RAYMOND BAGATSING was asked in the presscon of “Love is Love” how he feels that some quarters question his gender, especially now that he is playing a gay character?
"I don’t know, mahirap magsalita nang tapos, e, he say. “Matagal na namang pinagdududahan ang gender ko. All I know is I appreciate everyone. I appreciate people, human beings, I appreciate love. I’m very close to a lot of gay people, but I’m also very close to men, macho alike, intellectuals. I’m very close to a lot of people, even girls.”
He says he saw a documentary about the late Hollywood actor, James Dean about this. "At one point, sabi niya sa best friend niya, 'I have to try to be in a relationship, to go to bed with a man. How can I feel if I’m doing a role as a homosexual? How can I do it?' So parang ginawa nga niya.
"Kaya sabi ko, at one point, yung sobrang lalim ng pagpasok ko sa mga karakter, sabi ko, siguro I have to try that also. Secret na lang kung anong nangyari, but I just know na hindi ko puwedeng i-limit ang sarili ko. Kasi ang love has no gender, and that’s the message of this film.
"Ang love, galing sa puso. It cannot be categorized, it cannot be explained no matter how you intellectualize it, no matter how you find a formula na hindi tayo masaktan sa buhay, that’s part of our journey. Basta love is love. Actually, I just went through some depression because I just came from a relationship that ended after seven years. She’s a woman.”
Raymond has been married twice before. First to former actress Lara Fabregas then to U.S.-based writer Cora Pastrana, who’s 20 years older than him. Both marriages ended in separation.
