Filipino Comfort Gay
Birth Name: Walter Dempster Jr.
Birth Date: May 20, 1924, in Pasay, Rizal
Death: June 24, 2005
During the Japanese conquest of the Philippines in World War II, Walter Dempster Jr. (May 20, 1924 – June 24, 2005), better known by his nickname Walterina Markova, was a gay Filipino who was compelled to work as a "comfort gay" (sex slave) for Imperial Japanese Army soldiers.
As a young child growing up in Manila in the 1930s, Markova's life was already influenced by cruelty. He was frequently harassed and mistreated as a child by his older brother, Robert. When Robert passed away, he experienced independence for the first time.
According to Markova, he was first unconcerned by the Japanese soldiers' presence in the nation in the early 1940s. Actually, the soldiers only chuckled when they witnessed his gang rifling through a Harrison food shop.
However, Japanese forces searching for Americans nearly arrested him during a raid. When the military arrived, he was accompanied by his American stepfather, and they brought him to a garrison at the University of Sto. Tomas.
Markova claimed that the Japanese soldiers eventually turned vicious. He remarked, "In the land they do not own, they were like kings." Rice, vegetables, and other goods were seized by the soldiers to be kept in their barracks. By then, he recalled, forced labor was also enforced.
Markova joined a gang of six drag queens, or crossdressing performers, after leaving home. Japanese forces detained him when he was a member of this group and brought him to what is now the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
For several years, he and his friends—along with other "comfort gays"—were forced to work and were sexually exploited by Japanese soldiers, who utilized the "comfort women" for their own purposes.
During World War II, when homosexuality was seen as a societal taboo and a cardinal sin, the Japanese army compelled him to work as a sex slave.
At Japanese sentry stations, violence was a common occurrence. Markova said how they were told to exit the car in order to give them a salute. They would be beaten severely if they did not perform the proper salute, which is to bow the head to hip level with the hands-on top of the thighs. He held his cheeks and remarked, "Pag hindi maganda ang saludo mo sasampalin ka…bibigyan ka ng mag-asawang sampal" (If the salute was not performed correctly, the soldiers would slap you on both sides of your face).
After learning from an informant that a gay man had killed a Japanese in retaliation for the loss of his parents, Japanese soldiers were once hunting out gays. At the San Beda College gate, a gay acquaintance was detained, shackled, and subjected to beatings and cigarette burns by passing Japanese soldiers. Only when another gay suspect—who was thought to be the Japanese murderer—was apprehended was he released.
The culprit was then taken to Fort Santiago, according to Markova, where burning wood was placed beneath his feet and his arms were hung. It appears that during torture, all of his toenails were ripped out.
Between 80,000 and 200,000 women were reportedly coerced into serving Japanese troops at "comfort stations" across the Pacific during World War II, according to historical records.
Even when men were around, Filipino women were not safe in those days. In reality, women were raped anywhere, at any time, and even in front of their male friends, according to Markova. "They would compel women to accompany them and sexually assault them anywhere," Markova said, describing the ways in which they would violate their rights.
Markova and his gay pals were not exempt from such "service" at the age of 18, which is considered to be the age of adolescence for women.
When Markova's barkada (friends) were brought to the Japanese officials' suites at the Manila Hotel, Japanese soldiers initially thought they were ladies. In addition to being beaten with weapons for their "deception," all drag queens were ordered to be detained. After being taken to a place that is now known as the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, the gays were raped far more frequently than comfort ladies and turned into comfort drag queens.
"Buti sana eh hindi kung isang beses lang ginawa sa amin 'yon." Lahat ng klaseng kababuyan ginawa sa amin. "Mga bakla ito, hindi ito mga tunay na babae." He recalled, "Di ka naman makapagsabi ng 'huwag,' e bayoneta ang kaharap mo" (They did it not once, but multiple times; they were even enraged that we were gay and not women; they did all kinds of nasty things to us and we were unable to defend ourselves because their bayonets were pointed at us).
The barkada or friends would be transported to other Japanese camps for years in order to provide the soldiers with their "service." They simply had a set of clothes back then, Markova disclosed. He said that while they were washing their garments, they would just wear rice sacks.
Additionally, the barkada were forced to perform labor. They would wash the soldiers' uniforms and shine their battle shoes every morning before cleaning their barracks. The lawn in front of Manila City Hall also needed to be mowed.
He claimed that despite all of their "service" and other labor, they were frequently just given lugaw (rice porridge) to eat. Giving them sisid rice—sea rice that had to be fried due to its unpleasant odor—along with mongo beans and ginataang ubod ng saging, or banana stalk cooked with coconut milk, was already a feast for them.
Markova witnessed the army raiding communities nearly every day while they were in Japanese prison. Those who were arrested would be slain after having their hands tied. "D'yan sa may Remedios Church, ang daming paring Amerikanong pinatay d'yan" (Many American priests were slaughtered at the Remedios Church in Baclaran), he said.
Markova, however, was appalled by the infant deaths. "Cheers to the sanggol!"Ihahagis nila nang pataas bago sasaluhin ng bayoneta," Markova muttered, shaking his head in fear. (Babies were hurled up in mid-air and their bodies punctured by bayonets as they came down.)
These terrible events caused Markova to live each day as though it were his last. Nevertheless, his desire to regain his freedom had not been forgotten.
About a year before American troops returned, he had an opportunity to run for freedom. He was traveling to another Japanese garrison in a military truck with a few friends. The Japanese soldiers had to disembark to inspect the truck due to a mechanical issue. It was then that Markova and his companions fled. The Japanese soldiers pursued them through a grassy field that is known today as the EDSA highway, but it was too late for them.
Markova witnessed a captured Japanese soldier bound to the rear of a jeep one day during the "liberation." He claimed to have struck the soldier with an umbrella in retaliation. Then he removed a safety pin and poked the inmate several times.
When the soldier's American prisoners attempted to step in, he warned them, "You don't know what the Japanese did to us...they tortured us."
To exact revenge for what they had done to us, I slapped the Japanese and then struck his arms, head, and face. “But nahampas ko na ‘yung Hapon…kung saan ko hampasin, sa likod, sa braso, sa ulo, sa mukha, para makaganti ako sa galit ko sa ginawa sa amin.”
Markova was eventually left alone to tell this story after learning that his two other gay friends had been killed in a raid shortly before the Japanese occupation ended.
He retired from crossdressing years after the war ended and worked as a makeup artist for the motion picture industry. He also discovered that some macho actors in the movie business were in relationships with gay lovers.
He would spend the night in the Home for the Golden Gays in Pasay City, where other elderly gay people who had experienced persecution from society also sought safety.
Additionally, he started training young Filipinas part-time to work as exotic dancers in Japan.
Markova never believed that his story, which was already widely known in print and on television, would be worthy of a movie. Dolphy, the comedy king of the film industry, depicts his life in much more detail.
His final years were spent in Pasay City at the Home for the Golden Gays. When he was unintentionally struck by a racing bike on June 24, 2005, he passed away at the age of 81.
He was cited as saying: "Tayo namang tao ay hindi talaga magtatagal. Kaya ako lumabas ay para magbigay inspirasyon lalo na mga baklang hanggang ngayon ay inaalipusta pa rin. Because of this, naniniwala ako na hindi lang ang sarili ko ang napalaya ko mula sa ganitong pagtingin." (As humans, we won't live long. By sharing my own story, I hope to inspire other gays who are still oppressed today, and by doing so, I may have likely granted freedom to many other gay people.)
Gil Portes directed the 2000 movie Markova: Comfort Gay, which was based on his narrative. It was screened at the San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival as well as the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival in 2002.
Source Article:
WP, excerpts from AUBREY SC MAKILAN's interview of Walter Dempster Jr for Bulatlat.com
Photo Source:
The Probe Team
