There are a lot of misconceptions about the SOGIE Equality Bill and I’d like to tackle some of those and hopefully improve your understanding of what the bill is actually for.

Myth #1: The bill will allow same-sex marriages.

Nowhere in the bill will you find the word marriage. Don’t believe me? Check for yourself: Senate Bill #1271. Also, the bill filed by Risa isn’t necessarily going to be the final output. The House version (check Section 4. g. of House Bill #4982) explicitly excludes marriage licenses. A separate bill will need to be filed for same-sex marriages because this bill doesn’t cover it.

What is the purpose of Section 5. g. (Section 4. g. in the HB) then?

Did you know? Trans women are often asked to cut their hair, remove their make-up and asked to look like men for their government licenses which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. IDs are supposed to reflect how we look like day-to-day. Obviously, most trans women don’t go around looking like men everyday. So asking trans women to look like men for their IDs runs contrary to the purpose of using these IDs to identify them.

So all Section 4. g. does then is prevent government agencies from using our appearance as a reason to deny an application for or to revoke a professional or other kinds of licenses, clearances, certifications, etc.

Myth #2: Systemic discrimination of LGBT people does not exist.

It does. Ask any LGBT person and they will say it does. And, no, it’s not because we’re all liars. It’s just true. If you don’t believe it, it’s because you’ve never seen it, you’ve don’t realize that certain acts count as discrimination, or you’re utterly blind to it. Your brain filters it out because you refuse to believe it. I’d call you an ass but I won’t. Read more via Transgender Philippines