Gib Gabiana woke as much as the sound of notifications popping up on her display.
She opened her cellphone which was flooded with feedback mentioning her in a sure Facebook put up. A highschool scholar of their group had been saved from taking an examination as a result of she refused to chop her hair.
It occurred in an inclusive college, the place all college students, together with members of the lesbian, homosexual, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, or one other numerous gender id (LGBTQ+) group, have been allowed gender expression with the town’s anti-discrimination ordinance (ADO) in place.
A member of their barangay’s “pride council” dedicated to the gender minority for five years, Gib is not new to these kinds of stories. Still, she said she found it disheartening to hear such tales everytime.
She reached out to the victim and learned that her social media post was just the tip of the iceberg.
The victim, Patricia (not her real name), had earned her teacher’s ire after she missed submitting an assignment. She said she was shamed and even received a sexual slur from her advisor during the outburst.
She was also told she couldn’t take her exam because she refused to follow the standard hair length for cisgender heterosexual men.
Patricia, who was born a male, told her parents about the incident, but they advised her to comply with the teacher’s demand. Confused and frustrated, she later wrote a social media post calling out her teacher, which eventually caught Gib’s attention.
The barangay pride council member helped the victim file a complaint with the school administration, and this led to a meeting with the guidance counselor.
The teacher apologized to Patricia, and the case ended with the student being moved to another section. Her adviser is still under investigation by the Department of Education.
The school administration allowed the victim to take her examination and let her keep her hair the way she wanted it.
Patricia’s case is not an isolated incident.
With no national anti-discrimination law in place, Gib said members of the LGBTQ+ community remain vulnerable to discrimination and harassment over their gender identity.
Anti-discrimination ordinance
According to a policy map of the Lagablab LGBT Network, out of the 81 provinces in the Philippines, only 10 have local anti-discrimination ordinances.
Of these, a total of 73 ordinances are being enforced nationwide covering 69 LGUs from the barangay to the provincial level.
Launched in 1999, Lagablab is a broad, non-profit, non-partisan network of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) organizations and individuals working towards a society free from all forms of discrimination, particularly those based on gender and sexual orientation.
The 69 LGUs cover 36 million Filipinos out of the 108 million population.
This leaves 66.6% or more than 72 million at risk of discrimination based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) and with very limited legal remedies available.
Quezon City was the first LGU to pass an ADO addressing discrimination in workplaces in 2003. This was later amended to the “Gender Fair Ordinance” in 2014.
In the National Capital Region, among the cities implementing their version of the ordinance are Manila, Marikina, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Pasay, Pasig, San Juan, Taguig, and Valenzuela. Other areas in the country with local ADO include Ilocos, La Union, Albay, Iloilo, Bacolod, Davao, and Zamboanga City, among others.
However, the study found that the enactment of ADOs in specific areas had resulted in diverse ordinances, with some being “particular” and protecting people of diverse SOGIESC, particularly LGBTQI individuals, while others are “complete” and protect people from discrimination based on SOGIE, among other characteristics.
In addition to the differences in the type of ADOs enacted, the study said the ordinances also lacked “uniformity and typically adequacy within the authorized provisions that search to offer authorized treatments to individuals of numerous SOGIESC”.
“Hence, the necessity for a nationwide laws stays. A nationwide anti-discrimination regulation is essential within the institutionalization of equal alternatives and safety from SOGIESC-based discrimination,” it added.
23 years in Congress
Senator Risa Hontiveros, the sponsor of Senate Bill No. 1600, or the SOGIESC Equality Bill, said the passage of the ADOs highlighted that discrimination based on one’s SOGIESC remained a “very true drawback” in the country.
She said the ordinances were essential in enforcing the principles outlined in the 1987 Constitution at the local level, as well as aligning with international human rights standards and obligations.
“That can also be what the SOGIE Equality Bill wishes—for all of us to be protected in opposition to any stage of discrimination, which is considered one of our most simple rights as people,” Hontiveros told GMA News Online.
“Every day, so many individuals are abused and discriminated based mostly on their SOGIE. But nobody takes the brunt greater than the LGBTQIA+ group. And every day we delay, many endure. Some even lose their lives. The value is just too excessive,” she added.
The SOGIESC Equality Bill prohibits discriminatory practices based on SOGIESC, such as:
- refusing admission to or expelling a person from any educational or training institution;
- imposing disciplinary sanctions harsher than customary that infringe on the rights of students;
- and refusing or revoking the accreditation of organizations, groups, political parties, or institutions.
The first version of the proposed measure was filed by the late Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and former Akbayan party-list Representative Etta Rosales in 2000.
There have been subsequent attempts for its passage in every Congress since then.
Heterosexual rights
Manila 6th District Representative Bienvenido Abante Jr. in November last year filed a measure that sought to provide for the “safety” of “heterosexual rights”.
“These [SOGIE] bills not only recognize but worse, promote and give reward to ‘genders’ not created by God. Any gender, gender identity or gender expression outside of God’s creation is man’s choice and creation,” Abante had explained.
“If, therefore, we seek to ‘grant’ and/ or ‘protect’ rights to homosexuals, bisexuals, transgenders and queers, in the spirit of justice, equity, and fair play, we must also ‘grant’ and/ or ‘protect’ rights to heterosexuals who are the actual and direct creations of God,” he added.
GMA News Online sought Abante’s views on ADOs and would publish them as soon as they become available.
In May, the House Women and Gender Equality panel approved the proposed SOGIESC bill but its counterpart measure in the Senate was remanded to the committee on rules due to opposition from several religious groups and various sectors.
Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva had said there was no urgency in passing the measure.
“The LGBTQIA+ group has by no means wavered of their struggle, for over 23 years now and counting. The group and the allies who’ve been campaigning for the SOGIE Equality Bill have at all times been ready and prepared for each pushback, for each heartbreak, however we additionally acknowledge that good issues take time,” Hontiveros said.
“Experience has taught us that we solely need to soldier on, energy by, regroup sometimes to revisit methods, and at all times remind ourselves that daily is an opportunity to struggle once more,” she added.
Villanueva said at least seven senators argued that an anti-discrimination bill should cover all sectors.
“Hindi kailangan na isang sektor lang when you talk about anti-discrimination. Nadidiscriminate din yung iba,” Villanueva said.
(It doesn’t need to be about just one sector when you talk about anti-discrimination. Others also suffer discrimination.)
DILG backs ADOs implementation
In support of ADOs, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) highlighted that the Local Government Code of 1991 empowers LGUs to enact resolutions and ordinances that promote the general welfare of constituents.
This includes programs and policies for gender and development (GAD) advancement.
“We imagine that ADOs are crucial to make sure inclusivity and rights-based improvement. We assist the coverage that each citizen is efficacious and has a spot in our society,” Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos said.
He expressed the DILG’s commitment to promoting inclusive and human rights-based governance at the local government level, including the allocation of funds for GAD-sensitive programs and projects.
Abalos also mentioned coordinating with local government leagues, such as the Leagues of Provinces, Cities, and Municipalities, to discuss the passage of ADOs as part of the DILG’s “name to motion” for LGUs.
As for the cases of harassment and discrimination, the DILG chief said law enforcers should protect the gender minority and encouraged the LGBTQ+ community to utilize the civil society accreditation and participation mechanisms in LGUs to take part in local development planning and policymaking in their localities.
“Mayroon ding iba’t ibang konsehong lokal gaya ng Peace and Order Council kung saan maaaring idulog ng komunidad ang kanilang mga isyung kinakaharap, at makipagtulungan upang gawing mas inclusive ang peace, order, and public security plans ng kanilang lokalidad,” he added.
(There are also different local councils such as the Peace and Order Council where the community can bring up the issues they are facing and collaborate to make their locality’s peace, order, and public safety plans more inclusive.)
Fight for rights continues
Driven by their goal to push gender-based discrimination and harassment cases in their locality to zero, Gib said their council had been actively spreading information on SOGIESC by holding free orientation to various sectors in their barangay.
They also offer support to members of the LGBTQ+ community who suffer from such incidents.
But while reducing cases of gender-based violence is important, seeing queer people being empowered by knowing their rights is also what keeps them going.
“Someone requested me bakit daw namin ginagawa to eh hindi naman kami bayad lalo na yung pagbibigay ng free orientation. Wala kaming bayad. Anytime pwede namin siyang balewalain na lang. But we now have a purpose,” Gib said.
(Someone asked me why we continue our programs if we are not being paid. We do not receive anything from this so we can just overlook it. However, we have a goal.)
“Ayaw namin na maranasan pa ng susunod na era ‘yung naranasan namin. That’s why we’re working so laborious na ma-educate ang lahat patungkol sa SOGIE,” she added.
(We don’t need the long run generations to expertise what we skilled. That’s why we’re working so laborious to teach everybody concerning the SOGIE.)—LDF/NB, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
