Remoto Control
Danton Remoto
Manila Times Front Page, June 29, 2025
Gay tempest in a teapot
Ricky Reyes and Renee Salud are longtime faces of gays in the Philippines. Ricky has set up many branches of his beauty salons all over the Philippines. Renee is a makeup artist, fashion designer and mentor of beauty queens, including Miss International 1979 Melanie Marquez.
In a recent YouTube interview, they stirred up a tempest in a teapot by their views against same-sex marriage and approval of gays having straight boyfriends and feeding them and their families till they all burst. They also disapprove of flamboyant gays in public and gay men who “flaunt” their same-sex relationships with fellow gay men or bisexuals.
In short, they repeated their age-old, even hoary, beliefs about homosexuality that was the sine qua non before the Philippine liberation movement of the 1980s too wing. As one gay man posted in Facebook, gays nowadays are no “longer just beauticians and fashion designers like them. Gays now are CEOs, doctors, lawyers and professors with PhDs.”
I also posted a snippet about their controversial interview in my Facebook account and a comment by a lesbian advocate – and it promptly drew a storm of comments from across the LGBTQ, and even the straight, universe.
A lawyer who is a lesbian advocate said: “These two gay ‘icons’ come from a different generation. A generation when being out of the closet was taboo; when media portrayed LGBTs as clowns to be smacked around for comic relief; when gays were seen as simply sugar mommies of ‘real men,’ and cannot have loving and meaningful long-term relationships with their same-sex partners.
“Let us not vilify them. They are of a different time. They are of the same mold as our grandmothers who frowned on women who chose to have careers instead of being housewives; who thought being slapped around by their husbands was acceptable; and referred to sex with their spouse the night before as ‘ginamit ako ng asawa ko kagabi’ (my husband used me last night) People are shaped by their reality; and as misogyny can be internalized by women, so can homo/transphobia be internalized by LGBTs.
“Times change. What was normal in their generation is no longer the norm now. We have started to recognize the dignity of each person, regardless of sex or gender; domestic violence is no longer seen as a private matter between spouses; we build our families as we chose; it is normal for women to have careers…
“Matagal pa ang laban para sa pantay na karapatan. Malayo pa ang pagbabagong kailangan; pero malayo na ang narating mula sa panahon ng kabataan nila Ricky Reyes at Rene Salud. We move forward, not back (It’s still a long struggle for equal rights. The changes we want are still forthcoming; but we have achieved a lot since the times when Ricky Reyes and Renee Salud were young.)”
Another, a prize-winning gay playwright, was able to dig up Reyes’ case against his employee, a hairdresser, who had the HIV virus. The hairdresser won a 2014 labor dispute against his Reyes, who was found guilty by a labor-management mediation court of “discrimination and unlawful termination,” a workers’ federation.
The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) ordered Reyes to reinstate the complainant, Renato Nocos, and pay him back wages and benefits, including salary differentials, emergency cost of living allowances, 13th month pay, separation pay and attorney’s fees amounting to P615,313.06.
The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) said the mediation court found that Reyes and business partner Tonneth Moreno transferred Nocos to a branch that was about to go bankrupt, immediately after learning that Nocos showed symptoms of HIV infection.
After the branch closed down, Nocos was never given any new assignment, ALU-TUCP said, citing the 10-page decision of labor arbiter Joanne Hernandez-Lazo.
“HIV illness is not highly contagious and it is not transmitted through touching, hugging, sneezing, coughing, eating or drinking using shared utensils or being around an infected person. Thus, the means by which they (Reyes et al.) tried to protect their other employees and customers unduly trampled upon the rights of the complainant (Nocos),” the decision said, as quoted by the labor group.
Nocos filed a case of discrimination, unlawful termination, nonpayment of lawful wages and benefits against Reyes and Moreno in the NLRC on March 3, 2014, three days after he was fired.
The employee filed a separate complaint against Reyes and Moreno for not paying his Social Security System and PhilHealth insurance premiums despite being employed in Reyes’ company since July 16, 2003.
Nocos sought the help of ALU-TUCP in June 2015, making his condition public. ALU-TUCP noted that he did this despite the risk of being stigmatized and shunned by society and his own family.
In a media statement a year earlier, Ricky Reyes Corp. maintained that discrimination had nothing to do with the decision to let Nocos go, saying that he was allowed to go on sick leave in 2013 and was paid his salary in full for six months. The company then did not specify the illness.
Nocos later presented a medical certificate stating he was fit to work again, so the head office assigned him to a salon branch on España, Manila, the company recalled. But after some time, his illness recurred and he again went on sick leave for three months, with full payment of his salary.
“His illness was on and off and, sad to say, the [España] salon was not doing good… so the management decided to close shop,’’ it added. The affected employees were told to wait as the management worked out their relocation to other branches. “But Nocos still demanded to have his salary in full, [a demand] which management declined. The company waited for him to report back [but] he never did.”
Hailing the NLRC decision, ALU national executive vice president Gerard Seno said “oppression like this happens because there are still a great majority in our society whose judgment calls are still guided by their ignorance about HIV and AIDS.”
Not just about HIV and AIDS. Reyes, and by extension, his friend Salud, prove the truism that ignorance is dangerous to one’s (mental) health, as they continue to peddle beliefs that still belong to the Dark Ages.
Danton Remoto
Manila Times Front Page, June 29, 2025
Gay tempest in a teapot
Ricky Reyes and Renee Salud are longtime faces of gays in the Philippines. Ricky has set up many branches of his beauty salons all over the Philippines. Renee is a makeup artist, fashion designer and mentor of beauty queens, including Miss International 1979 Melanie Marquez.
In a recent YouTube interview, they stirred up a tempest in a teapot by their views against same-sex marriage and approval of gays having straight boyfriends and feeding them and their families till they all burst. They also disapprove of flamboyant gays in public and gay men who “flaunt” their same-sex relationships with fellow gay men or bisexuals.
In short, they repeated their age-old, even hoary, beliefs about homosexuality that was the sine qua non before the Philippine liberation movement of the 1980s too wing. As one gay man posted in Facebook, gays nowadays are no “longer just beauticians and fashion designers like them. Gays now are CEOs, doctors, lawyers and professors with PhDs.”
I also posted a snippet about their controversial interview in my Facebook account and a comment by a lesbian advocate – and it promptly drew a storm of comments from across the LGBTQ, and even the straight, universe.
A lawyer who is a lesbian advocate said: “These two gay ‘icons’ come from a different generation. A generation when being out of the closet was taboo; when media portrayed LGBTs as clowns to be smacked around for comic relief; when gays were seen as simply sugar mommies of ‘real men,’ and cannot have loving and meaningful long-term relationships with their same-sex partners.
“Let us not vilify them. They are of a different time. They are of the same mold as our grandmothers who frowned on women who chose to have careers instead of being housewives; who thought being slapped around by their husbands was acceptable; and referred to sex with their spouse the night before as ‘ginamit ako ng asawa ko kagabi’ (my husband used me last night) People are shaped by their reality; and as misogyny can be internalized by women, so can homo/transphobia be internalized by LGBTs.
“Times change. What was normal in their generation is no longer the norm now. We have started to recognize the dignity of each person, regardless of sex or gender; domestic violence is no longer seen as a private matter between spouses; we build our families as we chose; it is normal for women to have careers…
“Matagal pa ang laban para sa pantay na karapatan. Malayo pa ang pagbabagong kailangan; pero malayo na ang narating mula sa panahon ng kabataan nila Ricky Reyes at Rene Salud. We move forward, not back (It’s still a long struggle for equal rights. The changes we want are still forthcoming; but we have achieved a lot since the times when Ricky Reyes and Renee Salud were young.)”
Another, a prize-winning gay playwright, was able to dig up Reyes’ case against his employee, a hairdresser, who had the HIV virus. The hairdresser won a 2014 labor dispute against his Reyes, who was found guilty by a labor-management mediation court of “discrimination and unlawful termination,” a workers’ federation.
The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) ordered Reyes to reinstate the complainant, Renato Nocos, and pay him back wages and benefits, including salary differentials, emergency cost of living allowances, 13th month pay, separation pay and attorney’s fees amounting to P615,313.06.
The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) said the mediation court found that Reyes and business partner Tonneth Moreno transferred Nocos to a branch that was about to go bankrupt, immediately after learning that Nocos showed symptoms of HIV infection.
After the branch closed down, Nocos was never given any new assignment, ALU-TUCP said, citing the 10-page decision of labor arbiter Joanne Hernandez-Lazo.
“HIV illness is not highly contagious and it is not transmitted through touching, hugging, sneezing, coughing, eating or drinking using shared utensils or being around an infected person. Thus, the means by which they (Reyes et al.) tried to protect their other employees and customers unduly trampled upon the rights of the complainant (Nocos),” the decision said, as quoted by the labor group.
Nocos filed a case of discrimination, unlawful termination, nonpayment of lawful wages and benefits against Reyes and Moreno in the NLRC on March 3, 2014, three days after he was fired.
The employee filed a separate complaint against Reyes and Moreno for not paying his Social Security System and PhilHealth insurance premiums despite being employed in Reyes’ company since July 16, 2003.
Nocos sought the help of ALU-TUCP in June 2015, making his condition public. ALU-TUCP noted that he did this despite the risk of being stigmatized and shunned by society and his own family.
In a media statement a year earlier, Ricky Reyes Corp. maintained that discrimination had nothing to do with the decision to let Nocos go, saying that he was allowed to go on sick leave in 2013 and was paid his salary in full for six months. The company then did not specify the illness.
Nocos later presented a medical certificate stating he was fit to work again, so the head office assigned him to a salon branch on España, Manila, the company recalled. But after some time, his illness recurred and he again went on sick leave for three months, with full payment of his salary.
“His illness was on and off and, sad to say, the [España] salon was not doing good… so the management decided to close shop,’’ it added. The affected employees were told to wait as the management worked out their relocation to other branches. “But Nocos still demanded to have his salary in full, [a demand] which management declined. The company waited for him to report back [but] he never did.”
Hailing the NLRC decision, ALU national executive vice president Gerard Seno said “oppression like this happens because there are still a great majority in our society whose judgment calls are still guided by their ignorance about HIV and AIDS.”
Not just about HIV and AIDS. Reyes, and by extension, his friend Salud, prove the truism that ignorance is dangerous to one’s (mental) health, as they continue to peddle beliefs that still belong to the Dark Ages.
Gay tempest in a teapot