LAST year, the Catholic Bishops? Conference of the Philippines called for the banning of two pop songs from Dagtang Lason, a local rap group. The two songs, ?Banana? and ?Nagmahal Ako. . .ng Bakla,? were described as going against the teachings of the Catholic Church and corrupting minds of young people.

Readers can probably imagine what the lyrics of ?Banana? involved, but ?Nagmahal Ako? wasn?t quite sexually suggestive. Instead it rapped about a group of men saying that they?re now giving up on women because they?re weary of constantly being taken for fools and ?loved? only for their money. The rappers then say they are now turning to gays instead, who would be more faithful ? while providing financial stability.

?Nagmahal? comes at a time when people are indeed wondering if there?s more same-sex sex going on these days. The question is spurred in part by findings in the 2003 Young Adult and Sexuality Study from the University of the Philippines? Population Institute, which reported that compared to its previous survey, there?s been an increase in the percentage of men who said they?ve had male-to-male sexual experiences.

So what?s really going on? Are ?straight? (heterosexual) men in the Philippines an endangered species?

My opinion is that all this is a matter of perception. In part because of gay rights groups emerging all over the world, including the Philippines, gay men and lesbians are now more ?out,? more visible.

In the past, there have always been courageous individuals, including the neighborhood bakla, who have been out in the open. But it?s only been in recent years that you have celebrities like Ricky Martin admitting they?re gay.

And because Ricky Martin doesn?t fit into the stereotype of the homosexual as an effeminate man, people start getting nervous. Women wonder about their brothers, their boyfriends, even their husbands. Men wonder about their sons, their brothers, their drinking buddies.

Amid more open attitudes, there has been a conservative backlash (pardon the pun). Conservatives talk about gay rights like it were some disease that came with modern times. But all that talk reflects a lack of awareness of history. Same-sex relationships have been going on for centuries all over the world, sometimes meeting with disapproval but more often with a live-and-let-live attitude.

We forget that the labels ?homosexuality? and ?heterosexuality? were coined fairly recently, in 19th century Europe, and used mainly as medical terms.

Think hard and you?ll realize we don?t have exact translations of those terms in the Philippines. Instead, we just have our labels ?lalake,? ?babae,? ?bakla,? ?tibo.? I feel uncomfortable translating those terms into ?male heterosexual?, ?female heterosexual?, ?male homosexual? and ?lesbian? because the labels were not intended to refer to sexual orientation in the first place. They are gender terms that describe what society expects of a person, from the way one is supposed to walk and talk, to what one should wear.

Technically then, bakla, a term that?s been used for a long time (as with bayot in Cebuano and agi in Ilonggo), did not mean ?homosexual.? The emphasis was on a man who was effeminate, even dressing up like a woman.

?Sexual orientation? and ?sexual preference? are terms too that came into use only in the last century, so if you ask your neighborhood bakla beauty parlor attendant what his ?sexual orientation? is, he might find it difficult explaining. Many bakla are repelled by the idea of having a sexual relationship with another bakla, which is described as pompyangan, literally a clashing of cymbals. A bakla-to-bakla relationship is considered ?unnatural? and, the bakla themselves joke, could cause typhoons, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Society actually ?dictates? that the bakla should have relationships with ?lalake,? men who behave as men. And if you interview the men who go into such relationships, they will vehemently deny being homosexual, pointing out that they are quite masculine, that they have a wife and children, all that while continuing to insist they also love their bakla partner. Ask them if they would ever go into a relationship with another guy and you might get punched in the face with a protest and denial, ?Pare, hindi ako bakla.?

Note that there are younger Filipinos who self-identify as gay and who have no problem having sexual relationships with other gay men. But there?s a lot of role-play involved here, sometimes almost becoming absurd as every other gay Filipino male now claims to be ?bisexual,? to project some semblance of being masculine.

?Sexual attraction? is a textbook term that can?t quite capture what happens in the real world. The young adult sexuality study from UP ?captured? more ?bi-curious? males, young men exploring lalake-bakla relationships for any number of reasons ? financial remuneration, the need to just get sex, genuine attraction, even love.

Other men and women never experience that ?bi-curious? phase. Pushed on by ?obligatory heterosexuality? imposed by society, they marry and then in mid-life, might realize that they are attracted to the same sex.

Ironically, in ?hyper-masculinized? societies like our own, machismo may actually encourage same-sex relationships, what?s sometimes been referred to as ?solidarity sex.? Male bonding can be intense in the Philippines so don?t be surprised if those nights out with the boys become a bit more involved than you think, as it did with those cowboys in that American movie, ?Brokeback Mountain.? ?