A pageant and a paradox
AURORA ALMENDRAL As this hamlet of cornfields and concrete houses prepared for festivities honouring its patron saint, and as some people gathered in prayer, Angel Cabaluna, 20, was primping to compete in an annual transgender beauty pageant.
Dominated by conservative morals taught by the Roman Catholic Church, the Philippines is also one of Southeast Asia’s most tolerant countries toward LGBTQ people. And lawmakers are taking steps to ensure national legal protections that would penalize discrimination against them.
At the pageant the contestants spun and danced in red feather headdresses, gold brocade and clouds of tulle. The crowd laughed and cheered as they delivered flowery speeches, weaving jokes with witty rhymes, beauty-queen platitudes and proclamations on gender equality.
In a nearby chapel, the pageant’s blaring pop songs mixed with the steady rhythm of churchgoers reciting the rosary.
About 80 per cent of Filipinos are Roman Catholic, and the church’s teachings often dominate public life in the Philippines. Still, Cabaluna, who considers herself very religious, said: “LGBT are now accepted. We are very welcome.”
While there are no laws criminalizing homosexuality in the Philippines, there are no laws specifically protecting gay or transgender people, either.
Geraldine Roman, the country’s first openly transgender member of Congress, is spearheading efforts to broaden legal protections in the Philippines.
In September, with Roman at the helm, a bill prohibiting bias on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression passed the House of Representatives unanimously. The speaker of the House, Pantaleon Alvarez, followed the success by introducing a civil partnership bill that seeks to give gay and transgender couples the same legal rights as married ones.
Forty-one transgender people were killed in the Philippines between 2008 and 2016, the highest rate in Southeast Asia, according to the Trans Murder Monitoring Project of the organization Transgender Europe.
President Rodrigo Duterte said while campaigning in 2016 that he supported same-sex marriage, and he says he has relatives who are gay.
As a teenager, he examined his own gender identity, he said: “When I was in high school, I did not know if I wanted to be a girl or a boy.”
Duterte’s supportive statements have not translated into changes to laws yet, though. Roman, the transgender legislator who is a member of Duterte’s political party, has expressed frustration that thebill has not received more backing from him.
“Many politicians in this country speak in favour of LGBT rights when election time approaches,” Roman said. “But when push comes to shove, they don’t show the love.”
If the bill is not passed by the end of this Congress in 2019, it will effectively be killed.