Senate Legislators Criticize SOGIE Bill, 24 years Pending in Upper Chamber

For twenty-four years, the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression (SOGIE) Equality Bill has been pending, making it one of the slowest-moving bills in Philippine history.

The Anti-Discrimination Bill was first submitted to the 11th Congress in 2000, led by former Akbayan representative Loretta Rosales and the late senator Miriam Defensor Santiago. This law was based on the policy proposal of the Lesbian and Gay Legislative Advocacy Network, aiming to eliminate discrimination based on a person's SOGIE.

Similar bills were submitted to the 14th, 15th, and 16th Congresses but were always delayed at the committee level. It underwent three full years of interpellations in the Senate during the 17th Congress but returned to the beginning with the opening of the 18th Congress.

Aside from the extremely slow legislative process, "fake news" about the SOGIE Equality Bill is widespread on social media, and unreasonable arguments are raised in Senate hearings.

‘Special Treatment’ for the LGBT

The SOGIE Equality Bill aims to protect all Filipinos from discrimination based on a person’s SOGIE. It recognizes that many Filipinos, whether members of the LGBTQIA+ or cisgender, experience SOGIE-based discrimination and aims to prevent this.

Thus, the SOGIE Equality Bill does not violate the rights of others. Instead, it seeks equal rights for all, regardless of their chosen gender. It aims for equality — to fulfill the equal protection stated in the 1987 Constitution, recognizing that the rights of the community are equal to the rights of others.

In 2022, Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante, who is also a pastor, worsened the situation by submitting another homophobic bill to Congress.

Despite the constitution's pronounced heteronormativity, religious fundamentalists found another way to emphasize their hatred against the LGBTQIA+ community. In this case, House Bill (HB) 5717 preliminarily aims to protect heterosexuals from fabricated experiences of abuse and exploitation.

To justify his proposal, Abante subtly invalidated the existence of those with chosen genders by recognizing heterosexuals as "actual and directly created by God," implying that those conforming to societal norms have exclusive rights.

This is just the beginning of the flawed reasoning in his explanatory note, which cites several Biblical texts to defend the supposed need to freely express and impose cisgender beliefs.

Clearly, it is not differences that divide the country but the refusal to recognize and accept these differences with goodwill. While religious fundamentalists like Abante are busy obstructing, the LGBTQIA+ community still awaits the passage of the SOGIESC Anti-Discrimination Bill, hoping to accept their identity without shame and compromise.

"The CHR calls on the government to keep an open mind as national pronouncements outright rejecting protection for the LGBTQIA community may downplay efforts of local governments—albeit only a few but growing—that already promulgated ordinances protecting their constituents against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity," said the Commission on Human Rights in a statement.

CRITICS OF THE SOGIE BILL

Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva does not see the need for the urgent passage of the proposed standards to punish discrimination based on a person's SOGIE.

The bill has remained pending at the Senate committee level of the 19th Congress for several months since it was referred back to the Rules committee panel led by Villanueva.

This is despite the proposal receiving approval from the committees on women, youth, family relations, and gender equality in the House.

"And I am supportive of it. It doesn’t need to be just one sector. Why not include everyone when you talk about anti-discrimination? Other people get discriminated against too," added the legislator.

However, it is clear in the SOGIESC Bill that even Filipinos identifying as cisgender and heterosexual are protected by this law because everyone has a SOGIE. Therefore, it does not grant special rights to the LGBTQIA+ community, contrary to popular belief.

Villanueva is the son of Jesus Is Lord Church founder and current Cibac party-list representative Eddie Villanueva, who has previously caused disruption in Congressional deliberations on the SOGIE bill.

Unlike the journey of the bill in the Senate, the SOGIE bill is gradually progressing in the House of Representatives.

It has already received approval from the House panel on women and gender equality in May.