"Where would we be without beauty contests?" asked Adrian Cristobal in his essay "Footnote to the Judgment of Paris." "They are the staple of festivals and charity affairs, and undoubtedly offer new opportunities and open large vistas for the many young women who participate in them, especially those who win the coveted crowns."Mr. Cristobal is right: beauty contests are "the staples of festivals" and other celebrations. But he failed to mention that it is not only young women who are joining beauty contests. Gays also join in them.
Today, the sight of beauty pageants whose contestants are gays wearing bikinis, strutting their bodies as curvaceous as the women's, showing their talents, and fielding questions from the judges during the Q&A portion, has become so commonplace that it no longer shocked us.
These contests, though, remain to be the province of the secular society. They are scoffed at especially when held in a conservative place like a Catholic school. Never or rarely do Catholic schools host such beauty contests because, as some would argue, they glorify homosexuality. And homosexuality is anathema to the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Yet the rare thing happened at HCDC. On February 13, 2010, the day the school celebrated the Student's Day, the Supreme Student Government, in cooperation with the Bread Society, included in its roster of activities the "Divas Night."
The title sounds as if it's a singing contest. But it actually is not. It's a Ms. Gay in disguise.
In including this activity, the SSG explained, it does not encourage others to be gays. Rather, it merely wanted to show that this sector exists and that gays are also part of the HCDC community.
For doing the bold thing, I commend the SSG, especially the President, the very audacious Barack Obama, este, Joel Accion.
