Anti-LGBTQIA occurrence in Iloilo City.
Assumption School-Iloilo has released a policy that defined homosexuality as an immoral act that could lead to the expulsion of students. This policy is included in the school’s “contract” (i.e. Acceptance/Conformity to Definition of Immorality and the Sanction Imposed) with parents and guardians of students who enroll for the upcoming school year.
The policy is specifically included on page 92, which states: “Immorality which refers to acts that are contrary to Catholic morals, teachings and values as defined, described and/or discussed in the Cathechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), including but not limited to… homosexuality…”
Assumption School-Iloilo adds: “Immorality is considered a grave offense sanctionable by dropping from the rolls following due process. The posting in social media of acts constituting immorality as described herein besmirches the name and reputation of Assumption Iloilo which reserves the right to take legal steps to defend its name and reputation.”
Iloilo City actually has an anti-discrimination ordinance (ADO), the Anti-Discrimination Ordinance No. 2018-090, with Sec. III.(2) “Act of Discrimination” defining as discriminatory “refusing or failing to accept any person for admission as a student in any public or private education and/or vocational institution, or by subjecting said student to terms and conditions such as suspension or expulsion in the said institution which are not imposed on applicants or students similarly circumstanced as him, or limiting the access of the student to any benefit or privilege provided by said institution, by reason of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation…”
Lambasting the Catholic institution’s discriminatory policy, LGBTQIA community leaders released a collective statement stating: “When an educational institution values its name and reputation over upholding the lives and dignity of its students, it shows that it upholds bigotry instead of justice, hate instead of compassion… The conforme is now proof of the standing policy of the institution on homosexuality. It is hypocritical to propose measures on immorality in an institution, while blatantly disallowing the existence of persons of diverse SOGIESC, and denying their right to education within the said institution. As it stands, this discrimination has been the framework which led to young people and students not only feeling unsafe in the institution, but also being stripped of their fundamental human rights.”
Following the condemnation of its anti-LGBTQIA policy, Assumption School-Iloilo released a statement using the self-contradictory “hate the sin-love the sinner” argument.
It stated that “the homosexual condition ‘must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity’ and ‘every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided’.”
However, in the same statement, it still actually defended the discriminatory policy, claiming that it is “within its rights to adopt a definition of what constitutes immorality in accordance with the teachings of the Catholic Church.”
The institution even defined “immorality”, which it said “refers to acts that are contrary to Catholic morals, teachings and values as defined, described and/or discussed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), including but not limited to fornication, pornography, prostitution, engaging in premarital sexual relations, rape, homosexuality, adultery, incest, sexual abuse, ‘free union’, ‘trial marriages’, ‘live-in arrangement’ and unions outside marriages… Immorality is considered a grave offense sanctionable by dropping from the rolls following due process.”
