Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte claimed this week he “cured” himself of being gay.
During a speech in Tokyo on Thursday, Duterte claimed Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a frequent critic of his, was gay based on the way he moves.
“Trillanes and I are similar, but I cured myself,” Duterte said, according to the Rappler, a Filipino news publication.
Duterte said that he “became a man again” when he began a relationship with his former wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman.
“Duterte is gay. So I am gay, I don’t care if I’m gay or not,” he later said.
The president’s positions on homosexuality have been inconsistent. Before he was elected president, he expressed support for legalizing same-sex marriage and said the Bible should have recognized homosexuality. Once elected, he backed away from legalizing same-sex marriage.
In 2016, Duterte called Philip Goldberg, the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, “gay” and a “son of a whore.”
