Risa: Stop discrimination vs. LGBT via law

"This is a wake up call for the Senate to pass with urgency the SOGIE Equality Bill. We cannot afford to delay this measure any longer."

This was the statement issued today by Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros, on the reported case of discrimination suffered by impersonator Jervi Li, more popularly known as KaladKaren Davila, when she and her friends were denied entry into a Makati City bar due to their sexual orientation.

Li posted a video of the incident on social media on Sunday night which courted netizens' ire against H&J Sports Bar and Restaurant, the local Makati bar that refused entry to Li and her group.

“Unless we have a law that secures the basic rights and welfare of all LGBTs, the discrimination that happened in Makati will happen again. LGBT persons are easy targets of harassment and violence," Hontiveros said.

Hontiveros' bill, widely supported by the LGBT community and its allies, is a response to the daily experience of discrimination that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer persons face in bars, schools, and workplaces. It seeks to penalize discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression or SOGIE. A counterpart measure was approved by the House of Representatives last year.
Currently, the measure has been in the Senate's period of interpellations for 623 days since the time it was sponsored on the floor.

“I hope KaladKaren’s awful experience serves as a signal to my colleagues in the Senate to finally end the debate on the measure and move for its immediate passage," Hontiveros said.

"I believe that we have already exhausted all the discussion points for this proposed measure and have gone above and beyond in terms of ensuring that this bill will be fair to all. Any further delay on the bill means quality of life, even life and death, to the members of the LGBT community who are subjected to daily harassment, discrimination, and abuse," Hontiveros stressed.#

SOURCE: Hontiveros: ‘KaladKaren" incident a wake up call for Senate to pass SOGIE Equality Law; Senate of the Philippines via Facebook; Wednestday, August 29, 2018; https://www.facebook.com/notes/senate-of-the-philippines/hontiveros-kaladkaren-incident-a-wake-up-call-for-senate-to-pass-sogie-equality-/2035238336500437/