By Sandy Miguel
More pressure should fall on the Senate to expedite the passage of the SOGIE (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity or Expression) Equality Bill, but even sans this (or perhaps exactly because this is not getting traction), new LGBTQIA-centered organizations are coming to the forefront to clamor for more visibility and acceptance for the community.
One of these new organizations, The Rainbow Collective (TRC), launched a daily journal called I Want the World to Know, which aims to educate LGBTQIA persons and the general public about issues facing the community, and what they can do to promote acceptance.
“There’s (still) this mindset that you’re a lesser person just because you are LGBT,” TRC founder Lady Allyson Dulnuan said. “It may be a long road to acceptance, but it is possible by properly educating people and correcting their misconceptions and biases about the community.”
Acceptance, obviously, continues to be an elusive concept in society for LGBTQIA individuals.
The Philippines was hailed as one the most “tolerant” in Asia-Pacific region towards the LGBTQIA community based on a 2013 Pew Research Center report that found over 70% of Filipinos believe that homosexuality “should be accepted by society,” the Huffington Post reported in 2015.
But this preceded by the brutal murder of transwoman Jennifer Laude in her Olongapo hometown by a US marine. Just as sadly, two more deaths believed to also be LGBTQIA-related hate crimes followed just weeks after Laude was killed.
These hate crimes bring attention to the reality that LGBTQIA discrimination is still an epidemic in the country.
Elsewhere in the Philippines, discrimination happens to LGBTQIA individuals on a day-to-day basis; from extreme bullying to hearing “light-hearted,” passive-aggressive jokes, LGBTQ persons experience some form of prejudice daily at their place of work, in public or even at home. Lesbians, for instance, can most likely cite an incidence when they were teased to get themselves a man to “correct” their gender identity. Many, if not all, of these incidences of gender biases go unreported.
Incidences also occur because of the lack of anti-discriminatory policies in various jurisdictions. In 2018, for instance, comedian Jervi Li, also known as Kaladkaren Davila, was barred from entering H&J Sports Bar in Makati. The club bouncer said they don’t let gay people in, and that it was a policy created by the management. The interaction was recorded in a video, which Li posted on her Facebook page.
TRC’s planner, I Want the World to Know, contains resources on sexual and gender differences, LGBTQIA adoption and family life, as well as facts on homophobia and how they would benefit from having the SOGIE Equality Bill passed. It also arms individuals with information on how to identify LGBT issues and how they can effectively cope up in the society. The planner similarly has works and art from a handful of artists and writers who support the LGBTQIA community.
But work doesn’t stop – not for TRC, nor should it for everyone.
TRC is now in front of the planning board for its next project, Project Halipan, which zeroes in on domestic abuse and rehabilitating abusers in an LGBTQIA relationships.
The Rainbow Collective’s LGBT Planner 2019 is still available at https://bit.ly/TRC2019LGBTPlanner for P699.00. Message TRC’s Facebook page to order. Proceeds from the planner’s sales will go to Project Halipan.
