Written by: Isabel Novicio and Sabrina Basilio
Graphic Design by: Aleijn Reintegrado
Trigger warning: This article will include topics surrounding homophobia, transphobia, discrimination, sexual violence, mental health conditions and emotional trauma. Please read at your own discretion.
Accepted or Tolerated?: The Filipino LGBTQ+ Experience
It ought to be impressive that the Philippines, one of the most religious countries in the Asia-Pacific region, scored the second highest acceptance rate of homosexuality in a 2013 Pew Research Center survey called, “The Global Divide on Homosexuality.” But in a country where gender-based hate crimes are granted absolute pardon; proper LGBTQ+ media representation suffers censorship; and strong opposition towards the enactment of gender equality laws remain, the statistics don’t sound impressive at all. In fact, it begs the question: what exactly about homosexuality has the Philippines accepted?
It would seem that the majority of Filipinos have merely accepted the minority status of the LGBTQ+ community in all structural and individual levels. Until now, there is insufficient support for and access to academic bodies of work that denormalize the use of slurs, incorrect pronouns, and inaccurate blanket terms like tibo and bakla—which Filipinos still use to refer to both homosexuals and transgenders (Dela Cruz, 2015.) Quite recently, a heated Viber exchange between Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte and Negros Oriental 3rd District Representative Arnolfo "Arnie" Teves Jr. revealed the derogatory use of 'faggot' as a supposed insult from one public official to another.
In the academic setting, harassment and bullying remain rampant towards LGBTQ+ minors, who already suffer higher rates of undiagnosed and untreated depression due to discrimination and systemic exclusion from healthcare. (Steele et. al, 2017) Progressive movements designed to address school-based discrimination, like DepEd’s ‘Child Protection Policy’ in 2012, remain ineffective due to poor execution by corresponding school authorities.
A quote lifted from the article, ‘“Just Let Us Be” Discrimination Against LGBT Students in the Philippines’ articulates this inefficiency through the account of Bengie A., a Manila-based gay man struggling to continue stufying in the face of weak anti-discrimination policies in his school:
“I was depressed, I was bullied, I didn’t know my sexuality, I felt unloved, and I felt alone all the time. And I had friends, but I still felt so lonely. I was listing ways to die.”
The very institutions responsible for protecting the formation and well-being of young Filipinos like Bengie instead reinforce the prevalence of gender-based discrimination and abuse. A lot of schools, especially private sectarian ones, become complicit to the large-scale homophobia, identity incongruence, internalized self-hatred, and poor psychological well-being of LGBTQ+ minors. Teachers are not only ill-prepared or reluctant to discuss the gender spectrum in sex education classes, gendered uniforms also pose a challenge for students who identify as transgender and/or gender non-conforming. That is to say, within and outside schools, Filipino authorities normalize invalidating the gender identity that students comfortably identify with.
The Case for LGBTQ+ Harassment and Abuse
According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) 21% of young college students who identify as either gender non-conforming, non-binary or transgender have experienced the violence of being sexually assaulted. This statistic compares to the 18% of women and 4% of men who do not identify as any of these gender identities. Because of the difficulty of coming out to one’s family, closeted members of the LGBTQ+ youth sector may especially find it difficult to report or file a case of sexual violence.
The Trades Union Congress’ report entitled, ‘Sexual Harassment of LGBTQ+ People in the Workplace’ discovered that 7 out of 10, or 70%, of LGBTQ+ workers have experienced a form of sexual harassment. The report disclosed the different aspects of sexual harassment experienced by LGBTQ+ workers:
Unwelcome, lewd verbal advances (e.g suggesting that engaging in sexual intercourse with someone of the opposite sex will make you ‘straight’)
Offensive jokes surrounding one’s sexual nature (e.g “even if you’re a lesbian, as a woman, you still need a man)
Unwanted emails with attached sexual material
Displays and/or exhibitions of pornographic material
Rape
Non-consensual touching
To directly cite an anonymous lesbian woman from the ‘Sexual Harasssment of LGBTQ+ Poeple in the Workplace’ 2019 report:
“My supervisor has asked me how I have sex with my fiancé. If I use toys etc.”
Out of 195 countries worldwide, only 77 do not tolerate nor allow discrimination against one’s sexual orientation. This means that 118 countries or 60.5% of all nations in the world do not have any comprehensive laws or acts that protect members of the LGBTQ+ Community and penalize those who violate their rights. In today's day and age, we still have countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Yemen and Northern Nigeria imposing the death penalty for homosexual relations and sexual activity between consenting parties. It can even be imposed on someone for merely practicing self-expression.
The Importance of the Jennifer Laude Discourse
To date, the most relevant and popular discussion on gender equality in the Philippines can be linked to the hashtag #JusticeforJenniferLaude.
Jennifer Laude, a Filipino transwoman, was brutally murdered by Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton. On accounts of Pemberton's reasoning being, “self-defense against a homosexual man,” his actions can be considered a hate crime not only against transwomen, but all members of the LGBTQ+ community. Pemberton was found guilty and convicted of
homicide on December 1, 2015, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. However, last September 2, 2020 he was granted an issuance of an absolute pardon under the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA), cutting his served time in half from 10 years to 5.
The administration’s decision to relieve Pemberton of his charges and sentence displays a lack of respect to both Jennifer Laude’s life and the struggles of the Filipino LGBTQ+ community for equality. It also further raises the need for state policies like the SOGIE Equality Bill, which seeks to outlaw and prevent hate crimes such as Pemberton’s.
The hashtag #JusticeForJenniferLaude marks another urgent reminder for the Filipino youth to push for and support the urgently needed SOGIE Equality Bill, and to overcome the religious opposition that bars it from enactment, despite the supposed separation between church and state.
The Role of the Youth: Becoming Active Allies and Supporters
Even in the face of blatant gender-based discrimination and violence, the call for inclusivity and protection of LGBTQ+ rights resounds on social media.
The power and importance of naming cannot be underestimated, especially in the context of gender equality. Psychiatry specialist Susan Rako of Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University claimed that the psychological consequence of naming something is relief, because to name an idea is to legitimize it, to make it real--to cultivate a sense of ownership. In the same way, the respect and acknowledgement of the drag names that drag artists introduce themselves with and the correct use of the pronouns that nonbinary persons prefer can be considered participation and support for the identity reclamation of the gender queer or non-conforming. Moving towards change and creating a safe space can be through these simple yet thoughtful acts of kindness.
There is no requirement to allyship; it is not gendered. It is merely recognition that members of the LGBTQ+ community have been disenfranchised, and they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. By refusing to accept any LGBTQ+ friend or family member you may have, you are directly contributing to the surrounding stigma.
References
Cepeda, M. (2020, September 21). 'Faggot, bansot': Villafuerte, Teves resort to name-calling in House Viber group. Retrieved September 22, 2020, from https://rappler.com/newsbreak/inside-track/villafuerte-teves-resort-name-calling-house-viber-group
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workplace issues: Quick take. (2020, June 15). Catalyst. Retrieved September 23, 2020, from https://www.catalyst.org/research/lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-transgender-workplace-issues/
Map of countries that criminalise lgbt people | human dignity trust. (n.d.). Retrieved September 23, 2020, from https://www.humandignitytrust.org./lgbt-the-law/map-of-criminalisation/
Cordelia, F, et al. (2019). Why Does Workplace Gender Diversity Matter? Justice, Organizational Benefits, and Policy. 14(1). Retrieved September 21, 2020, from https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sipr.12064
Children and teens: Statistics | RAINN.. (n.d.). Retrieved September 21, 2020, from https://www.rainn.org/statistics/children-and-teens
Lgbtq survivors of sexual violence | RAINN. (n.d.). Retrieved September 23, 2020, from https://www.rainn.org/articles/lgbtq-survivors-sexual-violence
Sexual Harassment of LGBT People in the Workplace. (2019). Trades Union Congress. Retrieved September 20, 2020, from https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/LGBT_Sexual_Harassment_Report_0.pdf
“Just let us be.” (2017, June 21). Human Rights Watch. Retrieved September 21, 2020, from https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/06/21/just-let-us-be/discrimination-against-lgbt-students-philippines