Gays, lesbians call for passage of anti-discrimination bill

LESBIAN, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities are pushing for the immediate passage of House Bill 1483, or the Anti-Discrimination Bill.

Bayan Muna Representative Teddy Casiño, who joined the LGBT community in a pride march Sunday, said there is a need to prioritize the bill still pending before the committee on justice at the House of Representatives.

An added pressure to the National Government is the recent resolution coming from the United Nations calling for an end of violence committed against the LGBT community.

Oscar Atadero of Pro-Gay Philippines, in a forum at UP Baguio last week, said there is a need to immediately push for equality by reaffirming standards of human rights, which has been so long placed in the sidelines leading to abuses committed against the LGBT community.

Lawyer Evalyn Ursua, who fought for the recognition of three transgender Filipinos at the UN Comission on Human Rights, said the country is now lagging behind in terms of legislation and addressing concerns of transgenders.

Ursua said previous decisions by the Supreme Court hampered the rights of several “trans” Filipinos who wish their sexual orientation recognized.

Another growing concern of the LGBT community is what they claim as the recent spate of killings committed against them.

An informal count from the group showed 104 murders since January involve members of the LGBT community.

Among the recent incident involved the attack of TV director Ricky Rivero by a friend he met in social networking site Facebook.

In a statement, Baguio Pride network said, “104 murders all over the Philippines: our gay brothers brutally murdered by multiple stabbing, our trans sisters raped and murdered, lesbians and bisexuals all have become targets of hate crimes all over the Philippines.”

BPN added that this year alone shows more LGBT killings than there are killings of journalists are happening, which is very disturbing and wrong.

“Most appalling are attitudes that betray deep-seated homophobic beliefs from representatives of government agencies and other institutions. This cannot go on. Something has to be done; we all have to pay attention. We cannot just stand by while all these things are happening,” the group added in its statement.

The immediate passage of the anti-discrimination bill is the clearest step the government can take to protect rights of the LGBT community as it defines discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and penalizes discriminatory practices, the group finally added. –JM Agreda, Sun Star