The Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) Equality Bill – the latest iteration of the anti-discrimination legislation – was approved for consolidation at the committee level in the House of Representatives, and will now be moving to the plenary level.
This is not the first time the bill was approved by the House Committee on Women and Gender Equality, following the 12th and 17th Congress. But it has been languishing in Congress for over 20 years now, with the first version filed in 2000.
This time, the 11 related bills will be consolidated and be presented to the plenary for the second reading.
According to Aaron Moises C. Bonete, co-executive director of Bahaghari Center for SOGIE Research, Education and Advocacy, Inc. (Bahaghari Center), giving equal rights to all, no matter their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) should not even be up for debate.
“People are people, we say. And so the ideal is for everyone to be treated equally,” Bonete said, adding that universal frameworks emphasize that everyone is entitled to fundamental respect and freedom from arbitrary harm or bias.
And yet “we know of the continuing inequality faced by LGBTQIA+ persons. We know of a same-sex couple that was forcibly separated before being served in an evacuation center. We know of transgender students who were forced to cut their hair or else be barred from their schools, or be excluded from graduation ceremonies. We know that LGBTQIA+ persons are not treated equally when relocation housing is provided to victims of disasters.”
“To stress: these are not experienced by non-LGBTQIA+ Filipinos. Which is why there is a need for the anti-discrimination law, mainly to guarantee that as far as the law is concerned, everyone is, and should be treated equally,” Bonete said.
“Kung ano ang mga karapatan at pribilehiyo na ini-enjoy ng heterosexual Filipinos, ibigay sa lahat, kabilang na ang mga hindi heterosexual. Walang lamangan. Pantay dapat lahat.“
Meanwhile, according to Akbayan Rep. Percival “Perci” Vilar Cendaña, who sponsored one of the 11 bills to be consolidated (House Bill 765), society has evolved in the past 25 years that the LGBTQIA+ community has been trying to pass this bill – e.g. over 80 local government units now have anti-discrimination ordinances (ADOs); private companies started implementing pro-LGBTQIA+ practices, from installing gender-neutral washrooms to relaxing dress codes to granting same-sex partners with benefits already enjoyed by heterosexual couples; and finance companies now allow policyholders to designate same-sex partners as beneficiaries in its insurance products, provide inclusive loans, and support LGBTQIA+ owned micro, small and medium enterprises.
Nonetheless, “despite these recent celebrations, here we are again in Congress trying to convince legislators that all human beings have SOGIESC. That all human beings are equal. That everyone has rights,” Cendaña said.
Cendaña noted that LGBTQIA+ Filipinos continue to be discriminated solely due to their SOGIESC – e.g. a transgender student was shamed after being told to remove her bra while in public; a gay employee was asked by HR to rate “on a scale of 1-10 gaano ka kabakla?”; and a lesbian couple living together for years was denied ayuda, housing, and other social protection benefits afforded to other households.
“Ito po ang puso ng SOGIESC Equality Bill: edukasyon, trabaho, kalusugan, social welfare. And yet when we go back to these halls trying to make it a national policy, we somehow turn it into a moral issue,” Cendaña said.
Cendaña stressed that the SOGIESC Equality Bill, in a gist, “prohibits discriminatory practices, stigmatization and harassment in schools, workplaces, healthcare settings, and other public and private establishments on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics.”
“This 20th Congress, let’s make anti-discrimination against the LGBTIQA+ community a national policy. Let’s normalize a society that is accepting, loving, and fair. Ipasa ang SOGIESC Equality Bill,” Cendaña ended.
