Social Inclusion: Securing Social and Economic Safety Nets for the LGBTQI+ Sector

Posted on January 23, 2019

By Marj Ibanez


January 23, Tacloban City –– Representatives of  the LGBTQI+ community in Eastern Visayas gathered in a round table discussion on January 23 to identify the challenges that the sector continues to face in terms of accessing the government’s social protection programs. 

Among the key concerns highlighted by the participants are the lack of economic opportunities for the sector and the discrimination that they experience during job applications.

Ruby Alvarez, representative of the Sta. Margarita Buklod Association and a citizen-member of Community-Based Advocacy Monitoring Groups (CBAMG), shared that private companies inquire about an LGBT applicant’s gender identity during the interview. “What color do you belong? Black or white?” she recalled being asked, adding that one’s gender often affects their chance of getting to the next part of the screening. 

Because the focus is on the applicant’s appearance, their qualifications are often overlooked. “Guard pa lang hinaharang ka na,” Jay-ar Costambienes, also the team leader of the Community-based Advocacy and Monitoring Group (CBAMG) of San Jorge, Samar, said. There were also instances when LGBT applicants had been asked to cut their hair or change the way they look before getting hired.

The group also lamented that most of the companies who are accepting of the LGBTQI+ community are in Metro Manila. Costambienes noted, however, that government agencies, even in the provinces, accept applicants regardless of gender as long as they are qualified and have met all of the requirements.

The participants also pointed out that there are limited economic opportunities for the sector, citing their exclusion even in the government’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP). 

“There’s a stereotype that gays are wasteful with money. What society fails to consider is that most of the LGBTQI+ are breadwinners of their own families,” one participant said.

According to the participants, livelihood programs that can benefit the sector include poultry/piggery, bee farming, garments/textiles, event organizing, upholstery and catering.

Due to the limited economic and employment opportunities available for the sector, most of them work in the informal sector to support their everyday living. 

Their primary means of earning money, according to the participants, is by doing side jobs (rakets) such as joining pageants, skirting tables, doing make ups, hosting events, and driving motorcycles (habal-habal). 

However, due to the intermittent nature of their incomes, they don’t think about applying for long-term social insurance programs such as SSS anymore. Those working in the informal sectors live on a day-to-day basis, they said, and whatever they earn is only enough to survive the present.

Another point raised is the non-inclusion of the sector when it comes to general legal processes. For instance, Alvarez shared that when she tried to comply with the child adoption process as prescribed by the DSWD, the officers questioned her eligibility.

“Gay ka naman [eh]... dapat ‘yung mga nanay na nabuntis [You’re gay… it should be the mothers who got pregnant].” In her defense, Alvarez replied, “Papiliin ko kaya kayo… ‘yung nanay na hindi nagpaka-nanay o yung ‘gay’ na nagpaka-nanay [Let me have you choose… the mother who did not own up to be a mother or the ‘gay’ who owned up to be a mother]?

In the end, she was still not allowed to finish the process for legal adoption.

Other issues mentioned were related to HIV awareness and prevention, discrimination in evacuation centers during conflicts and disasters, violence committed against the sector, and the lack of social acceptance, even within their own families.

“Until now we’re still looking for the opportunity that we can get from the government, but there is really none,” a member of San Julian Pride said. The organization, with the tagline “Rural and Equal,” has long been known in their own community.

Mainly relying on their own efforts, they strongly lobbied for the passage of an anti-discrimination ordinance in their town back in 2014. The group also continues to fight for a myriad of progressive reforms such as the presence restrooms exclusive to LGBT members and schools that allow transgender women to wear female uniforms.

At the national level, advocates are currently pushing for the passage of the SOGIE Equality Bill, also known as the Anti-Discrimination Bill (ADB), a landmark move when it comes to the government’s policy-making approach. Yet Reuben James Barrete, National and Local Liaison Coordinator (NLLC) of the SP project, notes the gap between policy-crafting approach in the rural and national levels.

“There is a disconnect in terms of bringing the LGBT issue to the national level since the current policies being lobbied for are Manila-centric. It is very important to also give focus on the economic aspect of the issue since I rarely hear about it on the national level discourse. It’s always about marriage equality or the freedom to express themselves. While in the rural area, members of the LGBT are asking help for the fulfillment of their basic needs,” Barrete said.

Cezanne Panay, Plan International’s Social Protection Specialist, stressed that universal laws should include explicit provisions for the LGBTQI+. “The concept of social protection is that every single person must be under the auspices of equality and equity. In terms of equality, it suggests that each of us should see each other as a fellow human being. For equity, it means that each of us must get a share of the bread which is made available for all of us,” she said.

Barrete reiterated the underlying importance of internalizing the differences between tolerance, acceptance, and social inclusion. “Social inclusion means that the government already recognizes and attends to your needs, whereas acceptance is only at the household or community level. On the other hand, tolerance means that people recognize the existence of the sector and refrains from discriminating them verbally but still harbors judgment against the LGBTQI+.”

 

The RTD was organized by the Philippine Consortium on Social Protection composed of Plan International, INCITEGov, and the Eastern Visayas Network of NGOs and POs, with support from the European Union. The inputs gathered during the discussion will be presented and communicated with government agencies and sectoral groups in the upcoming National Sectoral Consultation in Manila.

Written by Michael John Mago