Waving colors; SOGIE for all

Everybody wants to have their own identities that make them who they are as an individual. Being able to feel that we have control over our lives is what makes us equal. As humans, we are imperfect, and there are times that opinions and perspectives do not meet halfway especially when it comes to the standards of the society which some people construct as ‘normal’. Normal doesn’t necessarily mean straight and one-way – it can be defined by anyone who is true to themselves and is proud of who they are. However, discrimination is still prevalent amongst us because of the different beliefs each of us hold.

We belong to the generation that is more open-minded than those of the past which lead to the creation of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression Equality Bill (SOGIE), also known as the Anti-Discrimination Bill (ADB). It is intended to prevent any act of discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression and can help with the struggles of the LGBTQIA+ community, noting that they are not asking for special treatment but equal rights with everyone else.

Some will deny the existing discrimination in our generation and sees the bill as a threat to the rights of heterosexuals and to the laws of the Church; however, as reiterated by the first transgender lawyer, Roman, “the bill would not allow legal changes in gender markers, and that everyone, including heterosexuals, could use the SOGIE bill to protect their rights in addition to two other existing laws, the Safe Spaces Act and the HIV law, that already define SOGIE.”

Being straight is a sexual orientation, being male or female is a gender identity and expression, and people who recognize themselves as straight but are discriminated as otherwise, can use the bill. The cons of the bill protecting and giving special treatment to those who belong in the LGBTQ+ community is but a misunderstanding like the idea behind the Black Lives Matter Movement. Like BLM, SOGIE Bill protects and safeguards equal rights for the oppressed and discriminated, so that one’s rights will not be violated, and most of the people belonging to the LGBTQ+ community are not the only ones being focused on by this bill, although, majority of them are judged and treated as inferior compared to heterosexuals.

As Filipinos and as humans who are morally and ethically conscious, being open-minded to the protection of the oppressed is a lack we must fill in. Do research, be educated, and help others so that our country and the world will have a better environment for the next generations to come.

Our world has gone through a lot this year, let’s not throw more gasoline to the fire nor add the sorrow and pain by discriminating what one considers unlikely, the different.

Graphics by Dannalie Degamo Photo from Quest2Recovery