One question was nonchalantly asked from Mr. Gabriel Felix Umadhay, Executive Assistant for LGBT Affairs of the Officer of the City Mayor, during a forum on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The question challenged the reason why gender equality and human rights is a “big deal”.

Here in Sex Education let us talk about this “big deal”. When this article comes out, Iloilo City would have just recently celebrated the 4th Iloilo Pride March on October 12, 2019. A disclaimer is in order as this piece is, by all means, bias towards this “big deal”. Four years of the Iloilo Pride March has evinced some considerable support in Iloilo City and Iloilo Province for the LGBTIQ + community. There is now a growing knowledge of the community and recognition of the existence of persons with varied sexual orientations and gender identities.

Before I move any further, let’s talk about what is sexual orientation and gender identity. Sexual orientation is the enduring physical, sexual, romantic and emotional attraction towards persons of the same or opposite sex or gender. This is where heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality fall under. Heterosexuality means the attraction towards a person of the opposite sex or gender (i.e. a woman who is attracted to a man). Homosexuality means the attraction towards persons of the same sex or gender. The terms gay (agi, bakla or bayot) and lesbian (tomboy) fall under the homosexual identity category. While bisexuality (silahis), is the attraction towards persons of the same and opposite sex or gender. A bisexual can be either a bisexual man or a bisexual woman.

Gender Identity, on the other hand, is the gender that you prefer to be identified as. Cisgender is the term coined to people who identify similarly to the sex they were assigned at birth. So, if you are a cisgender man, you are born male (having a penis) and identify as male. A transgender person is someone who is born either as male or female but wishes to identify as the opposite gender (i.e. transgender women or transpinay and transgender men or transpinoy).

A common example of a transgender woman is Congresswoman Geraldine Roman of the 1st District of Bataan and actress BB Gandanghari. A well-known example of a transgender man is former National Youth Commission Chairperson Aiza Seguerra and singer/actor, Jake Zyrus. Transgendered persons undergo medical and physiological processes to reassign their gender and to conform to the standards of society (i.e. sex confirmation/reassignment surgery). A friendly reminder; a transgender women and a gay man are not similar, and a transgender man and a lesbian women are also not similar.

With those terminologies and identities in mind, let us argue now why we are making it a big deal. While Ilonggos (and Filipinos, more broadly) are aware of LGBTIQ+ identities, kindly provided by the entertainment industry, this awareness doesn’t always translate to respect and recognition of human rights. Vice Ganda and Boy Abunda are household names. Recent LGBTIQ+ themed movies have also gained sizeable viewership and fandom, such as “Die Beautiful”, “The Panti Sisters”, “Girl, Boy, Bakla, Tomboy” and “Rainbow Sunset”.

We leave the entertainment industry to provide the comedic, appealing and relatable LGBTIQ+ characters. Some would argue that these perpetuate stereotypes but often these stereotypes are real-life replications of the actual community albeit eccentric and abstract.

So while the entertainment industry can continue providing us with that content, advocates can continue in making it a “big deal” because there is still a lack of the recognition of their inherent human rights. The conversation about “human rights” if often missing or not a central theme in our beloved teleseryes and movies. The projection of one’s identity and the needed visibility is only one aspect of this controversial gender equality movement – the personal is political. Truthfully, the recognition of the rights of LGBTIQ+ persons will not compromise the rights of non-LGBTIQ+ persons. The recognition of the rights of one community will not trample on the rights of another. Supporting the rights of LGBTIQ+ communities does not make you LGBTIQ+ as well. It just makes you empathetic and logical.

Advocates continue to make it a big deal as there is still a need to challenge the binary structure that informs how our society perceives gender and sexuality. This binary structure says that there is only male and female, where in fact there are more than two genders. Whether that is what your religion or faith believes in is beyond what I care about. This same binary structure is what continues to oppress many minority groups, including women.

As you would notice, any reference to the LGBTIQ+ community in the Philippine today would automatically be linked with legislation, such as the SOGIE Equality Bill. This is because the dialogue is moving beyond just visibility but into providing mechanisms that would protect, promote, and fulfil the rights of sexual and gender minority groups. The same way that Filipinos fought for the rights of women, indigenous peoples, migrant Filipino workers, farmers, fisher folk, and students, the fight for LGBTIQ+ rights will continue until there will be change in the hearts and minds of people.

Events like the 4th Iloilo Pride March is not only festivities but it contains messages of acceptance, equality and hope that one day members of the LGBTIQ+ community can finally be accepted and not merely tolerated. This “big deal” on human rights will continue here in “Sex Education”.