Members of the University of the Philippines (UP) Law Faculty issued a statement of support for the LGBTQIA community.
Coming just as June, which marks the Pride celebration, ends, the statement stressed that many children are encouraged to dream for themselves, and yet “our LGBTQIA children had, and continue, to contend with norms that discourage the exploration and expression of who they were as persons.”
Unfortunately, the statement added, “the former was supported by a legal infrastructure that looked out for their best interests while the latter were inhibited by rules that discourage self-identification.”
The statement also quoted the Supreme Court of the Philippines, which – in the Falcis versus Civil Registrar General decision in 2019 – stated that “(t)hose with sexual orientations other than the heteronormative, gender identities that are transgender or fluid, or gender expressions that are not the usual manifestations of the dominant and expected cultural binaries(,) have suffered enough marginalization and discrimination within our society.”
And so for the UP College of Law, law practitioners “bear responsibilities, as agents of the law, to inform, reform, and animate our legal system with the experiences of our LGBTQIA citizens. As teachers of fairness and justice, it is our duty to make the command of our Constitution’s Bill of Rights meaningful to the LGBTQIA community. Equality in rights should mean that everyone, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity, has full access to services, free from violence, and can found families considered valid in the eyes of the law.”
