Still a Problem Time Cannot Heal

In the dawning of a new era where gender expression finally got to loosen up a bit without being limited to two options: the male and female, the only thing that the LGBTQIA+ community is waiting for is the long-awaited approval of the Sexuality Orientation and Gender

Identity and Expression

Equality (SOGIE) Bill. But despite the almost unending battle against homophobia, catcalling, sexual harassment and gender discrimination, the question that lingers on our minds is–what’s taking it so long?

It all started when the earliest version of the SOGIE Bill was filed by the late senator Miriam Defensor Santiago and the first Senate version of the draft was filed by Senator Risa Hontiveros last August 11, 2016 while its House counterpart remains pending. As the LGBTQIA+ community slowly feels being accepted into society, discrimination and is bitterly inevitable, specifically in the case of Gretchen Diez, a transgender filipina who was dragged from using the women’s restroom for choosing it as her gender identity. It is safe to say that despite the evident oppression against transgender women–also a part of the LGBTQIA+ community, the higher-ups still choose to turn a blind eye to people like Diez, since they aren’t the ones fighting against identity crisis and everyday discrimination.

Taking the approval for as long as this day undeniably loosens the confidence we have in the government, for it leaves us wondering if they really have plans to let the Filipino people be heard, or are they just dragging time with the bill in the bottom of the pile of their priorities?

Just nine years ago on October 11, a Filipina transgender died an unjust death in the hands of an American she had met earlier that evening at a nightclub. At 26 years old, Jennifer Laude was choked and had her head pushed into the toilet bowl until she drowned by a US Marine, Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton who tried to justify his actions by pleading it was self-defense. This enraged the LGBTQIA+ community and lit up something more than a raging fire inside them and drove them to protest with rainbows, screaming “Justice for Jennifer’’ as Pemberton was given the Presidential Pardon under Duterte’s administration, letting him fly out of the country as a free man.

This must be an eye-opener to the lawmakers that this bill is classes, every student will be able to save up money as a result of decreasing expenses in the form of internet and social network. Also, the teaching methods of face-to-face classes are better than with distance teaching methods.

In addition, the full faceto-face implementation that was carried out in November reveals that students are willing to attend school five days a week, just like what they did two years ago. In accordance with this, the students were required to be vaccinated and to follow all safety precautions like wearing face masks, maintaining social distancing, and regularly washing their hands in order for everyone to be safe including both students and teachers. Therefore, the return of face-to-face classes is better for students than distance learning. It will not only guarantee the return of physical socializing among students but also the return of the other benefits that distance learning did not have under several conditions, like the following of safety protocols. not enough to protect the rights of LGBTQIA+ individuals. This bill may not only serve as a threat to homophobic Filipinos, but also the light amidst the darkness of self-centered people who fight for their own concept of equity which is unknowingly leading to a superiority complex.

With more laws that aim to protect the rights of LGBTQIA+ people, may the Filipinos take time to understand that the oppressed individuals need is not some throne or crown, but only to be heard and finally seen as decent individuals.

What they need is a concrete assurance from the government where they can walk with their chin up high, go to public places where they know that their fellow Filipinos are sensible enough to not make fun of them not because of law, but also because of morals that the government implies on them.