Criminal laws against homosexuality

Non-commercial, homosexual relations between consenting adults in private are not a crime. Although sexual conduct or affection that occurs in public may be subject to the "grave scandal" prohibition in Article 200 of the Revised Penal Code. The universal age of consent is set at 12, but contacts with minors (under 18) are an offense if the minor consents to the act for money, gain or any other remuneration or as the result of an influence of any adult person.

Military
Sexual orientation or religion does not exempt citizens from CAT, although some reports do suggest that people who are openly gay in this high school curriculum are harassed.[4] On 3 March 2009, the Philippines announced that it was lifting its ban on allowing openly gay and bisexual men and women from enlisting and serving in the Philippine Armed Services.[5]

Sectors
"Sectors" recognised in the national electoral law include categories such as elderly, peasants, labour, youth etc. Under the Philippine constitution some 20% of seats in the House of Representatives are reserved. In 1995 and 1997, unsuccessful efforts were made to reform the law so as to include LGBT people. A proponent of this reform was Senate President Pro Tempore Blas Ople who said (in 1997), ""In view of the obvious dislike of the ... administration for gay people, it is obvious that the president will not lift a finger to help them gain a sectoral seat".[6]

Political party opinions

Philippine political parties are typically very cautious about supporting gay rights, as most fall along the social conservative political spectrum. The Akbayan Citizens' Action Party was the first Philippine political party to integrate LGBT rights into its party platform in the 1990s, although they are a minor political party. A major political opponent of LGBT rights legislation has been Congressman Bienvenido Abante (6th district, Manila) of the ruling conservative Lakas-CMD party.[7] Rodolfo Biazon and his son Ruffy Biazon along with Miriam Santiago are the most vocal opponents of same sex marriage in the Philippines. They have filed bills in the Senate and Congress in 2006 that would ban recognition of such marriage, even if those marriages were performed in other countries. As of 2009 the bills are stalled.[8] The administration of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was recently called "not just gender insensitive, but gender-dead" by Akbayan Party representative Risa Hontiveros. Rep. Hontiveros also said that the absence of any policy protecting the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender betrays the governments homophobia. This homophobic government treats LGBTs as second-class citizens, she said.[9]

Philippines did not sign the United Nations declaration on sexual orientation and gender identity, which condemns violence, harassment, discrimination, exclusion, stigmatization, and prejudice based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Ang Ladlad LGBT political party

The Ang Ladlad is a new progressive political party, with a primary agenda of combating discrimination and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. On 11 November 2009, the Philippine Commission on Elections(COMELEC) denied the Filipino LGBT political party Ang Ladlad's petition to be allowed to run in the May 2010 elections, on the grounds of "immorality".[10][11] In the 2007 elections, Ang Ladlad was previously disqualified for failing to prove they had nationwide membership.[12] On 8 April 2010, the Supreme Court of the Philippines reversed the ruling of COMELEC and allowed Ang Ladlad to join the May 2010 elections.[13][14]

Marriage and family

The Philippines does not offer any legal recognition to same-sex marriage, civil unions or domestic partnership benefits. In 1998, Senators Marcelo B. Fernan and Miriam Defensor Santiago submitted a series of four bills that barred recognition of marriage involving transgender individuals, contracted in the Philippines or abroad, and bar recognition of marriages or domestic partnership between two people of the same biological sex contracted in countries that legally recognize such relationships. Since 2006, three anti-same sex marriage bills have been introduced and are pending before the Senate and Congress. In early 2011, Rep. Rene Relampagos of Bohol filed a bill to amend Article 26 of the Philippine Family Code, to prohibit "forbidden marriages." Specifically, this seeks to bar the Philippine state from recognizing same-sex marriages contracted overseas. The bill is in committee.[15][16][17]

LGBT community
The main gay rights organisations in the Philippines are University of the Philippines Babaylan UP Babaylan founded in 1992, and is the oldest and largest LGBT student organization in the Philippines, Progay-Philippines, founded in 1993, which led the first Gay March in Asia in 1994, LAGABLAB, the Lesbian and Gay Legislative Advocacy Network established in 1999, STRAP (Society of Transsexual WOMEN of the Philippines), a Manila-based support group for women of transsexual experience and transgenders established in 2002, and Philippine Forum on Sports, Culture, Sexuality and Human Rights (TEAM PILIPINAS), a non-profit organization which evolved from the Team Philippines to Sydney 2002 Gay Games and is now working to promote and strengthen human rights, sexual and gender diversity and equality and peace through

research and advocacy and through organizing the participation and representation of diverse Filipino sexual orientations and gender identities in local, regional and international LGBT sporting, cultural and human rights events. The first gay lesbian bisexual and transgender pride parade in Asia and also the Philippines was led by ProGay Philippines on 26 June 1994 at the Quezon Memorial Circle. It was attended by hundreds and the march coincided with the march against the imposition of the VAT or the value added tax imposed by the government. Since the 1990s LGBT people have become more organized and visible, both politically and socially. There are large annual LGBT pride festivals, and several LGBT organizations which focus on the concerns of University students, women and transgender people. There is a vibrant gay scene in the Philippines with several bars, clubs and saunas in Manila as well as various gay rights organizations. Same-sex sexual activity legal? Military service Discrimination protections Recognition of relationships Adoption Legal, though "grave scandal" law may apply Gays and lesbians allowed to serve since 2009 No, but under consideration Family rights No Yes[1][2]

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the Philippines have a distinctive culture but limited legal rights. Gays and lesbians are generally tolerated, if not accepted, within Filipino society, but there is still widespread discrimination. The most visible members of the Filipino LGBT culture, the Bakla, are a distinct group in the Philippines. According to the 2002 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey, 11% of sexually active Filipinos between the ages of 15 and 24 have had sex with someone of the same sex.[1] Filipino poet and critic Lilia Quindoza Santiago has speculated that Filipino culture may have a more flexible concept of gender because kasarian, the Tagalog word for "gender", is defined in less binary terms than the English word gender.[2] Kasarian means "kind, species, or genus".[3] The English word gender originally also meant "kind".[citation needed]

Contents

1 Bakla 2 Slang terms for LGBT people and concepts 3 LGBT rights 4 Swardspeak 5 Filipino LGBT organizations 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

Bakla
Main article: Bakla (Philippines)

A bakla is a gay man who displays feminine mannerisms, dresses as a women, or identifies as a woman. The term itself is not the equivalent of the English term "gay",[4] but bakla are the most culturally visible subset of gay men in the Philippines. They are often considered a third gender, embodying femaleness (pagkababae) in a male body.[5][6] The term bakla is sometimes used in a derogatory sense, although bakla people have largely embraced it. Bakla individuals are socially and economically integrated into Filipino society and are considered an important part of society. The stereotype of a bakla is a parlorista, a cross-dresser who works in a beauty salon.[7] Miss Gay Philippines is a beauty pageant for bakla.

Slang terms for LGBT people and concepts

In the Philippines, the term gay is used in reference to any LGBT person. For Filipino gays, the Tagalog phrase paglaladlad ng kapa ("unfurling the cape"), or more commonly just paglaladlad ("unfurling" or "unveiling") refers to the coming-out process. Tibo, T-Bird and tomboy are derogatory terms for butch lesbians just as bakla is for effeminate gay men. Some lesbians, both butch and femme, use the terms magic or shunggril to refer to themselves.[4] Neutral slang terms for gay men include billy boy, badette, bading, and paminta (straight-acting gay man). While many of these terms are generally considered derogatory, they are sometimes used casually or jokingly within the Filipino gay and lesbian community. For example, gay men often refer to their gay friends as bakla when talking to each other.

LGBT rights
Main article: LGBT rights in the Philippines

Although legislation supporting same-sex marriage in the Philippines has been proposed several times to the Philippine legislature, none has ever been passed.[8] The Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) disqualified the Filipino LGBT political party Ang Ladlad from running in the 2007 general election when COMELEC concluded that Ang Ladlad did not have nationwide membership.[9] COMELEC again refused Ang Ladlad's petition for permission to run in the 2010 elections, this time on grounds of "immorality".[10] However, on 8 April 2010 the Supreme Court of the Philippines overturned the decision of COMELEC and allowed Ang Ladlad to participate in the May 2010 elections.[11]

Swardspeak
Main article: Swardspeak

Swardspeak, or "gay lingo", is a cant slang derived from Englog (a Tagalog-English pidgin) and is used by a number of homosexuals in the Philippines.[12] Swardspeak uses elements from Tagalog, English, Spanish and Japanese, as well as celebrities' names and trademark brands, giving them new meanings in different contexts.[13] It is largely localized within gay communities and uses words derived from local languages or dialects, including Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Waray, Bicolano, and/or other Philippine languages. The use of Swardspeak once immediately identified the speaker as homosexual, making it easy for people of that orientation to recognize each other. This created an exclusive group among its speakers and helped them resist cultural assimilation. More recently, though, straight people have also started to use this way of speaking, particularly in industries dominated by gays, such as the fashion and film industries. LGBT Politics: In the Philippines, the Communist Party of the Philippines Marxist-Leninist and Maoist revolutionary proletarian party in the Philippines are the one and first to introduce and promote the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. They recognize the LGBT as part of the bulk of the masses that can encourage and recruit for their revolutionary work. The revolutionary leader admitted that in their rank. The wide spread of sexual intercourse within their rank and same sex that brought their party principle to set a guideline for those belong with the LGBT's. They also allow to married their fellow same sex revolutionary party member as long it will not affect their revolutionary task in the party organization. Document of the CPP-MLM guideline "Gabay Para sa Rebolusyunaryong Pakikipagrelasyon at Pagpapakasal" .

Filipino LGBT organizations

Barangay Los Angeles: Barangay Los Angeles, or Barangay LA, is the oldest, most established Filipino LGBT organization in the United States currently serving the Los Angeles Filipino LGBTQ community. PUP Kabaro: a leading gender equality activist organization at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines

UP Babaylan: Established in 1992, UP Babaylan is the first LGBT student organization in the Philippines. They remain as the only LGBT support and advocacy student group in the University of the Philippines Diliman (Metro Manila) Doll House: group for open-minded individuals based in the Ateneo de Manila University ProGay: gay rights organization (Metro Manila) Lesbian and Gay Legislative Advocacy Network (LAGABLAB) Cant Live in the Closet: lesbian activist group (Metro Manila) Lesbian Advocates Philippines (LeAP) (Metro Manila) Lunduyan ng Sining ("Sanctuary of Art"): registered lesbian arts organization providing a venue for lesbians to showcase their art; it has produced a lesbian literary and art folio entitled What These Hands Can Do and regularly holds monthly music, film or art performances at Mag:net Katipunan, Quezon City IWAG: gay social support group (Davao City) GAHUM: gay support and advocacy (Cebu City) Rainbow Rights Project (R-Rights): an NGO that serves as a legal & policy think tank dedicated to LGBT issues Society of Transsexual WOMEN of the Philippines (STRAP) (Metro Manila) Order of St. Aelred: spiritual gay center (Metro Manila) AKOD: gay support group (Davao Oriental State College of Science and Technology) Gorgeous and Young (GAY): gay support group Philippine Forum on Sports, Culture, Sexuality and Human Rights (TEAM PILIPINAS): promoting human rights, sexual and gender diversity and equality through sports, culture and recreation (Philippines and global) UPLB Babaylan: student LGBT organization and support group at the University of the Philippines Los Baos; promotes gender equality within the university, among the student body, and beyond; holds activities such as Pink Flicks (a film festival showing movies which revolve around gender issues), symposia, educational discussions and tie-ups with other LGBT organizations Task Force Pride (TFP) Philippines: is a network of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) groups and individuals, as well as LGBT-friendly groups/individuals, that seeks to promote positive visibility for the LGBT community. Founded in 1999, it is the official organizing network of the annual Pride March.