GENDER CONFUSION SEMINARS

I felt the burden to reach out to students in Baguio City who display a kind of behavioral confusion. Last February, I was able to convince the PTA President of Baguio City National High School (BCNHS), Dr. Placido Abuan to organize a seminar on Gender Confusion among the students, parents and school guidance counselors of the high school. In coordination with His Servants Ministry, we conducted similar seminars on gender confusion at BCNHS, Barangay Honeymoon, Barangay Holy Ghost, Baguio Youth Group, and Tania’s group in La Trinidad. The seminar was given to address the needs of families with gender-confused members or potentially gender-confused children and to prevent further cases of gender-confusion and homosexuality.
In BCNHS, many selected students and student leaders attended the seminar. The students were very thankful that through the seminar, they became aware that homosexual behavior begins at home and that calling their classmates names such as “bakla” or “bading” will not help. Several students showed much interest of the topic and asked many questions. Some of the students were identified to have gender behavioral problems but were still in denial and even made jokes about gender confusion problems. A special session was also held for the Student Council and school guidance counselors from the school’s various annexes. The school provided us with meals and snacks, and later, through the PTA President, also gave us a financial gift.
We organized the same seminar in Barangay Honeymoon attended by barangay council members and some families. One of the Councilman, Rolando, who resides near the house I rented, showed much concern for his son who has been exhibiting some gender-confused behavior. Rolando is trying to find out how to help his son.
In Barangay Holy Ghost, the same seminar was attended by many members of our community who are parents as well as their children. The teachers, counselors and parents who have attended the seminars told me that they want another follow-up sessions on gender-confusion so that they will be better equip them to handle students with related problems and to educate the parents. Moreover, children in the community who used to be called names now feel safer because their friends who attended the seminars will no longer subject them to name-calling anymore.