In April 2012, the Policy Development and Planning Bureau initiated a timely and ground-breaking policy forum-workshop entitled “The NEW POOR: Sexual Minorities as a Vulnerable Sector” tackling for the first time the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Community as a marginalized sector in need of social protection. This was closely followed by a Policy Study Session in May 2012 where sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) and its impact on child rights protection was discussed in the light of increasing incidence of LGBT youth bullying. Eventually during the 2012 Mid-Year National Management and Development Conference (NMDC) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) leadership, the Gender and Development (GAD) Focal in the person of then Assistant Secretary Florita R. Villar shared with the DSWD officials their desire to begin expanding GAD to cover SOGIE issues in response to emerging trends and concerns in gender and development, especially in terms of sexual and reproductive health and rights. Since then, there has been a draft comprehensive policy paper on LGBT rights and SOGIE issues that was submitted to the Secretary through then Undersecretary for Policy and Plans Alicia R. Bala. While the policy recommendations and action points were categorized into institutional/organizational plans, employees’ welfare, and DSWD mandate/sectoral concerns, said policy recommendations focusing on the latter category would is the most substantive and would have most impact to the Department’s social development work.
Also in June 2012, after providing feedback to Undersecretary Alicia R. Bala on the proceedings of the April Policy Forum and May Policy Study Sessions, the PDPB was directed to formally transmit it to the Office of the Secretary for due consideration. That same year, the DLLO commented for the first time on the anti-discrimination against LGBTs bills in Congress, with the PDPB providing additional inputs for incorporation into the Department’s final position paper. Then, in February 2013 that the DSWD Central Office GAD finally held it’s first orientation/briefing on SOGIE for its Focal Persons. On the other hand, DSWD-NCR through the initiative of Dir. Alice Bonoan and GAD Focal person Froilan Maglaya maximized their March 2013 Women’s Month celebrations by conducting a series of Gender-Sensitivity Trainings (GSTs) for NCR staff and the Haven for Women’s staff and clientele.
In June 2013, UNDP and USAID co-sponsored the “Being LGBT in Asia” event for the Philippines, a national dialogue between various LGBT organizations nationwide and where key government agencies were invited to share their efforts on SOGI issues and LGBT human rights. DSWD had a lot to boast of in terms of internal education and capacity-building as well as external support and advocacy for SOGIE-related issues, Forwarding the proceedings of the said UNDP/USAID activity to the DSWD Secretary afterwards, she acknowledged and welcomed all policy recommendations relevant to the DSWD mandates and sectoral concerns. Thus, it is but proper that DSWD continues along this policy track.
SEXUALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Sexual orientation, like gender and race, relates to the fundamental aspects of human identity. While formally defined as the pattern or direction of sexual and emotional attraction and conduct, sexual orientation relates to the “deepest affairs of the heart, the innermost desires of the mind, and the most intimate expressions of the body”. In other words, it goes into the very core of what it means to be human. Meanwhile, Human Rights are founded on the concept of respect for the inherent dignity and worth of a human being. The right to freely determine one’s sexual orientation and the right to express it without fear are human rights in the fullest sense. Therefore, gay and lesbian issues and problems as part of the human rights agenda crosses into both categories of human rights; those that are “liberty-oriented” and those which are “security-oriented”. They seek to ensure the Civil and Political Rights or “liberty rights” such as the right to life, liberty and security, freedom of expression, and freedom of association and assembly. They also ensure Social and Economic Rights or “security rights“ such as the right to work, education, food, shelter, and a decent standard of living.
EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION
Employment and decent work is part of the basic human rights involving social and economic concerns. No less than the Philippines Constitution provision on Social Justice and Human Rights mandates this.
To date, many Filipino LGBTs still do not get equal opportunity in employment and are deprived of the right to earn a decent living. Even with the proper education, training and experience, some LGBTs are not hired, promoted or given the opportunity for professional advancement in the workplace. In many job applications or interviews, one’s sexual orientation becomes the focus instead of the relevant qualifications/credentials needed for the job. If one is lucky enough to be employed, an LGBT has to contend with “Dress Code” issues because their outward appearances are viewed as a limitation. Vague “immorality clauses” in employment contracts also subject them to a seeming “higher” standard of conduct or behavior. And because of the notion that LGBTs are “sexual predators”, they are more prone to allegations of sexual harassment. Less obvious forms of discrimination involve LGBTs sometimes being deprived of the opportunity for trainings and seminars, or of being promoted. Always seen as “single” individuals with no children or families to support, they do not enjoy the usual social security benefits/insurance privileges that can be extended by employers and the government. In the most extreme cases, LGBT workers risk dismissal from their jobs because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. The difficulty here is that no employer will actually state that as the reason for termination, but will use some other bases to justify firing an LGBT employee or not renewing a contract.
Of particular concern also, is the fact that since some LGBTs are deprived of equal employment opportunities, they are forced to resort to illegal or “unsavoury” sources of livelihood. This is the reason some transgenders engage in “sex work” or prostitution. Such instances of marginalization fall squarely into the social protection mandate of the DSWD and bears looking into.
Note that education really plays an important role in getting the appropriate employment later on. Some LGBT youth miss out on completing their formal education. Either their parents pull them out of school for being LGBT and the family “black sheep”, or schools and colleges actually expel them or subject them to disciplinary sanctions which prevents them from graduating. With little or no educational attainment, few skills or inadequate training, LGBTs are again relegated to jobs that further marginalize them.
CHILD RIGHTS PROTECTION AND LGBT YOUTH
Child rights advocates and human rights activists love to talk about protecting children and promoting their welfare, but they have never really seen how this impacts on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth. Nowhere else is child abuse more evident or prevalent than in sexual orientation and gender identity- related cases. LGBT youth are more vulnerable to abuse and violence because of how their sexuality and gender is viewed by society.
Numerous documentations on violence against LGBTs show that early experiences of discrimination begin from childhood. Instances of child abuse are perpetrated by family members who are embarrassed about the homosexual tendencies of children and they try to make these kids conform to heterosexual gender stereotypes. Most parents are prepared to employ whatever means possible to force kids to exhibit more heterosexual traits and spare the whole family the humiliation and stigma of having a gay relative. All this under the “right” of parents to discipline and ensure obedience from own their children.
From researches done by LGBT groups like IWAG Dabao, Link-Davao, and LEAP, Inc., the common findings show that a great majority of Filipino LGBTs who suffered discrimination and violence say it started from their childhood, and respondents in these studies cite their own parents or family members as the primary perpetrators who abused them under the guise of “disciplining” them to become “normal” because they were already exhibiting signs or tendencies of being LGBT. It is under this context that this type of child abuse must be looked into. Is there ever an acceptable ground for committing child abuse, and where does the right to discipline of parents end? It appears that even with the Child and Youth Welfare Code (PD 603) and Republic Act No. 7610, corporal punishment or child abuse must be viewed with the added dimension of a child’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
The family is not the only social institution that children move in during their young lives. LGBT youth spend at least 15 years of their lives in the educational system where they suffer discrimination and abuse from adults exercising substitute parental authority. Teachers, guidance counsellors, and other school officials impose disciplinary sanctions that involve verbal, emotional, psychological and sometimes, physical abuse for students’ actual or perceived homosexual orientation. In the Philippines, where the good schools are mostly Catholic-run private schools, the treatment of effeminate boys and masculine girls range from being chastised in the principal’s or guidance counselor’s office, to public humiliation in front of classmates, or even suspension or outright expulsion. It bears emphasizing that LGBT youth are also deprived of their basic right to education when their schools expel them or subject them disciplinary sanctions because of their actual, or perceived, homosexual tendencies.
As true child rights advocates, these are just some issues which must be looked into. Sexual orientation and gender identity is a part of children’s personhood, and cannot be ignored. If this aspect of their humanity is denied, young LGBTs are deprived of their right to security and well-being, and most of all, their right to development.
“HATE” CRIMES and PROFILING
According to research conducted by the Philippine LGBT Hate Crime Watch, of the 141 documented cases of hate crimes from 1996 to 2011, ninety five (95) cases involved gay men, twenty six (26) involved transgenders, sixteen (16) involved lesbians and four (4) involved bisexuals. From an average of ten (10) LGBT people murdered between 1996-2008, the number has risen to twelve in 2009, 26 in 2010, and 27 from January to May 2011. Unfortunately, majority of these cases get labelled as “robberies gone wrong” or get merely dismissed because “there was a disagreement about the fee”. These criminal cases get “sweeped under the rug” and don’t get pursued because authorities don’t think they’re a priority as if the LGBT victims are dispensable people, or because the families themselves wish to keep everything quiet for fear of being embarrassed about their kin’s sexuality. Until now, there is no proper appreciation for such crimes which are clearly motivated by “hate” because of the way the victims seem to be “targetted” for their seeming vulnerability, and the manner or cruelty by which they were killed to become almost unrecognizable corpses.
In a period between 2007 and 2010, the police repeatedly conducted raids of gay saunas, old cinemas, and parks in Metro Manila on different charges of vagrancy, indecency, pornography, prostitution, sex trafficking, operating without license and other flimsy reasons. Clients, bar staff, bystanders were arrested by groups and detained for more than 12 hours. The arrested persons are usually threatened by the arresting officers with exposure to media or to their families. And once again, the particular weakness or vulnerability of LGBTs because of sexuality issues are used against them.
GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
Meanwhile, R-Rights’ 2012-2013 gender-based violence research was conducted in a wide range of languages and included people from all parts of society. The findings show that while violence and exclusion takes place in every sphere of LBT women’s life and covers a whole range of physical, emotional, and sexual violence, including family violence, state violence, forced marriage, and marital rape, LBT women experience violence more frequently when their sexual orientation and gender identity are visible. This important study mention the presence of laws that “target” LGBT people, and the absence of specific laws that protect LGBT. Because direct state violence is not reported as much as family violence, this reflects how the messages from the State about sexual orientation and gender identity play out in the private sphere of the home and in families. Once more, family violence really dominate the findings and the stories where are often quite extreme, including subjecting lesbian daughters to “corrective rapes”.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
· Expand basic Gender-Sensitivity or Gender and Development (GAD) trainings to include SOGI issues and LGBT rights
· Review laws, policies, and programs for specific sectors under DSWD mandates with an added dimension of SOGI/LGBT concerns
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