The Anti-Discrimination Bill: AN ACT PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY AND PROVIDING PENALTIES THEREFOR

I did a little extra research on how the Anti-Discrimination Bill is faring in the current sessions of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. In the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights website (which is hosted under Sen. Chiz Escudero’s website), there is a list of six pages of bills which have been filed in the current session, their authors, and the status of each bill. I’m not sure when the page was last updated but the Anti-Discrimination Bill has not been read or filed yet. I certainly do hope a Senator sponsors the bill soon.

In the House of Representatives, the Anti-Discrimination Bill (House Bill 00956 – HB 634 in the 13th Congress – download PDF file here) has already been filed and is sponsored by Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel (PL – Anakbayan). The House Committee on Human Rights is now being chaired by Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III (4th District, Quezon City). The Committee’s former chair Rep. Bienvenido Abante, who once called homosexuality “morally reprehensible,” is still a member of the committee and holds the vice-chairmanship post.

Here are the details on HB 00956 from the 14th Congress website:

NO. HB00956

FULL TITLE : AN ACT PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY AND PROVIDING PENALTIES THEREFOR
SHORT TITLE : “Anti-Discrimination Act”
ABSTRACT : “Anti-Discrimination Act”. The bill cites the need to correct discrimination against lesbian and gays. It defines discriminating practices and provides penalties for violations.
BY CONGRESSMAN/WOMAN HONTIVEROS-BARAQUEL, ANA THERESIA “RISA”
DATE FILED ON 2007-07-10

REFERRAL ON 2007-08-01 TO THE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS
SIGNIFICANCE: NATIONAL
SUBJECT:SEX DISCRIMINATION

DATE READ: 2007-08-01

After the first reading, the bill is still pending with the House Committee on Human Rights(time and date Congress site accessed: 8:34 AM March 26, 2008).

It looks like it is good news, but sadly, the bill still has to go through a lot of stages. The image below, courtesy of Lagablab, explains how a bill becomes a law (a four-page PDF guide is available here):

So there you have it my friends, we still have a lot to work on to stop the numerous violations of our human rights.

Got this from the blog of gay activist extraordinaire Jonas Bagas:

Ten things you need to know about the Anti-Discrimination Bill:

Fight for equal rights for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBTs) by pushing for the passage of the Anti-Discrimination Bill (HB 956) authored by AKBAYAN Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel.

Here’s what the bill is all about:

Equal rights, not special rights. The bill does not grant additional or special rights to LGBTs. What it does is criminalize violations to the human rights and freedoms on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill affirms and promotes human rights and freedoms that are enshrined in the Constitution.

Equality in schools. The bill prohibits discrimination against LGBT students, which usually takes place through unfair admission policies, unjust expulsion, and unreasonable disciplinary actions.

Equal opportunities in employment. By criminalizing unfair labor practices and policies on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, the bill promotes decent jobs for LGBT workers.

…..Click here to read more

If you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans-gendered, or whatever term you like to call yourself, or if you are straight and support this call, I am urging all of you to write or talk to your respective districts’ congressman/woman (list of members of the House and their contact information) to prioritize the enactment of the Anti-Discrimination Bill. Let’s all unite to fight for our rights. And remember, we are just asking for equal rights, not special rights!

Contrary to some people’s belief, the Anti-Discrimination Bill does not have provisions for gay marriage. It is likewise not a precursor for a law enacting same-sex marriage.

Resources:

• Danton Remoto’s blog
• Lagablab
• House of Representatives Website
• Senate of the Philippines Website
• Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights Website
• Abante Vows to Block Anti-Discrimination Bill
• How a Bill Becomes a Law (PDF file) – A Guide by Lagablab
  
• The Anti-Discrimination Bill
• Contact Information of Members of the 14th Congress
• Ten Things You Need To Know About The Anti-Discrimination Bill

Last update: March 26, 2008 9:20 AM

Latest Update: June 3, 2008 11:50AM

Last week, I received an inquiry (through my YouTube channel) about gay marriage or any gay news coming from the Philippines. They are civil partners (one is Filipino) who live in Northern Ireland.
Here is their original message:

Hi There AJ

This is Ian and Roel in North East England(We live near Newcastle upon Tyne) I was actually looking through google for info on Gay News in the Philippines, Roel is from Las Pinas and we wanted to get more upto date news on whats going on regarding “Gay Marriage” and all that other legal stuff.. and your website might be just the ticket!

So many sites are either out of date or diffrcult to upload through po-ups or whatever..

Hope that you might be able to help?

Many Thanks

Ian & Roel (Civil Partners)

I was overwhelmed with the message and I’d like to thank Ian and Roel for trusting me to give them information about “Gay Marriage”. Everyday, I read about updates and news about gay marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnership laws being enacted in other parts of the world through various gay news feeds. However, that doesn’t make me an authority on gay marriage. So the views that you will see in the next block quote are mine alone and should not be construed as the view of all gay men in the Philippines.

Here’s my reply: Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to the

Bakla Polls Page

On this page, we will give you the results of the polls that we have conducted in various blog entries we have posted. Thank you for voting and have a fantabulously smashing day ahead!

Poll 1: Is David Archuleta Gay?

{democracy:2}

Poll found in this entry: Is David Archuleta Gay?

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Poll 2: Will you sign the petition to replace Janina San Miguel?

{democracy:3}

Poll found in this entry: A Petition to Replace Janina San Miguel

more polls soon…

In this third installment of the “Are You ‘A’ Gay?” video blog series for http://baklaako.com, AJ Matela wanders aimlessly around the Metro on a Good Friday.

Without any plans in mind, he went wherever his feet took him. By stroke of luck, he ended up in the Manila area where he found a calesa and he got to tour the historic walled city of Intramuros.

photos in this video can be found on my Flickr.

YouTube link.

It’s just the beginning of March but I can already feel the heat of summer! I love summer!

What does summer mean? Hot men in speedos frolicking on the beautiful waters of Boracay! Okay, not really speedos, more like board shorts. I’m sure many of you have started your diets and work-out training programs just to get ready for this hot and sizzling season. Poor little skinny me won’t be joining you in that endeavor though because I know it will be an effort in futility for me.

I will instead just take the road that many others out there take – fashion. I’m vain but my body does not really cooperate with me in this particular department. I may eat kilos and kilos of rice and work out till my last bone breaks and last muscle tears, but I will never gain weight or develop a well-defined musculature. And since I have already accepted this fact, I have resorted to using fashion to make me stand out. At the beach, I know that I cannot wear my jackets, sweaters, longsleeves, and pa-fashion items. And that leaves the choices for me quite limited. I’m left with just the board shorts, the slippers, the headgear, and the beachbag to pump me up and make me stand out.

Most of my friends know that I try, as much as I can, to avoid wearing the same board shorts and clothes to two different occasions, events, or places where I know I will be photographed (mostly by myself). I made that one big mistake of wearing the same board shorts in two different places and two different times. I did that but I have learned my lesson and I learned it well. So now, I’ve become choosy with the things that I will be wearing to the beach. I know that for non-water-sports enthusiatsts like me, it’s all about style when choosing apparel to wear to the beach.

At one point in my life, I have become a self-proclaimed surfer dude, thanks to basic lessons from the good gentlemen of Onboard Philippines. More thanks though to the availability of a surf board in the same vicinity as that of a dSLR. I enjoyed surfing in Lanuza, Surigao last year but I got more excitement from the attention that my surfer dude photo got online (about 2 men said it was hot, or was it just one and the second person myself?).

I have previously written about the joys of surfing, but let me tell you that this counterculture is booming. My friends at work recently went on a surf trip to La Union. No thanks to my schedule, I wasn’t able to join them. But since I was a notch above the first-timers (owing to the fact that surfers of great caliber taught me – Paolo Soler and Lui Tortuya – among others), I gave out a lot of unsolicited advice.

The unsolicited advice though was more on the clothes and accessories that will make them stand out. Some were looking for good quality rash guards and board shorts. I initially thought of Aloha Boardsports, which was initially pitched to us when we went surfing in Lanuza. Unfortunately, Read the rest of this entry »

Thank you for buying me a drink!

Click here to go back to the main page.

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Instead of posting a boring recap of what happened during the first year of Bakla Ako, we are posting a thank you video [to be posted really soon...]

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We’d like to thank everyone for all your support! There’s just too many people we’d like to give our utmost gratitude to. If we haven’t mentioned your name in the video, please accept our apologies. You know who you are and we thank you for the support.

2008 will be a better and brighter year for Bakla Ako, May Reklamo and we are committed to give you the best we can.

To all gay men and women, all straight but gay-friendly bloggers and friends, maraming maraming salamat po sa inyong suporta. Salamat dahil Bakla Ako, Wala Kayong Reklamo!