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[av_heading heading=’ House bill vs gender discrimination OK’d ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Friday. September 22, 2017
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MANILA – The House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill seeking to penalize discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender.
Voting 197-0 on Wednesday night, the House passed on third and final reading House Bill No. 4982, or An Act Prohibiting Discrimination on the Basis of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity or Expression (SOGIE).
More popularly known as the SOGIE bill, the measure protects lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from discriminatory acts such as:
- Denial of access to public services
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Including SOGIE as a criteria for hiring or dismissal of workers
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Refusing admission or expelling students in schools based on SOGIE
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Imposing disciplinary actions that are harsher than customary due to the student’s SOGIE
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Refusing or revoking accreditation of organizations based on the SOGIE of members
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Denying access to health services
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Denying the application for professional licenses and similar documents
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Denying access to establishments, facilities, and services open to the general public
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Forcing a person to undertake any medical or psychological examination to determine or alter one’s SOGIE
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Harassment committed by persons involved in law enforcement
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Publishing information intended to “out” or reveal the SOGIE of a person without consent
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Engaging in public speech that intends to shame or ridicule LGBTQ+ persons
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Subjecting persons to harassment motivated by the offender’s bias against the offended party’s SOGIE, which may come in the form of any medium, including telecommunications and social media
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Subjecting any person to gender profiling
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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
Under the measure, violators shall be penalized with a fine of not less than P100,000 but not more than P500,000, or imprisonment of not less than one year but not more than six years, or both.
A local court may opt to impose community service on violators in the form of human rights education and familiarization with and exposure to the plight of the victims, the bill said.
The measure was first filed and approved at the House in 2004 but did not become a law, with the Senate failing to pass a counterpart bill. In 2006, the bill reached only the second reading at the House./PN
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