Gines, Joy B. GECETH-18 - ETHICS 2BSA-1 Assignment 4 - Project for the Midterm Exam period Should transgendered people be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice? The Philippines is known to be one of the more tolerant countries in the world to the LGBTQ+ community that referred to lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, queers, intersexual, and asexual. Our country has an overwhelming number of transgender men and women. Hence, it is not uncommon to see trans women in public toilets for women and trans men in public toilets for men. The fight for equality and anti-discrimination for the LGBTQ+ community is one that has known almost two decades of legal struggle. A staff of the Quezon City Hall placed an “all gender” sign at a restroom in the agency’s compound last August 24, 2019. This was in compliance with the City Ordinance 2357-2014 or the Gender-Fair Ordinance, the city’s anti-discrimination policy based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, or SOGIE. There’s a common question, why build toilets with different categories when our toilets at home are not even categorized according to gender identity? The debate on public toilet policies becomes more heated online when establishments and organizations are reported to be designating separate all-gender restrooms. The issue is should transgendered people be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice? I interviewed some people on what would they say about this topic. Two says no for following reasons; it will invade privacy of one individual, for safety purposes, possibility of sexual harassment. One says yes because it is what makes them comfortable. Several bills prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression (SOGIE) have been filed in the House of the Representatives, including Roman’s House Bill No. 136, and the Makabayan bloc’s HB No. 258. Under Section 4 of HB 258, one of the practices considered discriminatory and illegal is the denial of a person’s access to or use of establishments, facilities, utilities, or services on the basis of SOGIE. On August 13, 2019, Filipina transgender woman Gretchen Custodio Diez was prevented from using the women’s restroom in a shopping mall in Cubao, Quezon City by an employee. Diez was later handcuffed by a security guard and brought to the police station. In line with this issue, Queenie Marcelo, one of my respondents, graduate of AB English at PUP Sta. Mesa and a CWS Teacher inside the Church of Christ (Iglesia Ni Cristo), strongly disagree in transgender people using the bathroom of their choice. She said “No. Even though they are already transgendered, they still don't have the right to do so because they are biologically not the same gender as they are right now”. “It can invade privacy of one’s individual who is not the same as them, but it depends on the situation on how the transgender people approach others” she added. There are many possible risks in letting transgender women or men entering the bathroom of opposite sex. “No, I think they still need to use the bathroom of where their original gender be for the safety of everyone and just wait until there are separate bathroom for them” said Marky Buscado, a church CWS Teacher at Batasan Hills 1, QC. There’s a chance that someone might pretend to be transgender and then enter the women’s comfort room to harass. Now, my friend Aldrian Canda, who is proud transgender woman and currently studying BSBA Marketing at Our Lady of Lourdes, shared his thought of choosing they preferred bathroom to use. “For me yes, why not! As a transgender woman I preferred to use bathroom where I feel comfortable and that is on female bathroom. To be honest, we feel uncomfortable when using men’s bathroom because we can sense their malicious stare and judgement even though there not saying anything.” he explained. He further explains, “As long as we embrace our true identity and be proud of who I am now, there’s nothing wrong with it”. “It’s not about changing the establishment or the infrastructure. It’s about changing the mindset of the people,” said Gretchen Diez, a Filipina transgender woman that was prevented from using the women’s restroom in a shopping mall. There are no proven cases of transgender women harassing females in shared comfort rooms in the Philippines, said Naomi Fontanas, president of LGBT group Ganda Filipinas. Studies show that most victims of sexual abuse personally know their aggressors, said Fontanas. "Stranger-to-stranger violence is very rare all over the world," she added. Sexual violence, she added, "can happen anywhere" and "can be addressed by existing laws." I believed that anyone has the right to become who they want to be and who are we to judge them. Everyone has their own beliefs and understanding that’s why we need also to consider why they hate transgender people. But in our issue, should transgendered people be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice? I think yes, they still human after all. We just have respect for each other. If LGBTQ+ aim for gender equality, well they need also to respect us who are not same as they if we don’t want them to just enter our bathroom. But, if there’s chance that the law allows them to create their own bathroom, well it’s not bad as we all want gender equality. Reference: Astudillo, R. (2019, September 4). A Transgender Restroom Incident and Filipino LGBT Rights Positively Filipino: Online Magazine for Filipinos in the Diaspora. Positively Filipino | Online Magazine for Filipinos in the Diaspora. http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/atransgender-restroom-incident-and-filipino-lgbt-rights. Madarang, C. R. S. (2019, August 28). Quezon City designated a gender-neutral restroom. Will it end or heat up the debate? Interaksyon. https://interaksyon.philstar.com/politicsissues/2019/08/28/154084/all-gender-restroom-quezon-city/. Punzalan, J. (2019, August 20). Bato on women sharing bathroom with transgenders: 'Will they be safe?'. ABS-CBN News. https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/20/19/bato-on-women-sharingbathroom-with-transgenders-will-they-be-safe.
