiping God, but at least worship decently and orderly. According to the Gospel

Light Christian Church, orderly worship allows us to reflect on the nature of God properly because

when disorderly worship is done, it reflects poorly on who God is. This is the time when we are lost

and our faith is demented and confused about who we are praising for and who truly God is. I believe

that we don’t need to shout nor seek the attention of others in order to have a connection with God.

What Vega did was a public disturbance and is offensive considering that his way of practicing his faith
is unnatural. It seems like they’re having fun led by himself, and it’s really disturbing seeing Vega

perform “Ama Namin” like he’s portraying God, like he is the God in that scenario. LGBTQIA+ has

been excluded from society, especially in religious institutions, because they say that in the Bible, only

girls and boys are living; only men and women are existing. By just looking at that argument, it conveys

something that is really substantive, and that is one of the main reasons why LGBTQIA+ people are

being discriminated and excluded in society. Although every individual has freedom of expression, that

freedom has its limitation, everything in this world has limitations. Let’s not forget to consider other

circumstances where not all the time we can express our opinion or we can tell what’s on our mind. I

personally suggest that people should express their thoughts, opinions, or feelings accordingly. As a

religious person, I strongly disagree with Vega’s behavior in his controversial video; he converted the

prayer, which is meant to be honored, into mockery. What he did was an act of selfishness, Vega did

not think about others when he committed that action, only himself and his feelings are important to

him at that moment. Philippians 2:2-3 tells us that “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.

Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to

the interests of the others” (Bricker, 2022). His action was really shocking to the point that what he did

caused people to be alarmed including the leaders of the religions and the politicians. Just because he’s

in the third gender doesn’t mean he will act differently, if they’re being excluded at least act like they

are belong and one of the members of the society, there is no need to emphasize the difference of their

sexual orientation by acting differently. As stated by Bataan Rep. Geraldine Roman, Vega is just giving

the LGBTQIA+ Community a bad name by using the gender card. She added that an artist does not

give one the right to freely impersonate anyone in order to address personal issues and concerns, and

dealing with problems shouldn't be done at the expense of others (CNN Philippines Staff, 2023). Vega

did not set limitations and reached his boundaries when it comes to the image of Almighty God and the

sacred Christian prayer. Notwithstanding the fact that he’s a drag queen that usually impersonates Jesus

Christ, this time he went overboard, and now SOGIE Bill cannot protect him because he allegedly

violates Article 201 of the Revised Penal Code which imposes penalties on those involved in "immoral

doctrines, obscene publications and exhibitions and indecent shows” (Garcia, 2023).
 I am not homophobic nor against the LGBTQIA+ Community, many of my friends are part of

that community and I love them being part of our world as well because they give light to our dense

and dark society. We have our own differences but let’s have that difference be our strength and power

to be viewed as sui generis, sui generis is a Latin expression that refers to anything that is peculiar to

itself; of its own kind or class (Wex Definitions Team, 2021). Don’t be different to others in a way that

you will be seen as an infamous person. Have faith in God and worship God wholeheartedly, you don’t

need to be different and peculiar to be seen by our heavenly father. Every individual even the notorious

one sees God as his child, whoever you are regardless of your gender is being heard by him, be mindful

to every action that you take because everything in this world has its bounding line.

REFERENCES:

https://www.who.int/health-topics/gender

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/06/25/how-lgbt-adults-see-society-and-how-the-

public-sees-them/

https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/article/navigating-lgbtq-identities-and-religion/

https://gospellight.sg/sermons/spiritual-gifts-orderly-worship-1corinthians-1426-40/

https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/08/24/23/pura-luka-vega-eyes-legal-steps-amid-persona-non-

grata-declarations

http://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2023/7/14/Geraldine-Roman-on-Pura-Luka-Vega-Ama-Namin-

video.html

https://youtu.bedlHVUtn_ljA?si=GKd3FEaVAuFBYV1W

https://youtu.be/OwETO1PWr3M?si=1kp85zcBVVeegAVa

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/what-does-the-bible-say-about-selfishness.html