The story of Pride in 1969 is nothing short of similar from today’s reality. It was 54 years ago when the Stonewall Inn was raided by state forces that ignited the riot and the tradition of protest that we commemorate to this day. Decades passed and yet we battle with the same enemies, we fight against the same oppressive mechanisms, and we continue to highlight the most fundamental truth behind our Pride: that we are humans – dignified with rights, capable of loving and being loved, and united in respect, acceptance, and inclusivity.

The history of the Pride movement in the Philippines is both our cornerstone and legacy. At the time when women’s spaces were threatened, the lesbians organized and marched forward. When gay identities came at the cost of barely liveable wages, rising taxes, and other economic concerns, and the entire LGBTQI community was forced into a life of hate, discrimination, and violence, the queer community came together and brought the struggle to the streets. To this day, that story prevails.

Our enemies of equality have harnessed their political powers to push our rights aside. Under another Marcos, there is nothing to expect but criminal disregard and heinous negligence of our calls for equality. The contentious Maharlika Investment Fund was certified as urgent, all the while our queer siblings are discriminated against, ostracized, and killed.

In the floors of the Philippine Senate, Sen. Joel Villanueva continues to place his outdated views and the queer community at odds; totally eliminating the fact that religion is not the enemy of equality and that equality, is in fact, its virtue. His apparent political maneuvering of the SOGIESC Equality Bill is a grand display of erasure, persecution, and killings of people’s narratives and experiences of bigotry, indifference, and discrimination. We are only demanding for security, safety, and justice from people that terrorize our spaces and realities.

With the interests of the ruling few being prioritized over those who put them in power, gender-based violence, rampant human rights violations, and the same culture of systemic abuse haunts every crevice of Philippine society. Our united front of diversity, acceptance, and inclusivity has honed itself to a considerable potential against this loud, oppressive minority. Now more than ever, we must struggle to defend Pride and save equality from these enemies of equality and convince all Filipinos that equality, diversity, and acceptance are what we all deserve. We have reached many milestones but we are also bound to making greater history. Until we make Pride and equality our reality, until all of us are free.

We, as the undersigned student councils, LGBTQI organizations and allies for equality, denounce any and all forms of SOGIESC-based discrimination and human rights violations. We stand united in demanding for safe and democratic spaces capable of promoting and advancing protections for everyone, most especially women and the LGBTQI community.

We call for the immediate passage of the #SOGIEEqualityBill. Laws that defend and protect the lives of gender minorities from discrimination and hate have been long overdue.

To our lawmakers and champions of equality, you are accountable to your sworn duty of passing legislations representative of our needs. Heed the call of the Filipino people: make our Philippine society free from the terror of being victimized through discrimination, violence, and killings on the basis of SOGIESC. How many more of us have to die? #SOGIEEqualityNow! #JusticeForAllTransLives! #AntiHateCrimeLawNow! #StopKillingUs!

To local government offices, it is your mandate that our safety and security be protected at all costs from any and all possible threats within our immediate local communities. In the absence of a national legislation protecting us from SOGIESC-based discrimination, we urge all local government units to pass Anti-Discrimination Ordinances and other local legal mechanisms that will ensure protection from SOGIESC-based violence.

To the University of the Philippines System Administration, and the administrative bodies of all other public, private, educational, and/or corporate institutions, you have the power to dismantle existing SOGIESC-repressive policies that police our existence and deny us access to services and opportunities we need to survive. Create new policies that are gender-sensitive and gender-transformative. Together, we can help shape a society that is equal, equitable, and just for all.

To all the sectors of Philippine society, join us in our mission to defend Pride and save equality. Given our different struggles, we unite and meet at intersections. And, these intersections are testament that the fight for LGBTQI rights is a fight for ALL human rights. As we condemn SOGIESC-based discrimination and violence, we condemn ALL forms of discrimination and violence.

As we march for queer liberation this year, we march for the liberation of ALL!

Defend Pride! Save Equality! Pass the SOGIESC Equality Bill NOW!

#SOGIEEqualityNow

***

Ang naratibo ng Pride noong 1969 ay hindi malayo sa reyalidad ngayon. 54 na taon na ang nakalipas noong nilooban ang Stonewall Inn ng mga pulis na nagpasimula ng riot at tradisyon ng protesta na ginugunita natin magpahanggang ngayon. Ilang dekada na rin ang lumipas ngunit nakikibaka pa rin tayo kontra sa mga dating kalaban, nakikipagtunggali pa rin tayo laban sa parehong mga mapaniil na mekanismo, at patuloy nating idinidiin ang pinakapangunahing katotohanan sa likod ng ating Pride: na lahat tayo ay tao – ginagalang nang may karapatan, kayang magmahal at mahalin, at nagkakaisa sa pagrespeto, pagtanggap, at pagiging inklusibo.

Ang kasaysayan ng Pride sa Pilipinas ay parehong haligi at pamana. Sa panahong ipinagkakait ang mga espasyo sa kababaihan, sumulong at nakimartsa ang ating mga kapatid na lesbiyana. Noong ang pagiging bakla ay kapalit ng hindi nakabubuhay na sahod, tumataas ang buwis, at iba pang pang-ekonomikong suliranin – noong ang buong komunidad ng LGBTQI ay napuwersang mabuhay nang nakararanas ng poot, diskriminasyon, at karahasan – ang sangkabaklaan ay nagbuklod upang dalhin ang pakikibaka sa lansangan. Hanggang ngayon, ito ang kwento natin na nananaig.

Sa kasalukuyan, inaabuso ng mga kalaban ng pagkakapantay-pantay ang kanilang kapangyarihan upang isantabi ang ating mga karapatan. Sa ilalim ng isa na namang Marcos, walang maasahan kung hindi ang kriminal at karumal-dumal na kapabayaan sa ating mga panawagan para sa pagkakapantay-pantay. Ang kataka-takang Maharlika Investment Fund ay pinapatotohanang kailangan ng agarang aksyon habang ang mga kapatid natin ay nagiging biktima ng karahasan, kalupitan, at kamatayan.

Sa loob ng Pambansang Senado, si Sen. Joel Villanueva ay patuloy pa ring pinagbabangga ang konsepto ng pananampalataya at mga institusyong kakabit nito sa konsepto ng pagkakapantay-pantay; tuluyan niyang binubura ang katotohanan na ang pananampalataya ay hindi kalaban ng pagkakapantay-pantay at ang pagkakapantay-pantay ay hangarin din naman ng pananampalataya. Ang kanyang kapansin-pansin na pagmamaneobra ng SOGIESC Equality Bill ay isang malaking pagpapamalas ng kanyang pagbura, pang-aapi, at pagpatay sa mga kwento at danas ng mga tao sa mga kamay ng mga hipokrito, mapanghusga, at mapaniil. Ang hinahangad lang naman namin ay ang makamit ang aming seguridad, kaligtasan, at hustisya mula sa mga taong mapanupil.

Sa pagbibigay ng mas malaking pagpapahalaga sa interes ng iilang naghahari-harian kaysa sa pangangailangan ng mga taong dapat nilang panagutan, nananaig pa rin ang parehong kultura ng sistematikong pang-aabuso, karahasan batay sa kasarian, at pagyurak sa mga karapatang pantao sa bawat sulok ng lipunang Pilipino. Ang ating nagkakaisang kalasag ng pagkakaiba-iba, pagtanggap, at pagkasamu’t-sari ang pumanday sa natatanging potensyal laban sa umaalingawngaw at mapaniil na iilan. Ngayon at higit kailanman, kinakailangan nating ipagtatanggol ang Pride at iligtas ang pagkakapantay-pantay mula sa mga kalabang mapang-alipusta. Marami na tayong mga naipanalo ngunit patuloy pa rin ang ating pagsulat ng isang malaya at mapagpalayang kasaysayan. Hanggang ang Pride at pagkakapantay-pantay ay ganap nang reyalidad, hanggang lahat tayo ay ganap nang malaya.

Kaming mga lumagdang konseho ng mag-aaral, organisasyong LGBTQI, at kasangga ng pagkakapantay-pantay ay nagtatakwil ng lahat ng uri ng diskriminasyong batay sa kasarian at lahat ng porma ng paglabag sa mga karapatang pantao. Tumitindig kami nang sama-sama para sa paniningil ng mga ligtas at demokratikong espasyo na kayang nagtataguyod ng proteksyon para sa lahat, lalong-lalo na ng mga kababaihan at kabahagi ng komunidad ng LGBTQI.

Nananawagan kami sa agarang pagpasa ng #SOGIEEqualityBill. Ang mga batas na nangangalaga sa mga buhay ng mga gender minorities mula sa diskriminasyon at poot ay matagal na dapat naming natatamasa.

Sa mga mambabatas at mga kampeon ng pagkakapantay-pantay, maging tapat kayo sa mga sinumpaan ninyong tungkulin. Magpasa ng mga batas na kumakatawan sa mga pangangailangan namin. Pakinggan ninyo ang mga daing ng mamamayang Pilipino: gawing malaya ang lipunang PIlipino mula sa takot na magiging susunod na biktima ng diskriminasyon, karahasan, at pagpatay batay sa kasarian. Ilang buhay pa ba ang kailangan mawala? #SOGIEEqualityNow! #JusticeForAllTransLives! #AntiHateCrimeLawNow! #StopKillingUs!

Sa mga lokal na gobyerno, mandato niyo ang mapangalagaan ang aming kaligtasan at seguridad sa lahat ng pagkakataon mula sa kahit anong posibleng banta sa loob ng aming lokal na komunidad. Sa kawalan ng pambansang batas na pumoprotekta laban sa karahasan batay sa kasarian, inuusig namin ang lahat ng lokal na gobyerno na magpasa ng mga Anti-Discrimination Ordinances at iba pang lokal na mekanismong ligal na magpapanatili ng proteksyon ng lahat laban sa karahasang pangkasarian.

Para sa administrasyon ng sistema ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, at sa lahat ng kabilang sa mga pampubliko at pribadong mga pamantasan, institusyon at korporasyon, may kapangyarihan kayo para buwagin ang mga namamayaning represibong polisiyang batay sa SOGIESC na pumupulis at nagtatangi sa amin sa mga serbisyo at oportunidad na kailangan namin para mabuhay. Bumuo ng mga bagong polisiya na sensitibo at mapagpalaya sa kasarian. Katuwang ang isa’t isa, kaya nating humubog ng isang lipunang pantay, makatao, patas, at may hustisya para sa lahat.

Sa lahat ng sektor ng lipunang Pilipino, samahan niyo kami sa aming misyong ipagtanggol ang Pride at iligtas ang pagkakapantay-pantay. Kahit pa man tayo ay may iba’t ibang binabaka, nagkakaisa at nagkakatagpo tayo. At, ang mga tagpuang ito ay tanda na ang paglaban sa karapatan ng LGBTQI ay paglaban sa karapatang-pantao ng LAHAT. Sa ating pagkondena ng mga diskriminasyon at karahasan batay sa kasarian, kinokondena rin natin ang LAHAT ng uri ng diskriminasyon at karahasan.

Sa pagmartsa natin sa kalayaan ng sangkabaklaan, nagmamartsa tayo para sa kalayaan ng LAHAT.

Ipagtanggol ang Pride! Iligtas ang Pagkakapantay-pantay! Ipasa na ang SOGIESC Equality Bill!

#SOGIEEqualityNow

You may view the video message of UP President Angelo A. Jimenez for International Women’s Day 2023 here.

The UP Center for Women’s and Gender Studies expresses its vigorous and unwavering support for a national law that protects all Filipinos from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression (SOGIE). We recognize that everyone has their own SOGIE, but lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) people are discriminated against, marginalized, and oppressed for theirs in a society that privileges those who are cisgender, heterosexual, and gender-conforming. In the absence of a national law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of SOGIE, the unjust treatment towards LGBTQI people continues to severely impact their well-being and overall quality of life. The passage of the SOGIE Equality Bill is a matter of national urgency, as more than 80 million Filipinos reside in areas without anti-discrimination ordinances, with 25.8 million of them living below the poverty threshold.

As an institution that champions gender equality, we acknowledge that cisgender-heterosexual women and LGBTQI people experience similar forms of sex- and gender-based discrimination. We assert that upholding the rights of LGBTQI people must run parallel to upholding the rights of women. 

LGBTQI rights are human rights. Pass the SOGIE Equality Bill now!

I was Catholic school-educated from pre-school to high school, and the God I came to know is compassionate, just, and intolerant of oppression. 

I am as heteronormative and cisnormative as it gets. Assigned sex, female. Sexual orientation, heterosexual. Gender identity, woman. Gender expression, feminine. All in perfect congruence. Everything in place according to what society dictates as appropriate for my sex. Privileged on the basis of my sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. Free from the daily oppression experienced by those who do not fit into the socially-constructed norms on human sexuality.

Oppression. The scholars Launius and Hassel define oppression as, and I quote, “prejudice and discrimination directed toward a group and perpetuated by the ideologies and practices of multiple social institutions,” end of quote. They draw attention to how privilege and oppression are fundamentally about unequal power relations. For those of us who are fortunate enough to be in a position of privilege, is it compassionate and just to exercise our power by demanding adherence to ideologies and practices that we know are oppressive? Is not the moral imperative to dismantle all structures of oppression, to end all forms of inequality?

Human sexuality is diverse.

Launius and Hassel also pointed out that, and I quote, “the scientific and historical evidence of the malleability of gender—the wide range of sexualities across cultures; the range of expectations for masculine and feminine behavior across culture, time, and even an individual’s life span suggests that gender is not quite as ‘natural’ as we suppose,” end of quote.

A statement by the Psychological Association of the Philippines asserts that, and I quote, “Decades of scientific research have led mental health professional organizations worldwide to conclude that lesbian, gay, and bisexual orientations are normal variants of human sexuality,” end of quote.

Rigid beliefs on sex and gender place people in boxes, or entrap them in closets, and they do not represent realities on human sexuality. It is diversity that is a natural characteristic of human sexuality.

Sexuality is a development issue.

The Sexuality and Development Program of the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex in the UK, emphasizes that sexuality is a development issue. It asserts that, and I quote, “Development should be about increasing people’s well-being, particularly of those who are poor and marginalized. Social and legal norms and economic structures based on sexuality have a huge impact on people’s physical security, bodily integrity, health, education, mobility, and economic status,” end of quote. Nobel Prize Laureate Amartya Sen declared, and I quote, “Development is freedom…the freedom to do and to be, to live the life one values or has reason to value,” end of quote. Being a member of the LGBTQI sector can have deleterious effects on an individual’s welfare. Prejudice and discrimination towards LGBTQI individuals impinge on their human dignity, their freedoms, and their capacities for self-actualization. 

LGBTQI rights are human rights.

According to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, and I quote, “Deeply-embedded homophobic and transphobic attitudes, often combined with a lack of adequate legal protection against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, expose many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people of all ages and in all regions of the world to egregious violations of their human rights. They are discriminated against in the labour market, in schools and in hospitals, mistreated and disowned by their own families.“

“The legal obligations of States to safeguard the human rights of LGBT people are well established in international human rights law on the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequently agreed international human rights treaties. All people, irrespective of sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, are entitled to enjoy the protections provided for by international human rights law, including in respect of rights to life, security of person and privacy…the right to be free from discrimination and the right to freedom of expression,” end of quote.

I am as heteronormative and as cisnormative as it gets, but I denounce a world that oppresses those who are not like me. The sufferings of members of the LGBTQI community cannot simply be negated, ignored, or dismissed. Their struggles are inextricable from all other struggles for social justice.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex individuals are not going to disappear despite the non-fulfillment of their rights and the absence of adequate legal protection for them. They will merely remain persistently vulnerable to discrimination, abuse, and violence. From our position of privilege, do we choose to turn a blind eye to this?  Or do we utilize our power to create and nurture an economic, social, political, and cultural order that embraces an inclusive view of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression?

Human sexuality is diverse. Sexuality is a vital development issue. LGBTQI rights are human rights.

The University of the Philippines System Gender and Development (GAD) Committee and Offices of Anti-Sexual Harassment condemn in the strongest terms the possible release from prison of convicted rapist and murderer, ex-Calauan Mayor Antonio L. Sanchez. We are outraged that the perpetrator of crimes so heinous they were described by presiding Judge Harriet Demetriou as a “plot seemingly hatched in hell,” will benefit from the retroactive application of R.A. 10592, which increases the time allowances for good conduct among prisoners resulting in the reduction of their jail sentences.

In 1995, Pasig RTC Judge Demetriou found Sanchez and six of his men guilty in the 1993 rape-murder of Eileen Sarmenta, and the murder of Allan Gomez, both of whom were UP students. The sentence imposed was seven terms of reclusion perpetua and P11.3 million in damages for the students’ families. This decision was affirmed by the Supreme Court in 1999.

We demand proof of “good conduct” for any consideration for his release. In 2010, it came to public attention that Sanchez was caught with P1.5 million worth of shabu inside a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary in his cell at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa, and is allegedly involved in the drug trade in Muntinlupa.

We recognize the potential of R.A. 10592 to benefit political prisoners and low-income individuals who have been unjustly incarcerated due to lack of access to adequate legal representation. The crimes committed by Sanchez are so heinous that he should not qualify for any release. Seeing him walk free gravely defiles our ideals of justice.

Current Philippine conditions have shown how lives have become expendable through extrajudicial killings and how women are dehumanized by persistent attacks that legitimize misogyny and sexism. The release of Sanchez from prison will further reinforce the cheapening of human lives. 

We vehemently oppose any release for Sanchez from the New Bilibid Prison and demand that he serves his full sentence.