Gay, Pregnant and Marked for Harassment

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.

Rainbow Conversations

The most controversial part came from the questions raised by Prof. Gary Dowsett of Latrobe University in Melbourne. To sum up the presentations and discussions during the Rainbow Conversations, a human rights conference held from January 28-31, 2008 in conjunction with the first Asia-Pacific Outgames, Prof. Dowsett asked why words like activism and oppression were conspicuously absent in the language that we use. We resorted, instead, to words like advocacy, which implies working within the system to push for reforms, and homophobia, a psychosocial attitude, a type of fear.

And if we indeed learned anything from the Rainbow Conversations, a gathering of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ) from Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Singapore, India and the Philippines to talk about the situation of LGBTIQ individuals and communities in the region and the struggle for equality, it is this: we are not facing a mere phobia, we are facing oppression, a systematic exclusion of LGBTIQs and their persecution. And we can’t afford to be mere advocates working within the system, we have to be activists resisting the status quo and imagining a different world.

Abante means homophobia

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

Send flowers to Manila

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.