Toilet drama. Cat-calling. Even satanic plots.
This controversy has only intensified straight into the heart of the Philippine consciousness.
Which bathroom should a transvestite go into? How can we define the line between teasing and malice?
Does freedom of religion allow a religious giant to demonize its gender minority?
This controversy rose to the Philippine legislative halls when the Philippine people demanded action. On 2000, late senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago filed the SOGIE (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression) Bill or simply the Anti-Discrimination Bill (ADB).
As time went by, other senators saw the bill's stagnancy and echoed her. Still, the bill stalled.
Today, the SOGIE is the longest stalling bill in Philippine legislative history. The bill itself advocates our common desire for equal treatment for all Filipinos, no matter the age, religion, ethnic group, and gender.
Yet opponents of the bill have exaggerated the bill's intentions. On the Facebook page of Bongbong Marcos-Sara Duterte, a post claimed that the SOGIE Bill will undercut parental authority, religious freedom, silence the straight community, and destroy families among others.
The post further alleged that under the bill a pastor/priest will be lose his position if he/she refuses to perform a same-sex marriage, that LGBT public displays of affection should be welcomed, that newborns won't be assigned genders until 12 years old, etc.
But, the bill itself in its current form makes no mention of these clauses.
Instead, it merely attempts to: protect all people from discrimination, give LGBT people equal access to employment, education and social services, protect children who are deterred under parental authority to express their SOGIE, and no expulsion of students under the grounds of their SOGIE.
All these and other measures for the simple equality of treatment for all Filipinos.
Senator Sonny Angara added to the affirmative argument on July 2019: "Any form of discrimination threatens social stability and economic progress in the Philippines."
He further asserts it "disregards the right to 'equality of treatment' of our 1987 constitution. Even Duterte can be noted for his abrupt change of perspective when he said that "if that's what the people what, you can't stop them. It's the trend."
The only thing proponents would perhaps disagree with is his use of the word 'trend'.
If we realize how diverse the gender spectrum is, how diverse our individual SOGIEs are, if we realize the significance of the LGBT community in Philippine society, can we say that this is a mere trend.
Such an all-pervading phenomenon can't be called a trend anymore.
It then becomes our zeitgeist, the spirit of the times. It imprints upon the Philippines as a social truth.
And if we let justice stay stagnant any longer, dengue won't be the only epidemic the Philippines would have to deal with. We'll be dealing with an epidemic for the people, and by the people.
A/N: Okay, so old readers may be confused as to why this article came up first. Well... I jumbled them up and put new one first because this is a controversial and timely topic that I presume most of you beloved readers 💋 were waiting upon. PLEASE, if you have any topic requests or questions or reviews, leave a comment, babes! 😻 Pretty please?
YOU ARE READING
Feature Articles
Non-FictionHaving a hard time writing your feature articles? These ones will help you out! Read on to learn the format, style, tips and word choice that goes into feature writing. These articles are mostly aimed for those writing for their campus newspapers o...
