Our world are constantly changing. As time passes, number of people are increasing, the needs and
demands becomes immeasurable, a lot of alterations had happened, inside or outside the societies we
live in. Global demography entails how the society changes, developing world faces high population
growth from having a young population, thus, achieving equity and equality are not quite easy.
Equality is about treating people in such a way that the outcome for each person can be the same. It is
not always about treating everyone the same, this entails putting in place mechanisms to help everyone
attain similar results, and it applies to everyone, not just a for the selected one. There are a lot of
people, or most of us really wants to achieve equality because of the differences in terms of race,
gender, skin colour, etc and this causes problems and chaos to everyone, thus, most of us are not
satisfied by the treatment they received from the society they belong, and they immensely voicing out
their rights to be heard. Considering these events makes us feel as if we are being judged and humiliated
in our own country. As a result, various worries and issues have been raised, causing many to question
the government and its laws. Many laws concerning human rights and other issues has been passed, but
the question remains if these laws are sufficient to protect and defend our rights as human being.
The topic today that we will be tackling is one of the main or latest issue nowadays which is the LGBTQ
Community, wherein it consider and discuss the importance of equality and having a law to defend them
from discrimination. LGBTQ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer. This community
was robbed by their right for a very long time. They are unequally treated by the society, discriminate
them and doesn’t give a chance to defend themselves as to what they are. Thus, this SOGIE Bill law was
being proposed and should be implemented to eliminate the discrimination for all the people, especially
a member of this LGBTQIA Community.
Body:
This SOGIE Bill should be implemented as it provides protection from any discrimination and
mistreatment among the LGBTQIA community. According to Atty. Deslate,”The SOGIE Equality bill
stands for Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Expression Equality Bill. This bill is meant to fulfill the
rights set forth in the 1987 constitution, particularly the equal protection clause. It recognizes the
LGBTQ as equals and ensures that their rights are protected in as much as everyone’s is.” In a brief
discussion, this bill recognizes LGBTQ non-discrimination as a national and international obligation. As
Dr.Ortuoste stated, “The SOGIE bill ensures that the equal protection clause of the 1987 Constitution
covers the LGBTQIA. It penalizes with fines and/or imprisonment discriminatory behaviors such as
preventing their access to public services and establishments; treating them differently in the
workplace; denying them admission to or expelling them from an educational institution; “outing” a
person without their consent; and preventing children from expressing their SOGIE, among others.” This
law surely eradicates inequality among the different specifications of gender, that’s why I am so much in
favor with this bill not just because I have friends from this community but I understand the concept of
the law. This SOGIE Equality bill is not only for the members of the LGBTQIA community alone. SOGIE is
something we all have. For example, I am heterosexual, have a female gender identity, and express
myself in a feminine manner. What exactly does this imply? This simply means that the bill isn’t just for
the LGBTQ community’s protection but for all of the gender, whether you’re a straight or the opposite.
LGBTQIA member has the right to be involved in any political services. This issue are still on debate since
then, as there are some people who are not in favour of the candidacy of any member of LGBTQIA.
According to the AFP, there are currently no openly gay politicians active at the national level in the
Philippines. Thus, the rights are being provoked, and this may seem linked with inequality, as LGBTQIA
people are still a residence of that particular country, they have the right to exercise their freedom
especially in terms of political matters. They are not a threat. They are like those other candidates who
has a will for the betterment of the country, and what is wrong with that? What is wrong for being a gay
candidate? A lesbian? A transgender? Everyone has its capabilities in doing such things, we should not
limit other people on what they can do. Just like what happened in the last election of May 2016,
Philippines elects the first Filipino transgender woman which is Geraldine Roman who got more than
60% of the votes in her district (Domonoske, 2016). There are many issues and disrespect comments
Roman received by that time and she don’t deserve to be treated like that. Since then, inequality raise
among the genders especially for those who has a feminism manner, as they viewed it as weak and
fragile. This bill promotes the right to step, the right to be included, the equal respect they must receive.
As what Roman said, “People look beyond the gender and look at what you offer and what’s in your
heart. That is the most important thing.” Being a gay, lesbian, trans, or bisexual doesn’t mean they can’t
do the things that other can. In politics, gender identity is not the issue, it’s how a country be a better
one, what we need is a good qualification of a leader, someone who can make the country to be a good
place for its people and anyone, any gender, could be fit in for that position.
“Love wins”. The common phrase of the two persons fall in love with the same gender. Love knows no
limits. We can love anyone. The views of some people when it comes to same-sex relationship is not
quite favorable, and they don’t even agree with the idea of same-sex marriage or civil union as it
violates the law of religion, especially in the Philippines where there are 86% of Roman Catholic which
really promoting the teaching of holy gospel is more important. LGBTQIA deserves to be happy, they
deserves to experience how to have a family together with their love ones, thus, the laws should
consider to legalize the civil union of LGBTQIA. Civil unions were first legalized in 1999 in the state of
Vermont as a means to provide the same state benefits, civil rights, and protections of the law to samesex couples as married couples. Civil unions were therefore often sought after by same-sex couples who
lived in states that did not recognize same-sex marriage (Findlaw,2021). Promoting same-sex marriage in
the Philippines is quite difficult as most of the religions are Christians, which as we know, prohibited the
union of two same genders and this issue are still in debate across the nation. Civil union has the same
rights as the same-sex marriage. In addition to Findlaw statement, “Civil unions provide legal recognition
to the couples’ relationship and provide legal rights to the partners similar to those accorded to spouses
in marriages and has the benefits vary among the handful of states that allow same-sex civil unions and
may include benefits relating to title, tenure, wrongful death, loss of consortium, adoption, group health
insurance, emergency care, property ownership, and tort actions under contracts.” The only difference
of civil union and marriage is that, they are not married in the approval of church but in a written papers
or any legalize documents. This issue are now slowly getting an approval of some places of the world,
even the Pope Francis, the Leader of the Catholic church, expressed support to the same-sex civil union.
Pope Francis proposes that a welcoming church should support all families, especially those who are
hurting. Similarly, as he says, governments should do the same – including supporting gay and lesbian
couples. He stated that gay people are children of God and said, “What we have to create is a civil union
law. That way, they are legally covered.” In supporting civil unions for same sex couples, Pope Francis is
moving Catholics toward a more expansive understanding of family (Rubio,2020). We should learn to
embrace the changing society, LGBTQIA has the right to love. We all have the right to love. We should
not be reluctant to share the happiness of each of us.
Conclusion:
We all strive for equality, and it is essential for having world peace. Respect, acceptance, and love, this
three components are an important factor to eradicate discrimination, mistreatment and inequality.
This SOGIE Bill is an eye opener on what is really the status of our society, how crucial this issue, and
how it should be address as it does not only affect the member of LGBTQIA Community but all of us. The
government should look and consider the events of its state, how they should take an action about this
matter. The more important thing is that, whatever the decision of the government, we are being
protected and has the right to express the voice of freedom.
https://www.youth.ie/articles/what-isequality/#:~:text=Equality%20is%20not%20always%20about,people%20to%20achieve%20similar%20ou
tcomes.
https://www.divinalaw.com/news-and-updates/sogie-equality-bill/
https://medium.com/@drjennyortuoste/pass-the-sogie-bill-now-21855a6a3895
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/05/10/477481655/philippines-elects-firsttransgender-member-of-congress
https://www.american.edu/sis/news/20201025-5-reasons-why-the-popes-support-of-same-sex-civilunions-is-important.cfm
https://www.findlaw.com/family/marriage/same-sex-marriage-civil-unions-and-domesticpartnerships.html