Senate Bill No. _ __
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We still see, for instance, employment practices that prioritize single over married job
applicants, despite the fact that there is no empirical link between a person's civil status and his
or her job performance. There are also other cultural practices that suppress an individual's
right to practice his or her religion, faith, or cultural belief. Moreover, many Filipinos in
indigenous communities have yet to be fully integrated into the workforce; ignorance about
their cultural practices often leads to stigma and marginalization.
Moreover, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual (LGBT) community continues to be
oppressed through various forms of cruelty by society at large, primarily because of
misconceptions and ignorance. LGBT students, for instance, are refused admission or expelled
from schools due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. Companies block the promotion
of LGBT employees due to the deeply embedded notion that homosexuality is an indication of
weakness. Laws such as the anti-vagrancy law are also abused by law enforcement agencies to
harass gay men. Government offices restrict or delay the delivery of services to deserving
individual/s due to discrimination.
In a democratic SOCiety that claims to give equal access and opportunity to each of its
citizens, many Filipinos are still treated as "second-class citizens" when they try to exercise the
rights to which they are rightfully entitled.
There is, therefore, an urgent need to define and penalize practices that unjustly
discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, race, religion or belief, political inclination, social class,
sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, civil' status, medical
condition, or any other status. In view of the foregoing, and of the need to correct the longstanding discrimination against marginalized communities in Philippine society, the early
passage ofthis bill is earnestly urged.
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