ENGLCOM (RVLC) Final Essay Cinco, Stephanie Eunice U.

19 August 2013

Tolerance in Society

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community or commonly known as the LGBT community has a struggle for acceptance in society. We, LGBTs are acceptable as long as we are decent on the whimsically stigmatized standards of the powers-that-be, (Bagas, 2013). It means that the LGBTs can only be accepted in society if they do what the society wants them to do. For many private high schools, decency means that the LGBT teachers should not display any signs of homosexuality. For many families, the LGBTs are acceptable as long as they are not our children, our sibling or our parents. The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community is discriminated in the Philippine society in terms of religion, politics and the law.

The LGBT community in the Philippines is free to do anything they want, but some of these things have hindrances because of discrimination that is present in society. These hindrances may be from the church or from the government. The church made it clear about the teachings of God. Same-sex marriage is against natural law, Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz stressed. The public also made Archbishop admit that gays cannot change, that is why the LGBT community made him apologize in public (Potts, 2013). The Catholic Church teaches that the union in marriage can only be done between a man and a woman. This is also because of the divine law. Also, transgendered people are subjected to discrimination because of the notion that their gender is a form of disability (Jonas, 2013). The church sees it as a weakness to them.

There are also instances that the LGBT community is discriminated in terms of politics. One of the examples is the Ladlad party-list, was known before as the Ang Ladlad. There mission is to protect and promote human rights and justice of LGBTs. They also want to raise awareness to the Philippines about the continues discrimination that has been happening in society (Ladlad, 2012). Ladlad party-list is one of the parties that ran during the last elections. The Ladlad had lots of struggles and problems before they were able to run for that place. One of these was the disqualification during the 2007 general election. They were again disqualified by the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) during the 2010 elections. The reason why they were disqualified was because of immorality.

Another cause of discrimination towards the LGBT community is through the law. They are discriminated through law because the government thinks that the LGBT is a threat to them, most especially in planning their perfect society. There are certain laws in the Philippines that do not protect and include the LGBT community. One of these is the civil rights law. This law includes the freedom of speech, right to free press, freedom of assembly and the right to petition. This law protects the Filipinos most especially who are in media (Working on global issues, for women, refuges and the LGBT community, 2011). That is why the LGBT community is actually fighting for equal rights. Moreover, that is why they are insisting that the Anti-Discrimination Rights Bill be passed. But again, the church said that when this bill is passed then there will be legalization of same sex marriage (Celleja, 2011).

Since 1990, the LGBT has become more organized and visible in society, both politically and socially. There are grand LGBT festivals and several LGBT organizations which focus on the awareness of the university students, women and transgendered people. Some of these

organizations include, UP Babayan that was established on 1992 in the University of the Philippines Diliman, ProGay gay organization in Metro Manila and Cant Leave in the Closet a lesbian activist group in Metro Manila. These organizations show awareness towards the discrimination in the society.

The LGBT community dreams of having full acceptance in the Philippine society. Few weeks ago, Charice admitted in national television that she is tomboy or lesbian, since then the public made different articles about how you should read the Bible. The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines or the CBCP said that I could only be an identity crisis (Martin, 2013). Discrimination is hard to fully remove in society because the people in society have different ideas about such. Nevertheless, the LGBT continues to fight against this and hope for less discrimination.

References: Calleja, N. (2011). CBCP wants anti-discriminationbill cleansed of provision on gay rights. Retrieved from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/106981/cbcp-want-anti-discrimination-billcleansed-of-provisions-on-gay-rights#ixzz2XtYELod. Martin, A. (2013). What its like to be gay in the Philippines. Retrieved from http://thoughtcatalog.com/2013/what-its-like-to-be-gay-in-the-philippines/. Potts, A. (2013). LGBT Philippines groups calls for bishop to admit guys cant change. Retrieved from http://gaystarnews.com/article/lgbt-philippines-groups-calls-for-bishopto-admit-gays-can%E2%80%99t-change220613. Ladlad Partylist. (2013). Ladlad Blogspot. Retrieved from http://ladladpartylist.blogspot.com/.

Philippines bishop: same-sex marriage is against natural law. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.gamenetwork.com/news/story/news/nation/philippines-bishop-same-sexmarriage-is-against-natural-law. Thats so gay phrase has lasting impact for LGBT youth, study finds. (2012). Retieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/28/thats-so-gay-phrase-impact-lgbtyouthn1837330.html. Wikipedia. (2013). LGBT culture in the Philippines. Retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_culture_in_the_Philippines#Filipino_LGBT_organiz ations. Working on global issues for women, refugiesand the LGBT community. (2011). Retrieved from http://articles.washington.com/2011-12-11/politics/352850311lgbt-community-humanrights-global-issues.