The list is dark and growing. Donna Nierra, Jennifer Laude, Jessa Remiendo, and Heart Pontanes. These are just some names–lives–who lost to violence against transgender people for the past few years. While the details of their cases differ, it is clear that the demand to end all forms of violence, intensely fueled by prejudice against trans people, remains the common denomination.
As we mourn those we have lost, it is vital to work toward justice and equality and look at how we have been turning a blind eye to the violence against transgender people.
Deadnaming A Trans Person Is Violence
When we deny calling them by their preferred names, we deny them justice. It’s essential to tell the story of our trans brothers and sisters as they are.
“This simple act means: while we live in a country that still denies us of gender recognition and dismisses the value of our being transgender, you recognize our existence, and you put value in our truths.“ Mela Franco Habijan wrote in a Facebook post. When the media chooses to deadname transgender people, it reinforces transphobia and invalidates their whole existence. It denies trans people not just their identities, more importantly, their humanity.
For transgender people, deciding they are changing the name given at birth is an affirming step in the process of transition. It allows them to begin and see the gender they recognize themselves to be. Unfortunately, some people refuse to adhere to a trans person’s new, affirmed name. This may seem like a minute, often neglected and insignificant detail, but for trans people, one’s old name does not represent who they are–more often a painful past that they’ve worked hard to move away and forward from.
Safe Spaces, Safe Places
This is something most of us take for granted and is a setback for transgender people. Last year, a transgender woman named Gretchen Diez, was blocked to use a public toilet for women in a mall in Quezon City. Verbal and physical abuse is not just a violation of identity but their fundamental rights, most especially when implementers of the Safe Spaces Act do not fully and effectively enforce the law’s promise.
SOGIE Equality Bill
Not unless measures such as legislation are not passed to afford the LGBTQI+ community their rights as people fully, the demand for concrete acts to end systemic violence to affirm trans and LGBTQI+ lives continues.
The House of Representatives passed the SOGIE bill on third and final reading in 2017, but its counterpart languished in the Senate. There is a constant need to call upon the Philippine government to take the necessary steps to protect our trans brothers and sisters.
The passing of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) Equality bill has long been overdue. It is surprising, that something so fundamental, is still up for discussion when it’s only aiming to protect citizens’ fundamental rights.
Support Causes and Awareness
Advocates are once again pushing for the SOGIE bill to protect the LGBTQIA+ community in the Philippines. While the country is thought to be an LGBTQIA+-friendly country, many Filipinos are still profoundly Catholic, with conservative views on the issue.
However, a growing and dedicated movement is fighting for the community’s rights, with the hashtag #TransLivesMatter and #SOGIEEqualityNow trending online whenever national LGBTQIA+ issues arise.
Bahaghari, an LGBTQIA+ organization, local organizations have launched a crowdfunding drive for the funeral and burial of slain transgender woman Donna Nierra. Now, more than ever, with more and more tragic incidents that mark a need for change, the call is even louder for us to show and voice out support in action, and not let the cause end to become not just another forgotten hashtag.