Mandaue City Hall ends gendered uniform restrictions for LGBT workers

THE Mandaue City Government has allowed its employees, particularly members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community, to choose between the male and female design for their new uniforms.

Lawyer John Eddu Ybañez, executive secretary to Mayor Jonas Cortes, sent out the memo last Feb. 10, 2020 yet.

“It depends on their gender preference. We will not discriminate,” Ybañez told SunStar Cebu.

Once they make a preference on what uniform design they want, the employees must fill up a form of their preference and their size and submit it the City Treasurer’s Office and the City Mayor’s Office.

The City Government will provide the cloth for the uniform but the employees will have to find their own tailor to sew the uniform.

Uniforms for job-order employees will be shouldered by the City.

For regular employees, however, the cost of their uniform will be deducted from their P6,000 uniform allowance.

Ybañez said the City will tap dressmaking graduates of the Mandaue City College Technological and Entrepreneurial Skills Training Center (MCCTEST) to sew the uniforms of the government employees for a lesser fee.

Rheo “Amon” Avenido, an employee of Mandaue City Government and a member of the LGBT community, told SunStar Cebu that she is happy to know that the City will allow her to choose which uniform to wear.

“I am a cross-dresser. It is weird to wear a male uniform when I already have breasts,” Avenido said.

Avenido said she is thankful that the City Government values the opinion of the LGBT community.

The Mandaue City Government has been an important battleground for the LGBT community in Cebu for the past decade.

In 2016, the Mandaue City Council approved the passage of a comprehensive LGBT Code, which protects the LGBT community’s rights.

In 2018, the Mandaue City Government held its own Pride March, which was attended by more than 4,000 members of the LGBT community.

It depends on their gender preference. We will not discriminate.

JOHN EDDU YBAÑEZ Executive secretary to Mayor Jonas Cortes