In some ways, transgender people in the Philippines may be “relatively better (off) than other transgender people in other countries,” noted Kate Montecarlo Cordova, vice president of the Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP).
There are some “developments” worth noting that may be seen to exemplify this. For instance, in the Philippines, transgender people are somehow treated as women by some men when it comes to relationships (though, Cordova admitted, remaining “questionable is the courage of men to come out in the open and declare that their girlfriends are transgender”). Also, gone are the days when transgender people were only pigeonholed as comedians and entertainers, with trans Filipinos somewhat able to express themselves more openly in public (though not all reactions are necessarily always positive, Cordova acknowledged).
But Cordova is first to note that “discrimination is (still) everywhere.”
It is because of these continuing challenges that transgender people face that highlights the observance of the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR).
And as part of YDoR 2012, Bahaghari Center holds the “No different” campaign, part of the earlier “I dare to care about equality” photographic campaign calling for everyone to take a more proactive stance in fighting discrimination done also by Bahaghari Center as part of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO), celebrated every May 17.
As stated by Patrick King Pascual, who – with Deaf transgender rights advocate Disney Aguila – co-coordinates the “No different” campaign: “Fear-mongering against members of our community that highlight our supposed (and ill-conceived) ‘oddities’ is erroneous.”
Founded in 1998 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, a transgender graphic designer, columnist, and activist, to memorialize the murder of Rita Hester in Allston, Massachusetts, TDoR is held every November 20 so that the world – particularly members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community – can mark, thereby bring attention to the continued violence endured by the transgender community; as well as to memorialize those who have been killed as a result of transphobia, or the hatred or fear of transgender and gender non-conforming people. TDoR has evolved from the Web-based project when it was started, into an international day of action observed in over 185 cities throughout more than 20 countries.
For Naomi Fontanos of Gender and Development Advocates (GANDA) Filipinas, “the advancement of human rights is generally uneven around the world. I don’t think it can be actually said that transgender people overseas are better off compared to those of us in the Philippines. In the US, for example, transAmericans continue to be vulnerable to workplace discrimination. Not all states recognize transfolks in the gender they identify as in their legal documents. The same is true in Canada. Marriage rights are also still being contested for many transpeople around the world. In ‘First World’ countries that have state gender recognition mechanisms, some aspects of the law may still violate transpeople’s rights. In Sweden, for example, transpeople are forced to undergo sterilization. In Japan, they should not have children before transition. In Hong Kong, a transperson has to carry an ID card that explicitly says he or she has Gender Identity Disorder (GID). Otherwise, other laws are used to persecute transgender communities. In Singapore, which is highly economically progressive and where transpeople can change their identity documents, Section 377 of their penal law inherited from British colonial rule, is used to harass transwomen as going against ‘the order of nature’”.
The challenges are compounded in pre-dominantly Muslim countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, where “I believe they have more challenges. In Malaysia, a court has just denied the petition of Malaysian transwomen known as mak nyah to put to judicial review Section 66 of their Syariah Criminal code, used to abuse, harass and violate the rights of tranwomen there. In the ASEAN, foreign ministers do not want to protect Southeast Asians from discrimination and unequal treatment based on their sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) by refusing to include SOGI in the proposed ASEAN Human Rights Decalration. In Hong Kong, a court also denied the petition of a transwomen to marry her long-time boyfriend. In Uganda, a bill that will impose the death penalty on ‘gay’ people can definitely be used against transgender people as well.”
“In all continents of the world, transpeople have their own crosses to bear in terms of state and non-state actors restricting their freedoms and impacting the quality of their lives as human beings and citizens of their countries,” Fontanos said.
And so for Fontanos, the observance of TDoR each year is an important event in the global human rights movement as it brings to the fore the reality of transgender people’s vulnerability to hate violence. “It is important to observe TDOR because ever since it started in 1999, 14 years ago, the number of transpeople who die each year who are remembered during TDoR has steadily increased and not decreased. The prevailing statistics suggest that a transgender person is murdered somewhere in the world every 72 hours. If you look at the number of transpeople killed by hate violence each year, it is very depressing,” she said.
Outrage Mag EIC speaks at #AIDS2024 to highlight HIV challenges in PH, need to shift to DevCom
In responding to HIV, there is a need to consider how different the Philippine context is, according to Outrage Magazine editor in chief Michael David Tan as a panelist in a journalist-led session at the 25th International AIDS Conference, or #AIDS2024.
MUNICH, GERMANY – In responding to HIV, there is a need to consider how different the Philippine context is, according to Outrage Magazine editor in chief Michael David Tan as a panelist in a journalist-led session at the 25th International AIDS Conference, or #AIDS2024. To-consider scenarios, for Tan, include: the “Westernization of HIV discourses”, absence of political will, and reliance on donor agencies that end up dictating the course of actions taken to deal with HIV in the Philippines.
“In the Philippines, we tend to almost always focus on Western sources when we discuss scientific findings. Locally, we refer to that as the ‘Westernization of HIV discourses’, basically. So you find local studies, local findings, and yet those are not seen as at par with Western sources,” Tan said.
— IAC – the International AIDS Conference (@AIDS_conference) July 25, 2024
However, Tan added, “even with the scientific findings from international sources, you also have to consider the second aspect, which is – when it comes to introducing HIV medicines, for instance, in the Philippines – almost always, it’s not because it’s dictated by science, or by good findings. Almost always it is because it is dictated by donor agencies.”
The lack of political will has implications to the HIV responses of the country, stressed Tan.
Tan was the first Filipino journalist to write in the Philippines about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and U=U (undetectable=untransmittable) as early as 2016, and yet it took the government and HIV-centric non-government organizations (NGOs) over two years to include these in the country’s HIV responses. Again, these were introduced “not because science said (they are) working, but because door agencies started saying, ‘Oh, this is the direction you need to go into.’”
Facilitated by Peter-Philipp Schmitt, editor of Germany and The World at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the panel also included: Apoorva Mandavilli, reporter at The New York Times; Ashleigh Furlong, health reporter at Bloomberg; Kat Lay, The Guardian‘s global health correspondent; Mia Malan, editor in chief at Bhekisisa from South Africa; and Armen Aghajanov, a manager at #HelpNowHUB in Ukraine.
In defining the media’s role in dealing with HIV, Tan advocated for a different approach – e.g. development communication. For him, it is no longer enough to just report on an issue, and then nothing gets done about what was reported on.
Outrage Magazine, as an example, has been reporting on the continuing exclusion of Deaf Filipinos in HIV responses, and yet “nothing was being done about them by the government and by HIV NGOs.” So the publication itself trained Deaf community leaders on community-based HIV screening to empower them to deal about HIV on their own, without the need to rely on Hearing people for testing and for treatment, care and support.
There are also changes in the media landscape that affect HIV-related reporting, in particular. AI, as an example, may produce new content, but could also sow misinformation.
For Tan, as far as technology use in media is concerned, it’s a “Pandora’s box; the box has already been opened” so “it’s not like we have a choice.” And so now, “it is more on ‘How do we use it?’. And a lot of the usage can actually already be seen now even in a lot of media bodies. Comment moderation, for instance, (can) make use of AI. If there’s one thing that makes AI worse, it’s the creation of more content. Everybody can just type something, and then it comes out as another thing. This adds another layer of work for journalists on fact-checking, on (cross-referencing) misinformation being put out there. The challenge now is how do we actually make use of AI to better the reporting, including of HIV-related reports.”
Tan similarly recommended caution in the current approaches including of HIV service providers. He cited as an example the use of “influencers” who are placed in positions of power slowly because of the number of their “followers” and not their actual expertise, and so doing more harm than good.
“In the #Philippines in particular, there’s now a reliance of service providers on influencers. This actually creates faux experts in the field, who are trying to discuss #HIV, #PrEP but don’t know what they’re talking about.”
“In the #Philippines in particular, there’s now a reliance of service providers on influencers. This actually creates faux experts in the field, who are trying to discuss #HIV, #PrEP but don’t know what they’re talking about.” – @outragemag’s Michael David Tan ?? #AIDS2024pic.twitter.com/TokAXMw3nm
— IAC – the International AIDS Conference (@AIDS_conference) July 25, 2024
Tan completed his BA Communication Studies from the University of Newcastle in Australia, and Master of Development Communication from the University of the Philippines-Open University in the Philippines.
Tan’s presence in the International AIDS Conference was supported by the Community Solutions Program’s (CSP) Alumni Speaker Fund.
Bahaghari Center’s co-director highlights intersectional issues of PWD LGBTQIA workers, pushes for inclusion in workplace
While there are a handful of companies that try to be inclusive of persons with disability, including those who also belong to the LGBTQIA community, multiple challenges remain, stressed Mx Disney Aguila, co-executive director of Bahaghari Center.
While there are a handful of companies that try to be inclusive of persons with disability, including those who also belong to the LGBTQIA community, multiple challenges remain, stressed Mx Disney Aguila, co-executive director of Bahaghari Center for SOGIE Research, Education and Advocacy, Inc. (Bahaghari Center), while speaking in a panel for Pride Summit 2024.
As part of the discussion on “Leveling the playing field: Disability inclusion in the workplace”, Aguila said that “many companies now (see) disability at work, and (provide) opportunity to PWDs.” And yet “even those with good intentions may not be fully sensitive to PWDs.”
A good example is the actual hiring of Deaf people, and yet “they do not provide Filipino Sign Language (FSL) interpreters at work, and so miscommunications are bound to happen”. And when such miscommunication do happen, it is the Deaf employee who gets sanctioned, thereby contradicting the “inclusive” messaging.
But Aguila also noted that PWD is an umbrella term; as such, there are many conditions to be considered, each with various needs, requirements, et cetera. As an example, “many people think PWDs are only Hearing people, and so Deaf people are still left out when no FSL interpreters are provided (in the hiring process, as well as in workplaces where Deaf people work).”
In the end, Aguila stressed, “there is a need to focus on increasing awareness.” This is because for her, “advocacy starts with awareness”, and “we tackle this a step at a time… always.”
Pride Summit 2024, themed Limitless: Inclusion beyond horizons, was organized by the Philippine Financial & Inter-industry Pride (PFIP), an organization representing representatives from LGBTQIA employee resource groups and human diversity teams of private firms in the Philippines.
With Aguila in the panel were Krissy Bisda, consultant on gender equality, disability and social inclusion at The Asia Foundation; and Carla Nobleza, Cynder management consultant. The panel was moderated by Leo del Castillo, leadership development manager at Foundever.
Bahaghari Center head, Disney Aguila, trains HIV hub on Deaf issues, basic FSL
Mx Disney Aguila, co-executive director of Bahaghari Center for SOGIE Research, Education and Advocacy, Inc. (Bahaghari Center), helmed a training of Hearing people who work in HIV advocacy from My Hub Cares (MHC).
With HIV service providers still predominantly coming from the Hearing community, it is “just right to make them more aware of the need to be sensitive to the issues of Deaf Filipinos”.
So said Mx Disney Aguila, co-executive director of Bahaghari Center for SOGIE Research, Education and Advocacy, Inc. (Bahaghari Center), as she helmed a training of Hearing people who work in HIV advocacy from My Hub Cares (MHC).
“Deaf people, including Deaf LGBTQIA people, are also at risk for HIV infection, and yet existing HIV efforts often exclude them,” said Aguila, who enumerated – among others – the lack of Filipino Sign Language (FSL) interpreters in HIV facilities, absence of FSL-sensitive IEC materials on HIV, et cetera.
Aside from basic FSL lessons, Mx Aguila also gave lectures on specific issues faced by the Deaf community when trying to access HIV testing, and – if one tested HIV positive – access treatment, care and support services.
For Ico Rodolfo Johnson, who helms MHC, it may be cliché, but “we need to make real the saying that no one should be left behind.” In HIV-related efforts, this includes “persons with disability, such as Deaf people, who need to be included in our efforts.”
In the end, said Mx Aguila, “we really need to do more to ensure we’re truly inclusive… and that’s exactly what we’re doing with these trainings.”
For more information on the inclusive HIV service delivery of My Hub Cares, head to Unit 607 Tycoon Center, Pearl Drive, Ortigas Center, Pasig City; call 0917 187 2273; or visit their Facebook page.
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