Philippines President claims he used to be gay before he “cured” himself
Image: Rodrigo Duterte. Photo: Twitter via @AJEnglish
President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has said he used to be gay before he “cured” himself during a speech to the Filipino community in Tokyo last week.
After accusing his political opponent Senator Antonio Trillanes IV of being gay, the President said he could sense he himself was also “a bit gay” while married to his ex-wife, according to a report by CNN.
Duterte then went on to say he was “cured” after meeting his current partner.
“I became a man again, so beautiful women cured me,” he said.
“I hated handsome men afterwards. I now prefer beautiful women.”
Duterte has a reported history of making contradictory comments about the LGBTI community.
In 2017, he said he was against marriage equality, and that recognising marriages other than those between a man and a woman wouldn’t be acceptable in the Philippines. However, later that year, he said the rights of the LGBTI community would be protected during his presidency.
In 2016, a coalition of Australian organisations came together to condemn the ongoing violence against suspected drug users and dealers in the Philippines.
Under direct instruction from Duterte, more than 3,700 people who were suspected of using and/or selling drugs were murdered in the Philippines in five short months.
Duterte had repeatedly encouraged the police and the general public to kill people suspected of being drug users or of dealing drugs with the murders drawing condemnation from the international community.
The Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO), Scarlet Alliance, National Association of People with HIV Australia (NAPWHA) and Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League (AVIL) came together to call for an end to the violence.
Is this guy on ice or meth seriously?