“No To Safe Sex,” among other bullshit.

Last Saturday here in the Philippines, an “anti-RH bill” rally was held at the historic EDSA Shrine. Ten thousand people were reported to have been in attendance. Yes, ten thousand people braved wind and rain in the hopes of convincing legislators that poor people don’t deserve reproductive rights.

During the rally, a banner hung by a bridge with some confusing text written on it. “Yes to saved sex,” it said, followed by “No to safe sex,” capped off with a hashtag, #NoToRHBill.

I guess I’m confused:

1. What is “saved sex”? I cringe at the thought, without even knowing what it is. According to my short internet research that I did incognito because I don’t want this embarrassing query in my search history, “saved sex” is the basic tired principle of “virginity = purity”. Anti-RH conservatives believe that unless two (or gasp! multiple!) people are married and are straight, they should not be having sex.

2. “No to safe sex.” Really? Really? The world has been fighting HIV for decades and this is the kind of disrespect we get from conservatives? There is no excuse to this idea other than it came from complete idiots. This particular sentiment stems from the anti-RH faction’s inherent hostility towards contraceptives. These people, without shame, are anti-condom, anti-artificial birth control, anti-choice, and anti-sex.

3. Again, without shame, the conservatives are pushing for a Twitter trend in the form of #NoToRHBill. A lot of people say that the anti-RH bill groups don’t give a fuck (woo!) about the reproductive health of the underprivileged. I think they do care. I think they care so much, and so badly that they want to take on the driver’s seat of everyone’s genitals.

To these people, it’s like, who cares if no one is required by law to explain the reproductive system to everyone who has one?

What they are not getting:

1. Not everyone is Catholic. The laws of this country should cater to and serve everyone. Keep the preaching within your communities.

2. No one in the history of the world ever said, “no to safe sex.”

3. What they are doing is embarrassing. Every country should have a law that protects reproductive rights. The bill does not solely cover the “condom needs” of the underprivileged. The very narrow taxpayer argument, “I don’t want to subsidize your condoms and pills,” doesn’t hold much water as we never really know where our taxes disappear to, so there’s that. However, the reproductive health law, this bill in particular, is quite comprehensive. Mobile services, sex education programs, and service/resource capability building are parts and parcels of the RH ambition.

Just another normal weekend in the world capital of bigots.