The year 2021 brings the struggle to pass an anti-discrimination law or SOGIE Equality legislation to already 21 years. Having been pending in Congress for 21 years, and now on the 18th Congress, the SOGIE Equality Bill as well as the Comprehensive Anti-Dsicrimination Bill remained pending. Discussions of the SOGIE Equality Bill revealed a strengthened resistance from the opposition - questions were raised regarding the inclusion of gender identity, of intersex, and lengthy discussion as well on academic and freedom and religions were raised in relation to the prohibited acts under the proposed law. While the Bill remained pending, there were however, positive developments in the LGU levels - there were Anti-Discrimination Ordinaces passed in 2020 in Zamboanga City and in Manila. In 2021, a localization of the Safe Spaces Act was adopted in Negros Occidenta56l, this meant clearer operationalization regarding gender based sexual harassment in public spaces including penalization of sexist, misogynistic, homophobic and transphobic remarks. The first six months of 2021 also saw several cases of discrimination against members of the LGBTQI Community. Foremost in the list is the killing and rape of a transmusculine person, Ebeng Mayor in Quezon City. Another is the case of discrimination against 6 women in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. In this case, the hair of six women between the ages of 16 and 20 were publicly shaved for being lesbinas.57 and the reason cited is that Isalm prohibits and does not accept homosexuality. It was also reported that the shaving stemmed from a parents’ complaint. In response to this, the Commission’s regional office in Region XII coordinated with the Human Rights Commission of BARMM to conduct monitoring and investigation of the case. They also attended the dialogue set by the City with the parents and religious leaders. The Commission’s central office for its part issued a statement in response to the public shaving - stressing that religious belief cannot justify human rights violations and no person should ever suffer discrimination and harm on the basis of one’s affiliation or creed, or because of one’s affiliation or creed, or because of a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity and exprssion, or sex characteristics (SOGIESC).58 In another report to the Commission’s GBV portal, a lesbian complained of her exclusion from government provided social amelioration programs. She was told that she does not qualify as a beneficiary as she and her partner are not considered a family. In another report, a deaf lesbian was raped by three men during a drinking session. Videos of the violation was posted on line. In this case, the Commission responded by assisting the survivor by providing for her sign language interpreter and seeking medico legal service amidst government imposed ECQ. Letters were written to Facebook for the takedown of posts. The survivor was also referred to IDEALS who assisted her eventually in filing her case. She was also connected to the Barangay for her vaccines and to CSOs like EngendeRights for LGBT focused support during the pandemic. The continuing violence and discrimination againt members of the LGBTQI community, the continuing resistance of lawmakers to the passage of the SOGIE Equality bill highlight the continuing 56 Negros Occidental strengthens push for safe spaces with local ordinance. Rappler. 29 November 2021. https://www.rappler.com/nation/negros-occidental-strengthens-safe-spaces-local-ordinance/ 57 Maguindanao community shaves women heads to punish them for being lesbians. GMA News Online. 10 June 2021. https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/regions/791070/maguindanao-community-shaves-women-s-heads-to-punishthem-for-being-lesbians/story/ (accessed 31 August 2021) 58 19