Roman reiterates equality in SOGIE

House committee on veteran affairs chairperson and Bataan Rep. Geraldine Roman yesterday reacted to the statement of Senate President Vicente Sotto III saying that the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) bill has no chance to get a Senate nod.

According to Sotto, an anti-discrimination bill that includes other sectors of society might have a better chance of hurdling the Senate than the SOGIE bill which is focused on gays.

“The anti-discrimination on persons might be approved. But if focused on gays which the SOGIE bill is, and religious and academic freedom impeded; plus smuggling of same-sex marriage? No chance!” Sotto emphatically said.

However, Roman alluded to a different point of view of the said bill. “If people read the SOGIE equality bill, they will know that it has nothing to do with same-sex marriage,” said Roman.

Roman, also a member of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning) urged her Senate counterpart to set aside their “irrational fears” and approve SOGIE bill.

“So let’s be rational beings, like true homo sapiens should be, by overcoming our irrational fears and approving this much-needed piece of legislation,” Roman, also a vice chairperson of the House committee on women and gender equality said in a statement sent to Daily Tribune.

This discussion stemmed during a Senate session in the wake of the detention of transgender woman Gretchen Custodio Diez after using a female restroom at a mall in Quezon City.

ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro, for her part expressed dismay with the supposed refusal of the Senate leader to pass the SOGIE bill.