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Posts Tagged ‘Anti-Discrimination Bill’

Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante (Vice Chair of the Committee on Human Rights) filed a bill to criminalize same-sex marriage in the Philippines.

On its face, the bill is both farcical and dangerous. I’ll explain why later, but let’s go through the bill’s salient points first:

• Over-all framework: In line with the constitutional declarations recognizing the sanctity of marriage, it seeks to criminalize the ‘highly immoral, scandalous, and detestable act’ of same-sex marriage.
• It penalizes several acts:

1. Failure to declare one’s true sex or gender for the purpose of securing a marriage license. The penalty is imprisonment from 7 to 12 years and a fine ranging from P50,000 to P100,000.
2. the issuance of marriage license to persons of the same sex or gender, which it seeks to penalize with imprisonment from 6 to 10 years and a fine from P50,000 to P100,000.
3. solemnization of marriage between persons of the same sex or gender (same penalty )
4. cohabitation between persons of the same sex or gender who live together as ‘husband and wife’. This merits the highest penalty: imprisonment from 10 to 15 years and a fine from P100,000 to P150,000.

• Offenders who are in public service shall be dismissed and barred from being employed by the  government. If the offender is legally authorized to solemnize marriage, then his license shall be revoked permanently.
• If the offender is a foreigner, he or she shall be deported immediately.
• If enacted, the bill would require the Local Civil Registrar to ascertain – thru the birth certificate – the true sex or gender of the parties applying for marriage license. Any marriage license issued or any marriage solemnized in violation of the law shall be deemed null and void.

Let’s make a distinction between the intention of the bill and the its substance. The intention is clear: it wants to prohibit commitment ceremonies for LGBT couples. These ceremonies are not legally binding, but for a bigot like Abante such an expression of love must be grating that he feels it should be criminalized. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s an article I wrote for Sunday Magazine of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Since I haven’t posted anything for the last two weeks (?), I thought I’d just share this article. Many thanks to jaefever and her mom for facilitating this opportunity.

Gay, Pregnant and Marked for Harassment
By Jonas Bagas
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines – Remember the “flower platoon”?

Back when the Reserve Officers Training Course (ROTC) was still mandatory for male college students, it symbolized discrimination against gay students. Real men marched in real platoons; gay students were with their pansy fellows in the flower platoon. Their only duty was to cheer for their manly counterparts or run errands for them.

Well, the “flower platoon” disappeared with the abolition of compulsory ROTC in 2001, but the underlying biases that created it still persist. They come in the form of unwritten rules or the ubiquitous “morality clause” in the student manual. They are meant to crack the whip on what some sectors still describe as “moral deviants”—lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBT), as well as unmarried pregnant students. Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, it has been languishing in Congress since 1999, and yes, we’re still pushing for it. It ain’t over until it has been passed into law.

The Anti-discrimination bill, filed this term as HB 956 by AKBAYAN Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, seeks to prohibit a wide-range of discriminatory policies and practices against Filipino lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBTs). Homophobic groups and politicians (Remember that idiot, Rep. Abante?) have used various tactics to block the bill, from scaring people that the bill is about same-sex marriage – which is patently untrue – to misleading people that it is not needed. What with these media-instigated raids in gay bars taking place, or gay men being victimized by hate crimes, and presumably gay sons or lesbian daughters being beaten up by their parents, i seriously wonder where they got the notion that we don’t need a law against discrimination?!?

Anyway, blame Cardinal Rosales for this entry on the Anti-Discrimination Bill. He recently said that gay men should be banned from Sagalas, a statement that clearly attacks our tradition. Even before the LGBT started organizing the annual Pride March, gay men were already parading in Sagalas, as Reyna Emperatriz or Reyna Elena, as giggling sakristans, or as closeted priests. The gay community has always been part of that tradition.

After Cardinal Rosales imposed the ban, a group of gay men thought of organizing a Sagala in Quezon City exclusively for homosexuals. We’ll be there, distributing fliers on the Anti-Discrimination Bill, on safer sex, and yes, we’ll be distributing condoms, too. There goes tradition, Cardinal Rosales.

PS. Contrary to news reports, I am not a Marian devotee. (I can almost hear ‘em shouting, “Burn, Bagas, Burn!”)
Read the rest of this entry »

Are you from the 6th District of Manila? If you are, then do the Filipino lesbian and gay community a big favor. Don’t vote for Rep. Bienvenido Abante, who’s been trying to block the Anti-Discrimination Bill, in the forthcoming 2007 polls. From October 12 to 13, 2007, during the marathon session for the 2007 budget, Rep. Abante barred the House of Representatives from tackling Anti-Discrimination Bill. (Read more in LAGABLAB’s blog).

Rep. Abante happens to be the Chairperson of the House Committee on Civil, Political and Human Rights. By blocking the Anti-Discrimination Bill and by calling homosexuality “morally reprehensible,” he committed a patent act of discrimination, thus violating the all-embracing principles of human rights. This proves that the current Chair of the House Committee on Human Rights does not know a thing about human rights, or about his mandate. Shame. He certainly does not deserve to be Chair of the House Committee on Human Rights.

Aside from calling homosexuality “morally reprehensible,” he also said that the approval of the Anti-Discrimination Bill is tantamount to extending protection to pedophiles. If I were a legislator, I’d be very careful with making such medieval assertions. If Abante really insists on attaching pedophilia to a particular profession or sexual orientation, then he should look into cases of sexual abuse against minors: most have been committed by heterosexual men against female children. The prevalence is also high within the religious institutions. If we are to follow Rep. Abante’s demented thinking, then it makes sense to keep straight men (or priests) from our children. The point, however, is this: pedophilia is an issue of power, and not of sexual orientation. Some adults abuse children because they think they can get away with it. Funny, but it is actually the Church that promotes this sense of impunity – the CBCP, for instance, just held a national conference on reconciliation and renewal for priests to address the issue of sexual harassment and pedophilia within the Church when what they should have done is turn over to authorities those who commit and perpetrate sexual abuse.

If you are not from Manila City, then help LAGABLAB spread the word about Rep. Abante’s discriminatory acts. Write him, call his office, and tell him that the lesbian and gay community does not take discrimination sitting down. If he wants to bring his proselytizing in Congress, then he should resign from his position (or from Congress) and stay in the pulpit. Democracy is not anti-God or anti-religion, but it certainly has to have secular institutions. He was elected not as Pastor but as a legislator, which requires that in matters of public interests, he must abandon his destructive sectarianism and work for the general welfare.

For me, his name is now synonymous with homophobia. Let’s kick the bigot out of Congress next year.

Here’s what you could do (from LAGABLAB’s blog):

Please send protest letters to Rep. Abante and demand from him equal recognition of the basic human rights and fundamental freedoms of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders. Express your condemnation of his discriminatory actions and of his failure, as the Chairperson of the House Committee on Human Rights and as an elected public official, to respect and recognize the Bill of Rights as enshrined in the Philippine Constitution. Here’s his address:

Office of Rep. Bienvenido Abante, Jr.
Rm. 407, South-wing,
House of Representatives,
Batasan Hills, Quezon City
Phone: 931-5001 local 7248 or 9315691 (telefax)
Email: abante_maynila@yahoo.com

Also, send letters of complaint to House Speaker Jose de Venecia for Rep. Abante’s failure to fulfill his mandate as the Human Rights Chairperson. Tell Speaker de Venecia that as the Chairperson of the House Committee on Human Rights, Rep. Abante is committing a violation of human rights by excluding lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders. Below is Speaker de Venecia’s address:

Office of House Speaker Jose de Venecia
Rm. MB-2, House of Representatives, Quezon City
Phone: 931-5001 local 7446, 9315071 to 9315073
Email: devenecia@pldtdsl.net

LAGABLAB is urging everyone to say it with flowers this time around. If you are an overseas Filipino worker or if you have a few dollars or some cash to spare, why not send flowers to the leadership of the House of Representatives and the Senate to push for the immediate passage of the Anti-Discrimination Bill? The bill seeks to penalize discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders. In the House of Representatives, the main author is AKBAYAN Rep. Etta Rosales, while in the Senate, Sen. Bong Revilla authored the bill.