Philippine women's empowerment organisation Kaisa Ka (Unity of Women for Freedom) reports that gay men in Cebu City (the Philippines second city) have been attacked by pellet guns by men in moving vehicles.
The exact number of victims is unknown and none of the perpetrators have been found.
In Baguio, north of Manila, the Catholic Church has been accused of stirring up harassment of local LGBT after reports that gay people had 'married'.
Kaisa Ka say that, according to LGBT activists in Cebu City, unreported attacks have been numerous and ongoing. They say that the men were attacked "simply for displaying a light femininity".
Following the attacks, Professor Danton Remoto, founder and chairperson emeritus of the Ladlad party-list, visited Cebu to condemn the hate crimes.
Talk show host Boy Abunda, senior party adviser of Ladlad, said there’s still “a long way to go” in the fight for LBGT rights.
“We personally came to Cebu to ask our Cebuano brothers to put an end to this kind of hate crime. Please stop hurting people,” Abunda said.
The party adviser also asked the police to consider attacks with pellet guns as a crime equal to attacks inflicted with deadly weapons.
Philippine LGBT groups have submitted a scathing report to the UN Human Rights Council of different abuses based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the country since 2007.
The Aquino government faces the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the Council in May 2012.
The report singles out the persistent failure of an Anti-Discrimination Bill in Congress and the Philippines lack of support for the resolution against anti-LGBT violence in the United Nations General Assembly last year.
The report also cites the lack of any right for transgender people to have their identities respected in birth and travel documents.
Reighben Labilles of the Philippine LGBT Hate Crime Watch highlighted the long string of murders and violence committed against LGBT Filipinos and the lack of comprehensive action of the Philippine National Police to solve these crimes.
Germaine Trittle Leonin, founding president of R-Rights, said the LGBT civil society report also aired the gross lack of health care services to the sector. The report lamented the tragedy that intersexed Filipino infants face later in life when their true sexuality comes in conflict with the sex that midwives and doctors assign to them. Also included in the shopping list of medical horrors is the infamous video scandal inflicted by a government hospital in Cebu on a gay patient.
The ProGay zeroed in on the discrimination suffered by LGBT students in schools and lesbian workers in farms and factories.
“President Aquino is not ready to tackle the issue of gay marriage for now. We have so many problems in the government. I think we would like to address concerns on poverty and corruption before anything else."
Pressed if Aquino would announce his stand on the matter anytime soon, Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda said: “That answer is ambiguous. He is not ready to discuss the issue of gay marriage.”
Aquino was asked during the Asia Society Forum in New York on Tuesday if he sees nothing wrong with gay couples getting married.
“I don’t think I’m ready to tackle that fight right now. But the perspective . . . it is their choice,” he said.
“Normally I would say: you’re adults, you should be able to do whatever you want so long as it doesn’t hurt anybody else. But if the next step is we want the right to adopt, then, I would be in a dilemma. My priority would be looking after the child who has a very tender and impressionable mind,” he added.
Under the 1987 Constitution, gay marriage is not allowed in the Philippines.
But the Progressive Organization of Gays (ProGay-Philippines) said that their priority was not gay marriage but the passage of the House bill 1483 or the Anti-Discrimination Act of 2010.
“ProGay believes it is truly shameful display for the Philippine government to display total lack of knowledge and appreciation of what the ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer’ Filipinos need. Aquino must realize he should stop issuing mere motherhood statements on gay rights and do his homework on the existing legal work that gay activists have been pushing the government for more than 15 years now.”
"The problem is that tolerance and leniency doesn’t always equate to opportunity and equal protection before the law. That’s why we are pushing for acceptance."
"Tolerance is high in the Philippines as long as you conform to the stereotypes. As long as you are funny, as long as you don't rock the boat and ask for your rights, it’s okay to be gay and lesbian here."
What that means in practice is not doing anything to shame your family, said Cristobal.
"To avoid family shame, you regulate your own sexuality. You don’t come out."
The Catholic Church is campaigning against 'all modern ills', under the acronym of DEATH: divorce, euthanasia, abortion, total population control, and homosexual lifestyles. Across the country, priests deliver sermon after sermon against such threats as Benigno Aquino’s plan to pass a controversial reproductive health bill permitting the state to distribute contraceptive devices.
"We are starting to receive documentation of individual LGBTs that experience bodily harassment that includes compulsory signing of petitions against different LGBT issues, verbal abuses and other hate-related actions that are directly related to these circumstances."
The Philippines has always had a sizable and unique LGBT population thanks to a less binary definition of gender (the effeminite bakla are often considered a third gender). But though more than 10% of Filipinos say they’ve had at least one homosexual encounter, and drag culture thrives in various regions, LGBT rights are still limited thanks in part to the influence of Western missionaries and rising Muslim fundamentalism.
The Philippine Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Hate Watch has released a study calling out Mindanao as the deadliest place in the country for lesbians. Since 1996, half of all fatal hate crimes against queer women have occurred in the easternmost island, the nation’s second-largest. That’s 6 out of 12 deaths, so we’re talking small numbers to begin with, but LGBT hate crimes, fatal or otherwise, are often under-reported.
For the GBT parts of the LGBT rainbow, the National Capital Region —w hich incorporates Manila, Quezon and Luzon, among other cities—is singled out as a death trap:
Of 61 hate crimes against gays recorded by the researchers, 28 were reported in NCR. Quezon City had the most, with 12, followed by nine in Manila.
There have also been more transgendered and bisexual Filipinos killed in NCR since 1996, many of them found with multiple stab wounds.
By June this year, 28 LGBT Filipinos were killed compared to 29 murdered in 2010. The LGBT Hate Crime Watch research records 103 hate crimes that resulted in death since 1996.
The grizzliness of these attacks is particularly disturbing:
“The brutalities done to the murdered LGBT Filipinos are also suggestive that they were victims of hate crime. Thirty-six of the victims were stabbed multiple times. Twenty of them died of gunshots. Six were tortured before they were killed. Others were raped, or killed with a blunt object, or suffocated, or dismembered, or burned alive,” The group said.
Ilagan said Winton Lou Ynion, an openly gay professor at the University of the East, was stabbed 40 times by an unknown assailant in 2009.
She also cited the case of a trial judge in Laoag City who was “found lying in a pool of his own blood with his head almost decapitated and semen found in his anus.”
While the numbers, again, are still low, they are rising: From an average of 10 anti-gay murders between 1996 and 2008, the killings rose to 12 in 2009, 26 in 2010 and 27 just in the first six months of 2011. Gabriela Party Representatives Luzviminda Ilagan and Emmi De Jesus have petitioned for an investigation into anti-LGBT hate crimes and appropriate legislation to stem their growth.
On 25th June, 8 same-sex couples were voluntarily wed in holy union ceremonies in the City of Baguio, Philippines as part of the annual LGBT Pride celebrations of the Baguio Pride Network (BPN), a gay-straight alliance that sponsors the city's Pride events.
The ceremonial unions were branded as marriage by the local media. Different interest groups in the city - namely the city mayor, leaders of evangelical churches, some religious lawyers, some city councilors and the Roman Catholic hierarchy - reacted negatively, and these parties quickly condemned the "same-sex marriage" as illegal and immoral, and those who participated and organized it were branded as mentally-ill, abnormal and disgusting. As word spread nationwide, some leaders of the Roman Catholic church in the country's capital Manila branded the ceremonial unions as reprehensible and stated that the gay and lesbian couples can be charged in court for entering illegal marriages.
Within a few days, the city council of Baguio City tabled an official inquiry in early July to determine if legal charges can be filed against the couple and the officiating pastors, based on the resolutions proposed by Councilors Philian Louise C. Weygan-Allan and Edison R. Bilog. Meanwhile, Christian denominations in the city that include the Roman Catholics, mainstream Protestant and evangelicals are mobilizing people to hold street protests, signature campaigns and media appearances, calling for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons to boycott gay community events and for the general public to condemn homosexuality. Their counterparts all over the country are also mobilizing online and established a Facebook page for coordinating actions and collecting signatures and funds.
The Baguio Pride Network responded to these attacks by holding meetings and media briefings to educate the public on the real issues which can be summarized as:
1. The holy unions are not and cannot be marriages since by law, marriages are by definition between people of the opposite sex, therefore, the persons involved did not break any law.
2. The holy unions are private religious practices that are guaranteed under the Bill of Rights protecting religious freedom and cannot be proscribed by other religions.
3. The human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) citizens of the city must be respected and the local and national government are duty-bound to protect these rights because the Philippines is signatory and enforcer of fundamental international covenants on human rights.
4. The LGBT communities in Baguio and the rest of the country are feeling the ill effects of the negative responses that are fundamentally coming from homophobia in Philippine culture. The couples who entered the holy unions are most especially bearing the brunt of stressful effects of the controversy.
5. The circumstances show that the LGBTs in the Philippines badly need the protection of anti-discrimination legislation to protect LGBTs from both private and state-sponsored homophobia, discriminatory acts and other crimes against persons and property.
“We are determined to win as the first partylist for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBT) in Philippine Congress that will claim and reclaim the rights we have lost from centuries of homophobia, transphobia and discrimination,” thus said Ladlad Partylist Chair Ms. Bemz Benedito during a 16 June press conference.
Ladlad’s first attempt in last year’s election did not reach the margin to win a congressional seat because of many obstacles that Ladlad faced but this time, the group has committed to be persistent, stronger, compelling and prepared for the challenges.
“2010 elections has taught us many lessons that drove us to pursue what we started,” Benedito said.
Ladlad Partylist unveiled to the media the new logo and slogan. The group revitalized the image of Ladlad to be inclusive and reachable whether a person is part of the LGBT sector or not.
The groups’ Senior Party Adviser, Mr. Boy Abunda announced his intention in joining Ladlad.
“I’m aggressively helping and joining Ladlad as its party adviser because I want this to be my legacy. I want Ladlad to win 3 seats in this coming 2013 national elections,” expressed Abunda.
The LGBT group also presented to media the cases of discrimination that Ladlad is handling at the moment. Benedito stressed that discrimination must be stopped.
“Kasabay ng pagpakita sa bagong logo at slogan ng Ladlad ay nais din naming iharap sa inyo ang mga mukha ng diskriminasyon. Ang mga ganitong kaso ang tunay na dahilan kung bakit kinakailangan may representasyon sa kongreso ang Pinoy LGBT,” Abunda stressed.[Google translate: "In conjunction with showing the new logo and slogan Ladlad will also want to present to you the face of discrimination. These cases the real reason why requirements have representation in Congress Pinoy LGBT."]
On the other hand, Ladlad is inviting everyone to watch the play “CareDivas” at PETA Theater this coming July 17, which the group sponsored for one night.
“CareDivas is the first among the series of shows which Ladlad plans to offer the public. We wanted a show that would cater not just for the LGBT community but to heterosexuals as well,” Abunda said.
An open audition was also announced for singers and dancers (details to follow) who will be part of “Glee for Ladlad” or “GLAD”, the party’s volunteer entertainment group.
“GLAD team will tour different provinces with us if we have forums, symposiums and other party activities,” Benedito said.
His hands and feet bound and his body riddled with stab wounds, Palanca award-winning writer Winton Ynion was found dead in his Quezon City condominium unit two years ago. He was homosexual.
While authorities initially suspected robbery as the motive for the crime, Ynion’s friends believed otherwise.
The writer’s case is only one in the rising number of deaths that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) groups believe have been motivated by gender discrimination.
It was the death of Ynion and of many others that prompted several LGBT rights groups — including Ladlad, ProGay, and Queer Pagan Network — to march to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Quezon City 16 May to present a list of 56 homosexuals whose deaths remain unsolved.
The march coincided with the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO), which commemorates the day the World Health Organization took homosexuality off the International Classification of Diseases.
Up until 2009, no authoritative list of suspected hate crimes in the country existed although they were happening everywhere. That same year, LGBT group leader Marlon Lacsamana lost two of his gay friends, one of whom was Ynion, to crimes which he believed were triggered by hate.
“[Then we started thinking], ‘ano ba ang dapat naming gawin?’ Hindi naman 'ata tama na namamatay mga kaibigan natin tapos wala tayong ginagawa [heck should we do? 'Not really' die kidding right friends we done we're not doing,]," Lacsamana said.
Lacsamana, who is a librarian by profession, then began combing through the news archives of local papers and slowly, the list grew to what would become the Philippine LGBT Hate Crime Watch.
Statement of the first ASEAN Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer (LGBTIQ) People’s Caucus
From May 2 to May 5, 2011 over forty lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgenders, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) activists representing 8 out of ten Southeast Asian countries came together in a historic assembly for the ASEAN[Association of Southeast Asian Nations] People’s Forum to tell their governments that the status quo is not acceptable and that the recognition, promotion, and protection of LGBTIQ rights is long overdue.
ASEAN is the cradle of the Yogyakarta Principles, a landmark articulation of internationally recognized human rights instruments in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), and yet LGBTIQs in ASEAN countries consistently face criminalization, persecution, discrimination and abuse because of who they are.
In Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, and Burma, authorities arrest, detain and persecute individuals because of colonial laws that criminalize their sexual orientation or gender identity. In other ASEAN countries, certain laws are abused with impunity to harass or persecute individuals whose sexuality or gender is deemed unacceptable, immoral, or unnatural: anti-prostitution, anti-trafficking, or anti-pornography laws in Indonesia and the Philippines are applied to conduct illegal raids in gay establishments or to nab transgenders, oftentimes subjecting them to humiliation and extortion. The anti-kidnapping law in the Philippines is likewise used to forcibly break apart lesbian couples living under consensual and legitimate relationships.
We are part of the people of ASEAN, and yet across the region we are treated as criminals and as second class citizens.
Instead of representing the interests of all citizens, many governments and state institutions become instruments of religious and sectarian prejudice. In Surabaya, Indonesia, the police was complicit in an attack by an intolerant religious group against the participants of an international LGBTIQ conference.
A climate of stigma and discrimination prevails in most, if not all, ASEAN countries. From Vietnam to Brunei Darussalam, social stigma persists. Sexual orientations and gender identities outside heterosexuality and patriarchal gender norms are considered as a sickness that can be corrected through rape, reparative camps like in Besut, Malaysia, only one of several camps in the country, and other damaging psycho-social measures.
Access to basic services, from health to education, is denied on the basis of one’s presumed or actual sexual orientation or gender identity. Stigma has contributed to the steep rise in HIV infection among at-risk populations like men who have sex with men and transgenders, making it difficult for preventive interventions to reach them.
But our movements are growing. In various parts of the region, pride is unraveling and we will not take exclusion sitting down. LGBTIQ activists and organizations continue to actively engage government institutions, mass media, and civil society for equal rights and basic fairness. It is in this spirit of pride and dignity that we are reclaiming our rightful space in our respective countries and demand our governments to:
Immediately repeal laws that directly and indirectly criminalize SOGI, recognize LGBTIQ rights as human rights, and harmonize national laws, policies and practices with the Yogyakarta Principles.
Establish national level mechanisms and review existing regional human rights instruments (e.g. AICHR, ACWC) to include the promotion and protection of the equal rights of all people regardless of SOGI with the active engagement of the LGBTIQ community.
Depathologize SOGI and promote psychosocial well-being of people of diverse SOGI in accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO) standards, and ensure equal access to health and social services.
We will not be silenced by prejudice. For a people-centered ASEAN, LGBTIQ rights now!
Last week 66 young boys in the conservative largely Muslim state of Terengganu, Malaysia, were sent to a special ‘re-education’ camp for displaying signs of effeminacy which if left ‘unchecked’, state official argued, could “reach the point of no return”. In other words they could ‘become’ gay or transsexual.
While the women’s minister, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, criticized this move, neither the state government nor the Federal government has yet acted to do anything about this. But we should not be either shocked or surprised since gay rights in Malaysia are largely non-existent.
Only a month earlier for example, Malaysian radio stations chose to deliberately ‘garble’ the line, “No matter gay, straight or bi, lesbian or transgendered life, I’m on the right track, baby” in the Lady Gaga song “Born this Way” for fear of being fined by the government for breaking rules on ‘good taste… decency.. [or for being] “offensive to public feeling”.
Indeed as the current trial of the opposition leader, and former deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim visibly demonstrates, the country’s religious and political elite continue to regard homosexuality as a morally repugnant way of life. Thus in Anwar’s case putting him on trial for sodomy (which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison) has proven a ‘convenient’ and sadly rational tactic by the government to destroy his political career and tarnish his public image.
But Malaysia is by no-means on it’s own in the region in its staunchly conservative stance. When it comes to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender rights, Southeast Asia is found severely wanting.
While Thailand might be infamous for its transsexual ‘lady boys’, same-sex marriage and same-sex adoption remain illegal, and there are no anti-discrimination laws nor laws concerning gender and identity expression.
Arguably the most gay-friendly country in Southeast Asia (perhaps surprisingly given that it is overwhelmingly Catholic) is The Philippines, where same-sex adoption is permitted and since 2009 openly gay men and women have been allowed to serve in the military. However even here anti-discrimination law is largely absent nationally, while same-sex marriages or civil partnerships are not officially recognized.
And yet Thailand, Cambodia and The Philippines are in a veritable league of their own compared to the rest of the region. In Burma, Brunei, and Malaysia homosexuality remains illegal with harsh prison sentences the normal punishment; none of the ten Southeast Asian countries recognize neither same-sex marriages or partnerships; only two allow same-sex adoption (Cambodia and The Philippines); three allow gay men or women to serve in the military (The Philippines, Thailand and Singapore) and none have passed anti-discrimination laws.
To defend this appalling track record, arguments have been made about ‘cultural and spiritual pollution’ from the decadent (sic) West, and about the incompatibility of homosexuality with the teachings of Islam and other religions. In most cases the opposition is pure bigotry and drawn from the view that regards LGBTs as nothing more than deviant ‘life-style’ choices.
The head of Malaysia’s controversial Islamic Affairs department in an interview with Time magazine in 2000 epitomized this view when he remarked that homosexuality “is a crime worse than murder”. When asked if it was wrong for two people of the same sex to love each other he rebuked the questioner replying, “Love? How can men have sex with men? God did not make them this way. This is all Western influence”.
In even starker terms former Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr. Mahathir Mohamad warned in a national day speech in 2003 that “if there are any homosexuals in Malaysia they had better mend their ways.” In the same speech he also criticized the West saying that, “they are very angry — especially their reporters, many of whom are homos — when we take legal action against these practices.”
But it is not simply Malaysia where such views remain widespread. For example, a crowd of extremists shut down the 4th International Lesbian and Gay Association Asia conference that was supposed to take place in Surabaya, Indonesia between 26th and 28th March 2010. In addition all 150 participants had to evacuate the conference hotel.
However perhaps there are the first signs of change. This year the first gay movie to be made and shown in Malaysia has proven to be a box-office success. Despite being required to make some 30 minutes of editing by the country’s film censorship board, the movie “Dalam Botol” (In a Bottle) tells the story of a young man who has a sex-change operation to please his male lover, although he later regrets the decision.
While there are no love scenes, nudity or kissing, the movie does open with a bare-chested male couple massaging each other on a beach at night.
Ironically perhaps the movie has been slammed not just by conservative Muslim groups but also by gay rights activists because the main character eventually regrets his decision. One activist remarked in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian that, “The ending is very negative. Having the main character regret being gay and falling in love with a woman is not going to help our image problem here.”Pang Khee Teik of Sexuality Independence echoes this view arguing that, “Many of us Malaysian gays, lesbians and transgenders have absolutely no regrets being who we are.”
While the plotline was clearly influenced by Malaysia’s film production code, which states that LGBT characters when depicted on screen must realize they are at fault for their sexuality, and reform themselves, the film’s producer Raja Azmi Raja Sulaiman defends the movie arguing that:
”If my film has a message, it’s please don’t change yourself for love. My friend [on whom the movie was based] has suffered so much, and I don’t want other people to suffer like him.”
Nevertheless the fact that the movie was made, made it to the screen, and took over $350,000 in its first five days (recouping its cost), is quite remarkable. As the film’s producer remarked in an interview with Associated Press, “Even five years ago we wouldn’t have been able to make it”.
If from small acorns mighty oaks do indeed grow, then Dalam Botol may just represent the first few vulnerable shoots of attitudinal change on LGBT rights.
The film, produced by IGLHRC's Asia program (partnered by Lesbian Advocates Philippines (LeAP)), is part of a call for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people to be protected by law, respected by society, and accepted by family. It is a call for the use of the Yogyakarta Principles as a tool to ensure the respect, protection and promotion by governments of the human rights of all people - including LGBT people. This set of international legal principles addresses the application of international law to human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The film highlights the issues faced by LGBT people in Asia and how the Yogyakarta Principles are a relevant and effective tool that LGBT activists can use in their advocacy for human rights.
Film release date is 17 May 2011. It can be ordered by emailing courageunfolds@iglhrc.org.
In a strange turn of events, a Filipino man denied permission multiple times to remain in the U.S. with his American husband has been granted a tourist visa to reenter the country.
In September, The Advocate reported the story of Roi Whaley, a 46-year-old casino worker in Gulfport, Miss., who has advanced lung cancer and has been forced to live apart from his husband, Aurelio Tolentino, for more than three years. Tolentino had worked legally as a registered nurse in the U.S. but was denied a green card because of his HIV-positive status (the ban on HIV-positive green card applicants has since been lifted). He also applied for asylum based on his sexual orientation, but his request was denied, and he was ordered to leave the country in 2007.
Tolentino has lived in Vancouver, Canada, with his mother since then and still faces possible deportation to the Philippines. “He’s going to die there,” Whaley said in September of such prospects. “He’s not going have a job, he’s not going to have access to the medication he needs to live, he’s probably going to be shunned by everyone in his family.”
The case caught the attention of an LGBT immigration rights group that has been attempting to reunite the couple. As a matter of protocol, attorneys with Immigration Equality advised Tolentino to first apply for a tourist visa — which likely would be denied — followed by a request to the Department of Homeland Security for “humanitarian parole,” whereby he would be allowed back into the country on a temporary basis to take care of Whaley, who is also HIV-positive and cannot undergo chemotherapy because of his low T-cell count. As a result he faces a grim prognosis.
Zagreb resident Marko’s transgender partner April is to be deported from Croatia to the Philippines where she could possibly be stoned to death.
The police are currently keeping April in Jezevo center where she is awaiting deportation even after the court declared that she is not to leave the country until they reach a final verdict on her case.
April had applied for asylum in Croatia, but both her application and her appeal were refused, the daily Jutarnji List writes.
She was then taken to the magistrate court, which postponed its decision until a later time. During this time, April was free but forbidden from leaving the country.
Despite the court’s decision to wait on the verdict, the police detained April, her desperate partner Marko has told the local newspaper.
The couple had met over the internet in 2008. Soon their love blossomed and Marko decided to move to Philippines to be with April. They opened a grocery store together. But April was continuously assaulted by the residents of her small town, some of whom had tried to stone her on the street. Police laughed at her when she called for help, Marko says. April's brother had even threatened to kill her.
The two decided to move to Croatia in October of last year and April had a three-month visa. Since she is biologically male – born as Henry – the two cannot marry in Croatia. Marriage would have ensured legal documents for her stay.
Marko says that they will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in order to stop the deportation.
"She is very frightened," says Marko about his partner. He has been able to visit her every day since her detention. "They humiliated her even there." Allegedly the police asked April to remove her clothes and but when she implored them to turn around, they refused, the daily writes.
Roi Whaley and Aurelio Tolentino, both HIV-positive, met in 2004 through a support group for people living with AIDS. Roi is a native of Gulfport, Miss., and Tolentino, a registered nurse, had come to the U.S. on a work visa from his home in the Philipines.
Then, during the process of applying for his green card, authorities discovered Tolentino’s HIV-positive status, and immigration officials informed him he would have to leave the country. That was back in 2006, before President Barack Obama rescinded the policy prohibiting HIV-positive people from entering the U.S., either as immigrants or tourists.
Tolentino wasn’t too keen on going back to the Philipines. For one thing, it would mean leaving his partner, Whaley. On top of that, he had already been attacked and beaten for being gay in his home country, and if he were to return, it would likely happen again.
So Tolentino applied for asylum in the U.S. That application was denied because he had been in this country already for more than a year, and U.S. policy says anyone seeking asylum must apply within one year of entering the country.
Left with no other option, Tolention moved to Canada to live with his mother, who already has legal status as a permanent resident. He applied for asylum there and, once again, was denied. Now he may have no other choice than to return to the Philipines where he would possibly face harassment, violence and even death.
To make matters, Whaley was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. He left for Seattle on Friday, Sept. 3, for a visit to his oncologist, after which he planned to fly on to Canada to spend the month of September with Tolentino and his mother. It will likely be the last time the partners see each other, since Tolentino faces deportation to the Phillipines, and Whaley’s deteriorating health rules out the possibility of him visiting Tolentino there.
A Filipino lesbian worker hit a memorandum banning members of the third sex from working in Saudi Arabia.
“Dubz” (not her real name) felt bad that lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) will not be allowed to gain employment in the Kingdom.
Dubz was supposed to return to Saudi Arabia as a caregiver.
“Masakit sa amin. Discrimination iyon. Kapag kailangan magbuhat kami ang tinatawag, di na inoobliga ang mga lalaki. Trabahong babae kaya namin, trabahong lalaki kaya din namin,” Dubz said.
She, however, still appealed to the Saudi government not to ban LGBT workers in the Kingdom.
It can be recalled that the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Manila issued a memorandum to all its accredited recruitment agencies from accepting gays and lesbian applicants.
The embassy stated that “officials of recruitment agencies who are responsible in conducting interviews of job applicants to Saudi Arabia are strongly advised to screen them thoroughly so that those belonging to the third sex are exhausted.”
Accreditation of agencies with the embassy will be in jeopardy if they fail to strictly implement the memorandum.
“The accreditation of recruitment agencies found to have failed to observe this advisory will be permanently terminated,” the embassy further stated.
For Migrante International, the said order will greatly affect LGBT migrant workers who are working hard in Saud Arabia.
“Sana tignan ng Saudi government kung ano ang contribution ng lesbian at gay sa lipunan nila,” said Migrante International Chairperson, Garry Martinez.
Roland Blanco of ABS-CBN Middle East News Bureau reported that Filipinos working in the Kingdom were saddened by the memorandum.
In June 2009, 67 suspected gays were arrested in Riyadh for dressing up in women’s clothes. They were forced to resign for fear of being slapped with charges.
Meanwhile, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) pinned the blame on those responsible for organizing a gay pageant last March in Riyadh.
“We were told they had one. They were deported,” said OWWA officer-in-charge Vivian Tornea.
OWWA advised LGBT members to be careful and act discreetly.
“They should act in accordance with the culture of the country,” she said.
For those like Dubz who are affected by the ban, OWWA said they could still look for employment in other countries or just set up a business in the Philippines. Report from Wheng Hidalgo, TV Patrol World
Khalid knows how frightening it can be to live in a country where being gay is taboo.
In 2007, Khalid agreed to appear on the inaugural cover of MK, the first gay magazine in Jordan. But the shirtless photo of the young man caused a stir after the tabloids caught wind of it. The outcry was so fierce the magazine never published.
"I was still in school at the time," Khalid told Guide magazine from his home in Amman, the capital of Jordan. "People were talking about it in my school, and they didn't know it was me at the time. It was very scary because there was no one in the whole Arab world " the Middle East " who was out in the media."
Although Khalid says he never felt his life was in danger, he did face blackmail attempts from those who threatened to out him to his parents. He hid out in neighboring Lebanon until the scandal had passed.
"It's very simple as I'm talking about it, but at the time it was very big because no other media was talking about homosexuality," Khalid said. "But now, everyone in Jordan is talking about it. That's a big step in two years."
The 21-year-old model eventually returned to Jordan, where he launched the monthly webzine My Kali to give Arab gays "a better image to look up to."
"Most of the people here look to English, European and American publications," Khalid said. "Those images don't really apply here. I just wanted to give people a different image to which [they] can relate."
Khalid, who asked that his last name not be used, is one of a growing number of gays around the world who have launched online publications. Their sites serve as virtual community centers and are an increasingly important source of news and information for gays in their own countries and others around the world.
But this online activism is often dangerous, which is why most of the bloggers quoted in this article asked that their full names not be used. Some countries in which gay bloggers work ban homosexuality. Laws designed to curb homosexual activity often carry steep prison sentences --and sometimes the death penalty. Homophobic attitudes can prove equally harmful.
Lesbians, bisexual women and transgender (LBT) people in Asia experience forced institutionalization in mental rehabilitation clinics, electro shock treatment as aversion therapy, sexual harassment in school and at work, threats of rape to make you straight, school expulsions, eviction by landlords, police kidnapping, family violence, and media stigmatization.
Lesbians face discrimination in the workplace because of their gender and their sexual orientation. Employment and job promotions are denied if women look too masculine. Male coworkers stalk and sexually harass lesbians who cannot report for fear of backlash and retaliation.
Transgender/gender variant people are marginalized in their jobs, and are targeted for blackmail, harassment, and sexual violence from the community or people in positions of authority like the police. Activists who defend the rights of LBT people experience threats to their safety, in some cases, harassment, attacks, even torture and abuse, with police participating in or doing nothing to stop these violations.
Frequently, LBT people in Asia face violence in the “private” sphere—by members of immediate and extended family, community and religious groups. This violence includes beatings, home confinement, ostracism, mental and psychological abuse, verbal abuse, forced marriage, corrective rape and in some cases killings to restore family honor.
The fear of family and community violence is often exacerbated by police complicity, when police officers join forces with family members to break up lesbian couples by arresting, detaining and intimidating them. In some cases, charges of kidnapping, trafficking or child abuse are brought against one of the partners. Police officers also charge lesbians under sodomy laws even if the law does not explicitly include lesbianism.
Compounding the situation is the state’s lack of due diligence in applying existing laws that penalize domestic violence and sexual violence to LBT people who are victimized, thus denying them access to complaint mechanisms and opportunities for redress.
Victims themslves don’t turn to these laws for protection because they lead double lives, and exposing the violence invites disapproval, rejection, discrimination and further violence. Such a vicious cycle allows violence to go unreported, unrecognized, and unchecked.
In some instances, media does report on suicide pacts or foiled same sex marriages but the coverage does not name what happened as abuse or suppression of rights. Instead, the media publicity reinforces the stigma against LBT people and makes them the object of ridicule and shame.
Many humanitarian organizations and women’s rights NGOs fail to understand the severity of violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Government reports to treaty monitoring bodies as well as shadow/alternative reports by women’s right NGOs make no reference to violence against LBT groups and individuals for the most part because sexual rights for women, beyond reproductive rights, are rarely a priority for the women's human rights movement, and the demand for women’s sexual autonomy is treated as incidental or an inferior right compared to the other rights.
At the same time, when LBT activists lobby their governments or treaty bodies like CEDAW or their national human rights institutions, they often lack the data and documentation to support their claims of violence and discrimination, which contributes to the under-recognition of the problem.
In 2007 and 2008, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) met with grassroots and national LGBT groups in Asia to identify their key priorities and needs. From women’s groups, IGLHRC heard that homophobic and transphobic violence against women was their number one issue—even if some of the groups lacked the capacity and resources to make this issue their priority.
To bring visibility to the issue, some groups conducted local studies in their service vicinity, but these were limited in scope. Regional level data gathering on violence against lesbians, bisexual women and transgender (LBT) people in Asia has not yet been carried out.
In response to what we heard, IGLHRC convened a Strategy Workshop in Quezon City, Philippines, May 27-30, 2009 to start a cross-country dialogue among activists from countries in Asia. Their reports confirm that homophobic and transphobic violence against non-heteronormative women in the region is under-reported, under-documented, and consequently eclipsed by other concerns in the region.
This lack of data contributes significantly to lack of funding for services and lack of legislator attention. Few government efforts to end violence against women involve LBT groups.
LBT people are often denied protections from and remedies for violence that other people, including heterosexual women receive from anti-discrimination laws, domestic violence legislation and rape laws. In countries with minimal or poor state responses to violence against women, LBT people are even more marginalized because of the double or triple jeopardy that renders their suffering less visible.
Benefits won by women’s rights movements often does not extend to LBT individuals, although many are part of these movements in their countries. Despite these inconsistencies, LBT activists are working to raise awareness about violence at state and non-state levels in many parts of Asia.
The following country summaries are based on the cross-country exchange convened by IGLHRC in May 2009. They are a prelude to the two-year in-depth qualitative and collaborative research and documentation project that will be undertaken in June 2010 by IGLHRC and LBT partners in Asia, and which will culminate in local advocacy initiatives to stem violence against women on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.
Some of these activities will be linked to existing national, regional and/or international public awareness and violence prevention campaigns such 16 Days of Activism to End Violence Against Women, the UN Secretary General’s Campaign to End Violence Against Women, International Day Against Homophobia, International Women’s Day, Campaign to Just Say No to Violence and Impunity, etc.
While in Malawi a gay couple sits in jail for their marriage, in Manila, House Representative Bienvenido Abante Jr. is pushing a bill that would criminalize gay marriage in the Philippines.
Never mind that same-sex marriages (or even civil unions) aren't recognized in the Philippines yet. Apparently the possibility of gay couples having private ceremonies is keeping Abante up at night.
House Bill 6919 recommends punishments for both the couple applying for a marriage license and the minister officiating the ceremony. If the bill passes, the newlyweds could get sentenced to up to 15 years in prison and a fine of P150,000 (about $3,200 USD). If either of them happens to work in the government, she/he will be fired and blacklisted from all public sector jobs.
Perhaps Abante is feeling a tad nervous about another bill in the Filipino House which would outlaw discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. He gave a speech condemning the bill as "death to a just and humane society." His explanation? It would lead to discrimination against heterosexuals.
It could be plausible that Abante was just looking out for the rights of heterosexuals if he hadn't, say, wrote his own bill declaring gay marriage criminal. Or stated that preventing discrimination against LGBT people "will encourage social aberrations as well as moral decadence."
This type of representation hardly seems appropriate for a staunch democracy whose constitution promises "the State values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect for human rights."
Lagablab, an organization advocating for LGBT rights in the Philippines, called for the resignation of Abante. And perhaps he does seem more fitted for some other career -- like maybe a return to the pulpit full-time (Abante is a Baptist minister).
Abante's bill to criminalize same-sex marriages is currently being considered by the Population and Family Relations Committee of the Philippines. Let's watch and hope that the Family Relations Committee members are more equality-minded.
“I’m really happy. I’m grateful that I’m being given this opportunity to lead a better life in America with the support of my family,” Belarmino said.
Belarmino testified in his asylum case that as a young boy, he had been molested several times, and was persecuted for being gay. He did not report the abuse because he was afraid that his very conservative parents would come to know his sexual orientation.
“That was a real hurdle, it involved much struggle on my part. But it’s amazing God has his way of reuniting and mending wounds that have been there for quite a long time. It just so happened that the dialogue of understanding, compassion and love took place on my Mom’s birthday.”
Ted Laguatan, Belarmino’s lawyer, says his client can apply for a green card after a year, since he is now officially a refugee.
“As a refugee, he’s entitled to work, he’s entitled to stay here, and he’s entitled to travel.” Laguatan said.
Belarmino is the first known Filipino to win an asylum case based on the threat of persecution due to sexual orientation. Human rights activists feel that his case will serve as a model for other gay men and women suffering similar difficulties.
A former English professor, Belarmino says the decision was liberating and gave him more confidence.
“The resurgence of that self-esteem, that integrity and the acceptance of who I really am has really encouraged me to really live my life, not the way others see me, or others may want to see me, but the way I really am. And I also can say that I’m more at peace right now because of that total acceptance,” Belarmino said.
Belarmino says he’s now ready to start over. He wants to go back to teaching, and become an advocate for human rights.
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