Filipino gays, lesbians throw support behind Lady Gaga

An alliance of progressive Filipino gays and lesbians has expressed to pop star Lady Gaga’s war against anti-gay censorship in Malaysia. The multi-awarded singer exhorted Malaysian lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people to oppose the removal by radio stations in Malaysia and the Hong Kong-based music cable programmer Channel V of lyrics in her hit anthem that promoted LGBT pride. “We the oppressed LGBTs in the Philippines are united behind our Malaysian LGBT comrades. We demand that all media outlets in Asia play ‘Born This Way’ in its original version and stop censorship that will victimize LGBT freedoms," said Goya Candelario, spokesperson for the Progressive Organization of Gays (ProGay Philippines). Radio stations in Malaysia were playing censored versions of "Born This Way" that removed the passage “No matter gay, straight or bi, lesbian, transgendered life, I'm on the right track, baby." (Read: Around Southeast Asia, Lady Gaga song aired without pro-gay lyrics)

Channel V, meanwhile, said it deleted the lines in accordance with the laws of the Islamic government, because the lyrical content is supposedly an affront to Malaysia’s conservative Muslim values. “Because of that, we are forced to remove certain dialogue and segments to comply with local government censorship laws in order not to have our broadcast suspended in these countries," said Channel V’s marketing and communications lead Charo Espedido in a statement. “We deeply apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Channel V treats all people and races equally regardless of their sexuality and preference. It is unfortunate that some countries have strict rules that we are forced to oblige. Otherwise, we would show all our programs in their own original format," she added. - KBK, GMA News