In late 2016, the Ministry of Social Protection and Development (DSWD), under Secretary of State Judy Taguiwalo, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, passed a policy allowing students to wear uniforms that match their gender identity, thus accepting students who dress as heterosex. [46] As we argued in our report From Oppression to Liberation Reclaiming the Right to Privacy, we can effectively argue that the state enforces patriarchal perceptions of immutable binary gender segregation through identification systems. The only bill that directly addresses discrimination against the LGBT community in the Philippines is the Anti-Discrimination Act, also known as the SOGIEG Equality Bill. The purpose of this bill is to ensure that all people, regardless of gender, sexual orientation or gender identity, are treated the same as everyone else, with no different conditions on the privileges granted and responsibilities exercised. The bill was approved by Hon. Kaka J. Bag-ao, representative of the Dinagat Islands district, on July 1, 2013. [64] A huge bloc of lawmakers, collectively called the Congressional Champions of Equality, have been pushing for full passage of the anti-discrimination law for 18 years. More than 130 lawmakers supported full passage and legislation during the first month of reintroduction in Congress in 2016 alone.
[15] While Rachid acknowledges that the law has not addressed all the risks faced by trans people, she is nonetheless convinced that the law has helped trans people deal with specific institutional situations because the law has sent a very clear and strong message to all Argentine institutions: Everyone can define their gender identity and their identity is valid. SEPTEMBER 2022 GenderScoop is a monthly summary of gender and ICTs in the Philippines What we`re collecting this month: Online sexual harassment and non-consensual sharing of videos and images are widespread; ASEAN lawmakers are talking about the Read more. Serving openly in the military in the Philippines is legal. “The risks transgender people faced were related to the institutional violence to which they were permanently exposed. Well, the right to have identity documents changed did not stop this violence, but it did a lot to overcome it. This remains a problem to this day, as the only means of survival available to many transgender people is sex work, which exposes them to permanent institutional violence. Nevertheless, the issue of their identity documents was a perfect excuse to target institutional violence specifically against transgender people. There were even local laws criminalizing transgender identity in some Argentine provinces, all of which, of course, were repealed after the Gender Identity Law was passed. The study, entitled “Legal Gender Recognition on the Philippines: A Legal and Policy Review”, is part of a larger regional initiative jointly led by UNDP and the Asia-Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) to conduct a comprehensive review of existing laws, policies and practices related to legal gender recognition for transgender people in Bangladesh. in China, India. Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand.
The regional study can be found here. The law also takes into account the reality of migrants by stating that even in cases where a person`s country of origin does not recognize their gender identity, this is no excuse for the Argentine state to deny them the enjoyment of their fundamental rights. Therefore, migrants can request the National Immigration Service to correct any identity document issued by the Argentine State. This is not just an administrative inconvenience: without documents that accurately reflect their gender, transgender and gender-diverse people face insurmountable barriers to living with dignity and respect. A mismatch between their actual gender and official documents can lead to exclusion from education, employment, social protection, housing and financial services and restrict free movement across national borders. This can prevent them from accessing vital health services, even in the event of a medical emergency. Therefore, legal gender recognition is essential to the legal protection of the fundamental human rights of transgender and gender-diverse people. 8. In April 2010, the Supreme Court of the Philippines overturned COMELEC`s decision and allowed Ang Ladlad, a progressive political party whose priority platform is to combat discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity, to participate in the May 2010 elections. [139] [140] The Ang Ladlads ran in 2010 and 2013, but were disqualified in 2016 for failing to obtain the minimum number of votes in the last two elections.
Although better laws do not “solve” deep-rooted societies and problems such as transphobia, which persist even in countries with the most advanced legal frameworks, as Maria Rachid from Argentina explained in her interview, they can send a very strong signal to institutions and society as a whole.