Lesbians and gays on the go
May 23, 2005 | 12:00am
Last week, I reported that the Committee on Human Rights of the Philippine Congress approved unanimously House Bill 634, the Anti-Discrimination Bill against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders. Filed by Akbayan Party-List Rep. Loretta Anne Rosales, the bill seeks to give equal rights to a marginalized sector of society. The Senate versions of the bill have been filed by Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Ramon Revilla Jr., or "Bong" to you and me.
Lagablab, or the Lesbian and Gay Legislative Advocacy Network issued a statement in the wake of this victory. I am reprinting more excerpts from the statement of co-secretary general Jonas Bagas. This time, the focus is on concrete cases of discrimination that the bill seeks to penalize.
"There is the case of Tanya, who experienced abuse from her family. Like many, she had to leave her home because of the hatred that she faced from an institution that is supposed to love and accept her. The most wounding incident… was when she was forced by her mother to strip naked and lie on her back atop a table. Her mother also took off her own clothes, lay on top of her, and said: ‘Ganito kadiri ang ginagawa ng mga lesbiyana.’ (Lesbians do this gross act.)"
"Another case happened in 1994, where female employees of a non-governmental organization were fired ‘due to acts grossly damaging’ the integrity of the organization. These acts referred to the alleged homosexual relationship between the employees. What is ironic was that the organization . . . is a human-rights NGO.
"In schools, the treatment towards lesbians and gays is no different. In 2002, we documented a private school in Manila imposing an arbitrary ‘masculinity test’ to weed out homosexuals in its supposedly ‘all-boys’ learning environment. If an exceptionally bright applicant fails the masculinity test, he is accepted on the condition that he signs a pink contract, which lists a set of prohibitions that include wearing of makeup and earrings, sporting a long hairstyle, having a boyfriend, or any general manifestation of effeminacy. A violation of the contract merits outright expulsion.
"Moreover, some gay students of the Philippine Normal University complained of school administrations (allegedly) preventing them from having their gay organization recognized by the university. Others have cited incidents where professors and administrators explicitly discouraged gay students from enrolling in the teacher-training university, saying that gay men aren’t ‘decent’ enough to be teachers. Some said that they have been refused admission in some dormitories because they are homosexuals.
"The mass media is another arena of struggle to promote the visibility and positive images of lesbians and gays. As an institution that can shape public opinion, it unfortunately and largely remains a tool that promotes bigotry and homophobia both by personalities and media practitioners. In a broadcasting system defined by the requirements of ratings and ad placements, homosexuals are either trivialized or demonized. This is shown in many noontime TV shows that hire homosexuals to become targets of ridicule or in investigative TV shows that cover malicious, derogatory, and unlawful raids in areas frequented by homosexuals.
"We have documented a case where a TV reporter ‘solicited’ a raid in a movie house from the police, which led to several human-rights violations. A comment given by one of the hosts of the show, Erwin Tulfo, captured the general behavior of media towards homosexuals. ‘Okay lang ang ganoong pagtrato sa mga bakla, dahil dapat naman talaga nasa parlor lang sila.’ (It is OK to treat gays like that, because they should just confine themselves to the beauty parlors.)
"When the Anti-Discrimination Bill was first approved in principle by the Congressional Committee on Human Rights in 2001, a TV reporter approached us for an interview. But he requested us to sashay in the hall of this honorable chamber first, thus dousing in the process whatever elation we felt because of the committee approval.
"The sources of discrimination and abuse against lesbians and gays are visible. It all starts within our families, the churches that treat homosexuality as evil, from the statements and practices of public officials who deploy homophobia as a way to ridicule their enemies or to support sectarian and parochial concerns, and the wrong and biased practices in journalism and mass media. It stems from the same inequality and oppression that Filipino women experience in their everyday lives…
"In yet another period of uncertainly, we are being asked why we are pushing for a divisive social agenda. They say that the country is being hounded by an economic and political crisis and that the situation calls instead for ‘national unity’ for the sake of our democracy.
"But what is national unity if it is a unity where people like us are treated as second- or third-class citizens? What is democracy if it is based on exclusion and inequality? We in Lagablab wish to affirm our belief that democracy has to be inclusive, that with discrimination there can never be democracy… We appeal to those who oppose the bill, the Catholic Church in particular, to join us in the humanist struggle to eliminate a form of abuse that can never be rationalized or made legitimate by religious or political doctrine. We urge (everyone) to continue to challenge every attempt to rob anyone of their fundamental entitlement to human dignity."
Along with Jonas, I appeared last week in ANC Channel evening news. Host Ricky Carandang asked us if we would run for party-list elections in Congress in 2007. Speaking on behalf of our party Ang Lunduyan, I said we might. And then he asked, "What if the Anti-Discrimination Bill is not ratified again? What will you do?"
I smiled and said, "Then we will file it again." After all, turning things on their heads, with beauty parlors as our political headquarters and the gay entertainment hosts as our megaphones, how can we lose?
Comments can be sent to me at danton_ph@yahoo.com.
Lagablab, or the Lesbian and Gay Legislative Advocacy Network issued a statement in the wake of this victory. I am reprinting more excerpts from the statement of co-secretary general Jonas Bagas. This time, the focus is on concrete cases of discrimination that the bill seeks to penalize.
"There is the case of Tanya, who experienced abuse from her family. Like many, she had to leave her home because of the hatred that she faced from an institution that is supposed to love and accept her. The most wounding incident… was when she was forced by her mother to strip naked and lie on her back atop a table. Her mother also took off her own clothes, lay on top of her, and said: ‘Ganito kadiri ang ginagawa ng mga lesbiyana.’ (Lesbians do this gross act.)"
"Another case happened in 1994, where female employees of a non-governmental organization were fired ‘due to acts grossly damaging’ the integrity of the organization. These acts referred to the alleged homosexual relationship between the employees. What is ironic was that the organization . . . is a human-rights NGO.
"In schools, the treatment towards lesbians and gays is no different. In 2002, we documented a private school in Manila imposing an arbitrary ‘masculinity test’ to weed out homosexuals in its supposedly ‘all-boys’ learning environment. If an exceptionally bright applicant fails the masculinity test, he is accepted on the condition that he signs a pink contract, which lists a set of prohibitions that include wearing of makeup and earrings, sporting a long hairstyle, having a boyfriend, or any general manifestation of effeminacy. A violation of the contract merits outright expulsion.
"Moreover, some gay students of the Philippine Normal University complained of school administrations (allegedly) preventing them from having their gay organization recognized by the university. Others have cited incidents where professors and administrators explicitly discouraged gay students from enrolling in the teacher-training university, saying that gay men aren’t ‘decent’ enough to be teachers. Some said that they have been refused admission in some dormitories because they are homosexuals.
"The mass media is another arena of struggle to promote the visibility and positive images of lesbians and gays. As an institution that can shape public opinion, it unfortunately and largely remains a tool that promotes bigotry and homophobia both by personalities and media practitioners. In a broadcasting system defined by the requirements of ratings and ad placements, homosexuals are either trivialized or demonized. This is shown in many noontime TV shows that hire homosexuals to become targets of ridicule or in investigative TV shows that cover malicious, derogatory, and unlawful raids in areas frequented by homosexuals.
"We have documented a case where a TV reporter ‘solicited’ a raid in a movie house from the police, which led to several human-rights violations. A comment given by one of the hosts of the show, Erwin Tulfo, captured the general behavior of media towards homosexuals. ‘Okay lang ang ganoong pagtrato sa mga bakla, dahil dapat naman talaga nasa parlor lang sila.’ (It is OK to treat gays like that, because they should just confine themselves to the beauty parlors.)
"When the Anti-Discrimination Bill was first approved in principle by the Congressional Committee on Human Rights in 2001, a TV reporter approached us for an interview. But he requested us to sashay in the hall of this honorable chamber first, thus dousing in the process whatever elation we felt because of the committee approval.
"The sources of discrimination and abuse against lesbians and gays are visible. It all starts within our families, the churches that treat homosexuality as evil, from the statements and practices of public officials who deploy homophobia as a way to ridicule their enemies or to support sectarian and parochial concerns, and the wrong and biased practices in journalism and mass media. It stems from the same inequality and oppression that Filipino women experience in their everyday lives…
"In yet another period of uncertainly, we are being asked why we are pushing for a divisive social agenda. They say that the country is being hounded by an economic and political crisis and that the situation calls instead for ‘national unity’ for the sake of our democracy.
"But what is national unity if it is a unity where people like us are treated as second- or third-class citizens? What is democracy if it is based on exclusion and inequality? We in Lagablab wish to affirm our belief that democracy has to be inclusive, that with discrimination there can never be democracy… We appeal to those who oppose the bill, the Catholic Church in particular, to join us in the humanist struggle to eliminate a form of abuse that can never be rationalized or made legitimate by religious or political doctrine. We urge (everyone) to continue to challenge every attempt to rob anyone of their fundamental entitlement to human dignity."
Along with Jonas, I appeared last week in ANC Channel evening news. Host Ricky Carandang asked us if we would run for party-list elections in Congress in 2007. Speaking on behalf of our party Ang Lunduyan, I said we might. And then he asked, "What if the Anti-Discrimination Bill is not ratified again? What will you do?"
I smiled and said, "Then we will file it again." After all, turning things on their heads, with beauty parlors as our political headquarters and the gay entertainment hosts as our megaphones, how can we lose?
BrandSpace Articles
<
>
