Rainbow Month

JUNE is Pride Month, a time to raise awareness about LGBTQ issues and a good time celebrate the impact that LGBTQ individuals have had on history. It all goes back to 1969 at the Stonewall Inn at Greenwich Village. The Mafia-owned (yup, the syndicate!)club was refuge for the LGBTQ community at a time when theywere unwelcome and revealing such gender identity was often met with all forms of brutality and harassment. Though the club was violating the statutes, the Mafia was able to bribe the police to ignore the activities inside the bar. But on June 28, the bar was raided, patrons were roughed up, and arrests were made. Cross-dressing patrons were brought inside toilets to check their sex because New York then had a gender-appropriate clothing statute. The day after, June 29, the protests began and what just started with the Stonewall clients became a massive throng of LGBTQ supporters who occupied the area for five days. That is why until this day, the Stonewall riots is seen as a galvanizing force that incited the gay rights movement.

In 2016, then President Barack Obama named the site of the riots as American monuments to the recognition of human rights and gay rights. In the same year, the Philippines elected its first transwoman into office, Geraldine Roman. Her win meant that the country finally had a champion for the SOGIE Equality Bill which protects people from discriminatory acts such as: - Denial of access to public services - Including SOGIE as a criteria for hiring or dismissal of workers

- Refusing admission or expelling students in schools based on SOGIE

- Imposing disciplinary actions that are harsher than customary due to the student’s SOGIE

- Refusing or revoking accreditation of organizations based on the SOGIE of members - Denying access to health services - Denying the application for professional licenses and similar documents

- Denying access to establishments, facilities, and services open to the general public

- Forcing a person to undertake any medical or psychological examination to determine or alter one’s SOGIE

- Harassment committed by persons involved in law enforcement

- Publishing information intended to “out” or reveal the SOGIE of a person without consent

- Engaging in public speech which intends to shame or ridicule LGBTQ+ persons

- Subjecting persons to harassment motivated by the offenders bias against the offended party’s SOGIE, which may come in the form of any medium, including telecommunications and social media - Subjecting any person to gender profiling - Preventing a child under parental authority from expressing one’s SOGIE by inflicting or threatening to inflict bodily or physical harm or by causing mental or emotional suffering

The 20-year old bill has been passed on its final reading last year but Sen. Sotto, a former comedian and noontime TV show host,has expressed that there’s no chance the bill will be passed in the Senate before the 16th Congress ends on June 2019.

Let’s see. There’s always hope for the flowers and a rainbow up there.