Fridae

Ladlad Partylist, the only political organisation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender Filipinos, has hit out at the Catholic Church's attempts to exclude them from being covered by a bill that penalises discrimination.

Above: Ladlad’s chairperson Bemz Benedito (left) with Senior Party Adviser Boy Abunda.

Last week, the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) raised alarm over an anti-discrimination bill saying that the bill could lead to the legalisation of same-sex marriages.

The party dismissed as paranoia CBCP's concern that protecting LGBTs against discrimination will lead to the legalisation of same-sex marriages.

“Nothing in the bill refers to same-sex marriage, it merely asks for equal opportunities and protection before the law like in schools, workplace and establishment regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.” The group said in a statement provided to Fridae.

Senate Bill (SB) 2814 or the Anti-Ethnic, Racial or Religious Discrimination and Profiling Act of 2011 which was sponsored by Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of Senate Committee on Cultural Communities. According to the Tempo news website, Legarda was quoted as saying that eventual enactment of the bill into law would hopefully lessen, if not eliminate, cases of discrimination, profiling, violence, and all forms of intolerance in employment, education, delivery of goods, facilities and services, accommodation, transportation, media, in search and investigatory activities, and in political, civil, cultural and social life on the basis of ethnicity, race, religion or belief, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, language, disability and other status. 

The Senate in November passed on third reading the bill which will go before the bicameral conference committee tasked to harmonise the Senate bill with similar bills passed by the House of Representatives.

The CBCP objects to the terms “sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity” in the bill. 

“It’s opening the door for same sex marriages, which our country doesn’t allow,” Ronald Reyes, a lawyer of the CBCP, told reporters. He said the Catholic church, which would not officiate same sex marriages, might be punished if the bill became law. “This is alarming and it might change our society,” Reyes said. 

Another CBCP lawyer Jo Imbong said the LGBTs should not be considered the same as the elderly, the handicapped, and the poor. “These people are disadvantaged not by their own choice. But the third sex, they choose this. How can you give protection to a choice like that?” Imbong said. 

In the statement, Ladlad’s chairperson Bemz Benedito said: "Atty. Jo Imbong’s thesis or proposition was lamentable, defective, and thoughtless because there are LGBT Filipinos who are elderly, handicapped, and poor. Their experiences of discrimination become layered, and unbearable." 

“The deed that the CBCP is showing now against Filipino LGBTs is morally wrong because God as we all know doesn’t welcome prejudice and does love unfavourably,” she added. 

The LGBT group is asking the Catholic priests to come out of their extravagant churches to see the reality – that some LGBTs are not hired to work, some are being harassed and violated and some 144 killed because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. “It is not something that we chose to be,” Benedito stressed.

The group said that it is “deeply saddened that the CBCP continues to propagate fear, hate, prejudice and intolerance to the LGBT sector.”

Notably, the bill does not mention the handicapped, elderly, or poor but focuses on racial, ethnic, and political discrimination. 

Ladlad claims a membership of 50,000 nationwide and its chairperson Bemz Benedito who is a transgender woman will be the group’s first nominee to run for a congressional seat in the 2013 elections. In 2009, the group fought its way to the Supreme Court to be recognised as a legitimate political party to contest in the 2010 elections.