Be Hue 2023: School of Pride

From the very youth of schools, equal rights for LGBTQIA+ are now arising.

Asliah Gubat ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Jose Rizal University is one of the university schools that celebrated Pride month and is deemed diverse in support of LGBTQIA+ individuals. Recently, JRU conducted an exclusive Pride event, Be Hue: JRU Pride 2023, last June 30 at the JRU Quadrangle. The event offered different activities and lectures, and entertainment. It has a morning lecture about SOGIESC awareness, a student discussion in the afternoon about the social discrimination among LGBTQ+ individuals, different performances, and an on-the-spot contest for the Rizalians to enjoy until the very last part of the event. Using the JRU Pride event as a significant example, the progress made by the community is a testament to their undying dedication to resilience, establishing safe space in schools for the queer students that may or may not have been out of their gender and sexual identity due to the uprising discrimination of the LGBTQ+ members inside campuses.

After years of fighting for the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community in the country, significant shifts in societal views have now kept a continuous mark point for fighting for their equal rights. Various campaigns and events have been navigated rapidly into changing the world, wherein it is crucial to acknowledge and understand the experiences and challenges of the LGBTQIA+ community. Meanwhile, the objectives of the celebration, Pride Month, hardly addressed its importance to different social aspects, for instance, education. For schools, participation in this kind of celebration might go against the school’s standards and regulations. But in the modern days, Pride events might make slow progress for the schools. Universities are now joining the protest and recognizing the celebration of diversity for the LGBTQIA+ community.

Students endure mistreatment in schools. Because of discriminatory regulations, it disabled them from fully participating in some school activities. Therefore, marginalizing them from the extent of experience of education. Furthermore, efforts to address discrimination against the LGBTQIA+ community in schools have met with opposition - religious teachings and strict regulations. In that fact, these resist queer students from expressing their identity in schools (dress codes for trans and non-gender-conforming students.) It can be difficult for students to treat schools as hostile environments. It may affect the personal development of students.

To ensure inclusivity for schools, administrators must work with LGBTQIA+ advocates and authorities to create a safe relationship for LGBTQIA+ youth to learn. Laws that enact safety against bullying and discrimination should be enlightened again in schools and promote respect for equal human rights.

Meanwhile, an essential step toward fostering a more inclusive society is to create a law that will uphold equality in society, especially for LGBTQIA+ members who have been marginalized. Recently, the revision of the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, or Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) bill was approved. It seeks to prohibit all forms of discrimination based on SOGIESC. Advocacy organizations, administration leaders, and allies must have legal laws to support their roles, and discriminatory laws, promote awareness, and drive societal change. Thus, the success of the SOGIESC bill will not only prove the commitment to defending the fundamental rights of the LGBTQIA+ community and its objectives but to safeguard all forms of discrimination against them.

To end up with, the impact of embracing diversity in schools as an ongoing commitment is one of the leaps for the LGBTQIA+ community to be heard and seen by promoting acceptance and equality to the youth. Through education to amplify the goals of the Pride protest, it will create a call to action for better solidarity and support for LGBTQIA+ rights, recognizing their stands that further build a stronger and more inclusive educatioal institution for future generations.