FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION TO

LGBT STUDENTS IN THE

PHILIPPINES

A term paper

presented to the Department of English

Vicente L. Basit Memorial High School

Awitan, Daet, Camarines Norte

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE COURSE REQUIREMENTS

IN ENGLISH 10

Submitted by:

KARL O. DELIVA

Grade 10 – Zeus

January, 2019
 APPROVAL SHEET

In partial fulfillment of the course requirements in English 10, this term

paper entitled “Forms of Discrimination to LGBT Students in the Philippines”
has been prepared and submitted by Karl O. Deliva, who is hereby
recommended for oral deliberation,

RECOMMENDATION APPROVAL

Approved by:

RHEUBEN G. RIGON

English Facilitator

___________________________

Date

i
 FACILITATOR’S APPROVAL SHEET

This term paper entitled “Forms of Discrimination to LGBT Students in

the Philippines” has been prepared and submitted by Karl O Deliva in partial
fulfillment of the course requirements in English 10, is hereby accepted and
approved after having been presented in an oral deliberation.

RHEUBEN G. RIGON

English Facilitator

ii
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The researcher wishes to extend his heartfelt gratitude and recognition to

all the people who heartedly helped in many varied ways the realization of this
humble work. Special mention goes to the following persons:

To Mr. Rheuben G. Rigon, his adviser, for his guidance and unselfish
support, advice and help which gave depth substance in organizing this labor of
love.

To his beloved parents and guardians, for their financial assistance and
moral support so as to his sister who kept on giving their love and
understanding and serve as inspirations to pursue this study.

To his friends and loved ones who are always there to accompany him
with their prayers.

Above all, to Almighty God with whom he is indebted with the strength,
courage and determination in the fulfillment of the study.

The Researcher

iii
 DEDICATION

This humble work is sincerely and lovingly dedicated to our Almighty God,
who gave me powerful effort in overcoming the trials that I encountered.

To my beloved parents and sisters who gave me financial support in

completing this research.

To my classmates, friends and loved ones who provided the much needed
moral support and inspiration, this paper is dedicated.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE

Title Page …………………………………………………………..

Approval Sheet …………………………………………………… i

Facilitator’s Approval Sheet ……………………………………... ii

Acknowledgment …………………………………………………… iii

Dedication ………………………………………………………….. iv

Table of Contents …………………………………………………… v

Introduction …………………………………………………… 1

Statement of the Problem ……………………………………… 3

Background …………………………………………………… 4

Existing Protection for LGBT Youth and their Limitations ……. 6

Effects of Bullying and Discrimination ……………………….... 9

Bullying and Harassment ……………………………………… 10

Intervention and Reporting ……………………………………… 18

Creating a Hostile Environment ……………………………….. 20

School Enforcement of Stereotyped Gender Norms …………… 21

Gender Classifications ……………………………………………… 27

Hostility Toward Same-Sex Relationship …………………………. 28

Pressure to Conform to Stereotype ……………………………….... 29

Exclusion from Curricula and Resources ………………………….. 32

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Counseling and Support ………………………………………….......... 39

Philippines’ Legal Obligations to Protect LGBT Students ……… 43

Recommendations ………………………………………………. 50

Bibliography ……………………………………………………… 53

vi
 INTRODUCTION

Schools should be safe places for everyone. But in the Philippines,

students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) too often find
that their schooling experience is marred by bullying, discrimination, lack of
access to LGBT- related information, and in some cases, physical or sexual
assault. These abuses can cause deep and lasting harm and curtail student’s
right to proper and safe education, protected under Philippine and international
law.

In recent years, lawmakers and school administrators in the Philippines

have recognized that bullying of LGBT youth is a serious problem, and
designed interventions to address it. In 2012, the Department of Education
(DepEd), which oversees primary and secondary schools, enacted a Child
Protection Policy designed to address bullying and discrimination in schools,
including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The following year, Congress passed the Anti-Bullying Law of 2013,

with implementing rules and regulations that enumerate sexual orientation and
gender identity as prohibited grounds for bullying and harassment. The
adaption of these policies sends a strong signal that bullying and discrimination
are unacceptable and should not be tolerated in educational institutions.

But these policies, while strong on paper, have not been adequately
enforced. In the absence of effective implementation and monitoring, many
LGBT youth continue to experience bullying and harassment in school. The
adverse treatment they experience from peers and teachers is compounded by
discriminatory policies that stigmatize and disadvantage LGBT students and by
the lack of information and resources about LGBT issues available in schools.

1
 This report is based on interviews and group discussions conducted in 10
cities on the major Philippine islands of Luzon and the Visayas with 76
secondary school students or recent graduates who identified as LGBT or
questioning, 22 students or recent graduates, who did not identify as LGBT or
questioning, and 46 parents, teachers, counselors, administrators, service
providers and experts on education.

It also examines three broad areas in which LGBT students encounter

problems – bullying and harassment, discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation and gender identity, and a lack of information and resources – and
recommends steps that lawmakers, DepEd, and school administrators, should
take to uphold LGBT students right to a safe and affirming educational
environment.

The main purpose of this study is to explain the impact of discrimination

to LGBT students in the Philippines.

The paper also aims to enhance awareness of the importance of showing

respect and understanding of the LGBT community. It also aims to promote
programs to solve the problems.

This paper will discuss the overall implications of discrimination to

LGBT students. It will also show the forms of discrimination to LGBT
students. It will discuss the case against discrimination to LGBT students.

2
 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that there are 1.9 million
students from both public and private schools that belongs to LGBT. In this
number, they are experiencing forms of discrimination. The Commission on
Higher Education (CHED) and the Department of Education (DepEd) are
framing ways to address the problem.

This Research Paper aims to answer the following questions:

1. What is discrimination?
2. Who are considered as member of LGBT community?
3. What are the forms of discrimination that the LGBT community
experience in the field of education?
4. Why is the LGBT community discriminated?
5. How can the government help lessen the burden of the LGBT
community?

3
Background
The Philippines has a long history of robust LGBT advocacy. In 1996,
LGBT individuals and groups held a solidarity march to commemorate Pride in
Manila, which many activists describe as the first known Pride March in Asia.
Lawmakers began introducing bills to advance the rights of LGBT people in
the country in 1995, including variations of a comprehensive anti-
discrimination bill that has been reintroduced periodically since 2000.

In the absence of federal legislation, local government units across the

Philippines have begun to enact their own anti-discrimination ordinances that
prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
As of June 2017, 15 municipalities and 5 provinces had ordinances prohibiting
some forms of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender
identity. Attitudes toward LGBT people are relatively open and tolerant; a
survey conducted in 2013 found that 73 percent of Filipinos believe “society
should accept homosexuality,” up from 64 percent who believed the same in
2002.  President Rodrigo Duterte has generally been supportive of LGBT rights
as well. During his time as mayor, Davao City passed an LGBT-inclusive anti-
discrimination ordinance, and on the campaign trail, he vocally condemned
bullying and discrimination against LGBT people.

Nonetheless, many of the basic protections sought by activists remain

elusive. A bill that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation—
and in later versions, gender identity—in employment, education, health care,
housing, and other sectors has been regularly introduced in Congress since
2000. The Anti-Discrimination Bill, or ADB, passed out of committee in the
House of Representatives for the first time in 2015, but never received a second
reading on the House floor and never passed out of committee in the Senate. In
the current Congress, the ADB has passed out of committee in the Senate for
the first time, but at time of writing, it has not yet passed out of committee in
the House.

The anti-discrimination ordinances that have passed in the absence of

federal legislation remain largely symbolic, as Quezon City is the only local

4
government unit to follow the passage of its ordinance with implementing rules
and regulations that are required to make such an ordinance enforceable. Even
if fully enforced, these municipal and provincial ordinances would collectively
cover only 15 percent of the population of the Philippines.

In a pair of decisions, the Supreme Court limited the possibility of legal

gender recognition, ruling that intersex people may legally change their gender
under existing law but transgender people may not. The Philippines does not
recognize same-sex partnerships, and although Duterte signaled openness to
marriage equality in early 2016 while campaigning for the presidency and his
legislative allies promised to support same-sex marriage legislation, he
appeared to reverse course and express opposition to marriage equality in a
speech in early 2017. Moreover, HIV transmission rates have soared in recent
years among men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women, due
to a combination of stigma, a lack of comprehensive sexuality education,
barriers to obtaining condoms, and laws that prevent children under age 18
from purchasing condoms or accessing HIV testing without parental consent.

Many of the efforts to advance LGBT rights have met with resistance
from the Catholic Church, which has been an influential political force on
matters of sex and sexuality. While the CBCP rejects discrimination against
LGBT people in principle, it has frequently opposed efforts to prohibit that
discrimination in practice. In 2017, for example, the Church sought
amendments to pending anti-discrimination legislation that would prohibit
same-sex marriage and allow religious objectors to opt out of recognizing
LGBT rights. It has also resisted efforts to promote sexuality education and
safer sex in schools.

The Church vocally opposes divorce, euthanasia, abortion, total

population control, and homosexual marriage—which it groups under the
acronym “DEATH”—and rejects recognition of LGBT rights with particular
fervor when it is concerned those rights might eventually open the door to
same-sex unions. Beyond its influence in law and policy, the Church has
shaped attitudes toward homosexuality and transgender identities throughout

5
the country; citing religious doctrine, teachers, counselors, and other authority
figures often impress upon students that it is immoral or unnatural to be LGBT.

In spite of this opposition, activists’ lengthy efforts to engage

policymakers on LGBT issues have led to important protections for LGBT
youth, as discussed below. But these protections have not been effectively
implemented. They will need to be strengthened and expanded if they are to
uphold the rights of LGBT youth in schools.

Existing Protections for LGBT Youth and Their Limitations

Child Protection Policy
In 2012, DepEd enacted a Child Protection Policy, which it describes as
a zero tolerance policy for any act of child abuse, exploitation, violence,
discrimination, bullying and other forms of abuse. Among the acts prohibited
by the policy are all forms of bullying and discrimination in schools, including
on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The policy requires all public and private schools to establish a child
protection committee, which is to draft a school child protection policy to be
reviewed every three years; develop programs to protect students and systems
to identify, monitor, and refer cases of abuse; and coordinate with parents and
government agencies. The Child Protection Policy also details a clear protocol
for handling bullying incidents and dictates that investigation by school
personnel and reporting by the school head or schools division superintendent
should be swift.

As advocates have pointed out, however, monitoring and

implementation of the Child Protection Policy is uneven. One analysis notes
that unfortunately, no monitoring is done on its implementation and hence
whether it is helping LGBT children in schools. A collective of LGBT
organizations in early 2017 concluded such mechanisms did not deter the
prevalence of violence [LGBT] children experience. In interviews with Human

6
Rights Watch, advocates and school personnel noted that many child protection
committees are not trained to recognize or deal with LGBT issues, and
overlook policies and practices, discussed below, that overtly discriminate
against LGBT youth.

The Anti-Bullying Law

In 2013, the Philippine Congress passed the Anti-Bullying Law of 2013,
which instructs elementary and secondary schools to adopt policies to address
the existence of bullying in their respective institutions. At a minimum, these
policies are supposed to prohibit bullying on or near school grounds, bullying
and cyberbullying off school grounds that interferes with a student’s schooling,
and retaliation against those who report bullying. The policies should also
identify how bullying will be punished, establish procedures for reporting and
redressing bullying, enable students to report bullying anonymously, educate
students, parents, and guardians about bullying and the school’s policies to
prevent and address it, and make a public record of statistics on bullying in the
school.

The Anti-Bullying Law does not specify classes of students at

heightened risk for bullying. The implementing rules and regulations for the
law, however, explain that the term “bullying” includes gender-based bullying,
which refers to any act that humiliates or excludes a person on the basis of
perceived or actual sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). With the
promulgation of these implementing rules and regulations, the Philippines
became the first country in the region to specifically refer to bullying on the
basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in its laws.

The Anti-Bullying Law does not shield against all types of bullying,
however. It does not account for instances where teachers bully LGBT
youth. As described in this report, many students and administrators are
unaware of school bullying policies. Further, many students told Human Rights
Watch that they did not feel comfortable reporting bullying, or did not know
how to report bullying or what the consequences would be for themselves or

7
the perpetrator. The datasets that DepEd releases regarding reported incidents
do not disaggregate bullying on the basis of SOGI, so there is no available data
to identify when such bullying occurs or what steps might be effective in
preventing it.

As with the Child Protection Policy, the implementation and monitoring

of the Anti-Bullying Law has proven difficult. A United Nations Education,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report observed that only 38
percent of schools submitted child protection or anti-bullying policies in 2013,
and the low rate of submission has been attributed to a low level of awareness
of requirements of the Act and weak monitoring of compliance.

Comprehensive Sexuality Education

LGBT rights activists in the Philippines have long called for
comprehensive sexuality education in schools. In 2012, Congress passed the
Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law, which provides that the
State shall provide age- and development-appropriate reproductive health
education to adolescents which shall be taught by adequately trained
teachers. The law and its implementing rules and regulations require public
schools to use the DepEd curriculum and allow private schools to use the
curriculum or submit their own curriculum for approval from DepEd,
promoting a uniform baseline of information in both private and public
schools. In response to lengthy delays, President Duterte issued an executive
order in January 2017 requiring agencies to implement the law; in part, the
order instructs DepEd to implement a gender-sensitive and rights-based
comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in the school curriculum.

DepEd has previously incorporated some sexuality education materials

into school curricula, but implementation is uneven. The sexuality education
curriculum has not yet incorporated the recommendations developed by
experts, teachers, parents, students, and other stakeholders, nor has it been

8
accompanied to date by training to ensure that it is taught correctly and
effectively. At the time of writing, there were no sexuality education modules
targeted at LGBT youth.

Effects of Bullying and Discrimination

As DepEd and the Congress recognized with their initial efforts to
address bullying in schools, exclusion and marginalization can exact a
damaging toll on the rights and well-being of LGBT youth. In addition to the
documentation contained in this report, data collected by the Philippine
government, academics, and civil society organizations illustrate how bullying
and harassment, discrimination, and a lack of access to information and
resources are adversely affecting LGBT youth across the Philippines.

In the Philippines, as elsewhere, violence and discrimination place

LGBT youth at heightened risk of adverse physical and mental health
outcomes, including depression, anxiety, substance use, and suicide. As the
Psychological Association of the Philippines has noted, LGBT Filipinos often
confront social pressures to hide, suppress or even attempt to change their
identities and expressions as conditions for their social acceptance and
enjoyment of rights. Although many LGBTs learn to cope with this social
stigma, these experiences can cause serious psychological distress, including
immediate consequences such as fear, sadness, alienation, anger and
internalized stigma. This has been borne out in small-scale empirical studies on
LGBT youth and mental health in schools. One such study found that LGBT
high schoolers were preoccupied with stigma, violence, bullying,
discrimination in school, and anxiety over their future career prospects. Nor do
these problems end upon graduation from high school; another study
determined that LGBT college students exhibited extremely underdeveloped
emotional and social capacity because they continue to experience stigma,

9
prejudice and discrimination in the Philippine society that served as specific
stressors that have an impact on their emotional and social intelligent
behaviors.

On a broader scale, the increased risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts

for LGBT youth is evident in nationally representative data. The results of the
Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey 3, for example, indicate that 16
percent of young gay and bisexual men in the Philippines had contemplated
suicide, while only 8 percent of young heterosexual men had done so. Young
gay and bisexual men were also more likely to attempt suicide, with 39 percent
of those who had contemplated suicide actually attempting suicide, compared
to 26 percent of their heterosexual peers. A similar trend was evident for young
lesbian and bisexual women; 27 percent of young lesbian and bisexual women
contemplated suicide compared to 18 percent of young heterosexual women,
and of those who considered suicide, 6.6 percent of lesbian and bisexual
women made suicide attempts compared to only 3.9 percent of their
heterosexual peers. GALANG, a Philippine nongovernmental organization that
works with lesbian and bisexual women and transgender people, found even
higher rates among their constituencies. In a survey conducted in 2015,
researchers from GALANG found that 18 percent of LBT respondents, who
were almost all between the ages of 18 and 29, had attempted suicide

Bullying and Harassment

Whether it takes physical, verbal, or sexualized forms, in person or on
social media, bullying endangers the safety, health, and education of LGBT
youth.  Studies in the Philippines and elsewhere have found that, among young
LGBT people, low self-esteem and poor self-acceptance, combined with
discrimination was also linked to destructive coping behaviors such as
substance use or unprotected sex due to anxiety, isolation and depression.
Benjie A., a 20-year-old gay man in Manila who was bullied throughout his
education, said, “I was depressed, I was bullied, I didn’t know my sexuality, I

10
felt unloved, and I felt alone all the time. And I had friends, but I still felt so
lonely. I was listing ways to die.”

When schools are unwelcoming, students may skip classes or drop out of
school entirely. Felix P., a 22-year-old gay high school student in Legazpi,
said, “I’ve skipped school because of teasing. In order to keep myself in a
peaceful place, I tend not to go to school. Instead, I go to the mall or a friend’s
house. I just get tired of the discrimination at school.” Francis C., a 19-year-old
gay student from Pulilan, said, “I just felt like I was so dumb. I wanted to stay
at home, I didn’t want to go to school. And I would stay at home. Once I stayed
at home for two weeks.”

In many instances, the repercussions of bullying are long-lasting. Geoff

Morgado, a social worker, observed that for some students bullying turns into
depression, because they feel they don’t belong, and he believed that many
students drop out because they feel they don’t have a support group and feel
isolated. Student who skip class, forgo educational opportunities, or drop out of
school may experience the effects of these decisions throughout their lifespan.
As a UNESCO report on school bullying notes, exclusion and stigma in
education can also have life-long impacts on employment options, economic
earning potential, and access to benefits and social protection.

Physical Bullying
In interviews with Human Rights Watch, students described physical
bullying that took various forms, including punching, hitting, and shoving.
Most of the students who described physical bullying to Human Rights Watch
were gay and bisexual boys or transgender girls. These incidents persisted even
after the passage of the Anti-Bullying Law. Carlos M., a 19-year-old gay
student from Olongapo City, said: “When I was in high school, they’d push
me, punch me. When I’d get out of school, they’d follow me [and] push me,
call me ‘gay,’ ‘faggot,’ things like that.” Felix P., a 22-year-old gay high
school student in Legazpi, said, “People will throw books and notebooks at me,
crumpled paper, chalk, erasers, and harder things, like a piece of wood.” Benjie

11
A., a 20-year-old gay man in Manila, said that once a classmate pushed him
down the stairs at his high school, and added he still avoided his assailant as an
adult for fear of physical violence.

As detailed below, very few of the students interviewed reported

bullying to teachers, either because they felt that reporting would not resolve
the bullying or because they feared that reporting would lead to retaliation by
other students and make the situation worse. In some instances, teachers also
participated in harassment. Such behavior is not only discriminatory toward
students of different sexual orientations and gender identities, but deters
students from turning to teachers and administrators for help when they are
bullied or harassed by their peers.

Sexual Assault and Harassment

For many LGBT students, bullying is often sexual in nature. Eric
Manalastas, a professor of psychology at the University of the Philippines who
has studied LGBT youth issues, observed a theme of being highly sexualized
and sexually harassed, especially for the gender non-conforming male students.
Geoff Morgado, a social worker, described working with LGBT youth who
told him that other students “grab the hand, or arm lock the child, or they force
them into doggy style position. ‘This is what you want, right, this is what you
want?’” In interviews with Human Rights Watch, LGBT students described
similar patterns of harassment and sexual assault in schools.

Gabby W., a 16-year-old transgender girl at a school in Bayombong,

described a series of incidents that she experienced, including other students
attempting to strip off her clothes in public, being forced into a restroom and
sexually assaulted, and—on a separate occasion—being locked in a cubicle in a
men’s restroom and sexually assaulted.

Several gay or bisexual boys and transgender girls told Human Rights
Watch that their fellow students had subjected them to simulated sexual
activity or mock rape. Ruby S., a 16-year-old transgender girl who had

12
attended high school in Batangas, described “students acting like they were
raping me, and then my friends saying, oh you enjoyed it, he’s cute. One of my
classmates even said that LGBT people are lustful in nature, so it’s because
you’re a flirt.”

Gabriel K., a 19-year-old gay student who attended high school in

Manila, similarly noted his classmates would “grab my hands, and they’d touch
them to their private parts, and they’ll say to me that’s what gay is, that’s
it.” Jerome B., a 19-year-old gay man from Cebu City, recalled: “The worst
thing, physically speaking, is they would—ironically, they hate gays, but they
would dry hump me.… It was like rape to me. I felt violated.”

Other LGBT students recounted slurs and stereotypes that were highly
sexualized—for example, being catcalled in school or being labeled as sex
workers. Sean B., a 17-year-old gay student in Bayombong, recalled how other
students would shout “50 pesos, 50 pesos!” as he walked past, because they
think that we’re prostitutes.” Gabby W., a 16-year-old transgender girl at the
same school, said: “I feel bad about it—it’s so embarrassing. You’re walking
around hundreds of people, and they shout that… and that shapes the
perception of other people about us, that yelling by other people.” Melvin O., a
22-year-old bisexual man from Malolos, recalled how in high school “people,
especially the guys, would just sexually harass you, like you’re gay, you want
my dick, stuff like that.”

Rhye Gentoleo, a member of the Quezon City Pride Council, a city

commission designed to enforce LGBT rights protections, observed that LGBT
youth often face considerable pressure from heterosexual, cisgender peers to be
sexually active because they are LGBT: “And that’s how the LGBT kids are
being bullied as well. ‘Oh, you’re gay, can you satisfy me?’ They’re being
challenged, how far can you go as a gay, how far can you go as a lesbian. And
they have different ways of coping—some are hiding, but a lot of them are
taking the challenge, being sexually active, without thinking of the
consequences.” As discussed below, the sexualization of LGBT youth is
exacerbated by the absence of LGBT-inclusive sexuality education, which

13
leaves many youth ill-equipped to protect themselves and their sexual health.

Verbal Harassment
The most common form of bullying that LGBT students reported in
interviews with Human Rights Watch was verbal harassment. This included
chants of “bakla, bakla,” “bayot, bayot,” “tomboy,” or “tibo,” using local terms
for gay, lesbian, or transgender students in a mocking fashion.

Daniel R., an 18-year-old gay student in Bacacay, said “People will say
gay—they’ll say ‘gay, gay,’ repeating it, and insulting us.” Ernesto N., a gay
teacher in Cebu City, observed, “Here in the Philippines, being called bayot,
it’s discrimination. It’s being told you’re nothing, you’re lower than dirt. That
you’re a sinner, that you should go to Hell.”

Many students described being labeled as sinners or aberrations. Leon

S., a 19-year-old gay student from Malolos, said that “students would say that
homosexuality is a sin.” Marco L., a 17-year-old gay student in Bacacay, said
that “people say ipako sa krus, that you should be crucified.”Gabriel K., a 19-
year-old gay student who attended high school in Manila, said people told gay
students “that you have to be crucified because you’re a sinner.”

Anthony T., a gay student at a high school in Cebu City, said: “Some of
my classmates who are religious say, ‘Why are you gay? It’s a sin. Only men
and women are in the Bible.’ And I say, ‘I don’t want to be like this, but it’s
what I’m feeling right now.’ Even if I try, I can’t change it. And if they ask
why I am a gay and why do I like gays, I say, ‘it is how I feel, I’ve tried, and I
can’t be a man.’”

Others described how they were treated as though they were diseased or
contagious. Felix P., a 22-year-old gay high school student in Legazpi, noted:
“Here, they call us ‘carriers’—there’s a stereotype that gays are responsible for
HIV. ”Benjie A., a 20-year-old gay man in Manila, recalled a classmate telling
him “don’t come near me because you’ll make me gay.”

Some students noted verbal harassment that was predicated on the idea

14
that their sexual orientation or gender identity was a choice. Analyn V., a 17-
year-old bisexual girl in Mandaue City, observed, “It is inevitable that they’ll
judge—like, you should date a real man instead of a lesbian because your
beauty is wasted.” Dalisay N., a 20-year-old panromantic woman who had
attended high school in Manila, said: “When I was walking with my girlfriend,
[other students] would tease us—they would say things like ‘it is better if you
have a boyfriend,’ or they would shout things like ‘you don’t even have a
penis.’”

The high levels of verbal harassment that LGBT youth faced in schools
had repercussions for their experiences in schools. Teasing prompted some
students to remain closeted, particularly in the absence of other positive
resources to counteract negative messaging. Jerome B., a 19-year-old gay man
from Cebu City, remarked, “For the majority of my life, I was in the closet. It’s
really hard for me to express what I feel. In my school, being gay is really—it’s
really the worst thing you could be. You’ll be treated like shit…. So being gay
was a curse, I thought for a long time.”

Some students altered their behavior or personality in an attempt to

avoid disapproval from classmates. Patrick G., a 19-year-old gay man who had
attended high school in Cainta, said:

They were teasing me for being effeminate. I developed this concept of

how a man should walk, how a man should talk. It became—maybe because of
them calling me malamya (effeminate), I became the person that I’m not. I was
forced to be masculine, just for them to stop teasing me.

Patrick’s experience is not unique. As one elementary school counselor

observed, youth are quite intimidated that kids will call them gay—even in
Grade Six, you can tell that they don’t want to be called gay or lesbian. When
verbal harassment became unbearable, some students removed themselves
from the school environment entirely. Ella M., a 23-year-old transgender
woman who had attended high school in Manila, noted that “verbal bullying
was why I transferred.”

15
 In addition to verbal harassment by peers, many LGBT students
described verbal harassment and slurs from teachers and administrators. Patrick
G., a 19-year-old gay man, said that at his high school in Cainta, “sometimes
teachers would join in with ‘bakla, bakla.’” Jerome B., a 19-year-old gay man
from Cebu City, said that “it really feels bad, because the only figure you can
count on is your teacher, and they’re joining in the fun, so who should I tell
about my problems?”

Often, disapproval from teachers was expressed in overtly religious

terms. Wes L., an 18-year-old gay student at a high school in Bacacay, said,
“My teacher in school told me that people are created by God, and God created
man and woman. They say that gays are the black sheep of the family, and
sinners. Danica J., a 19-year-old lesbian woman who had attended a high
school in Cainta, described how a teacher “told me not to be lesbian anymore,
and then he prayed over my head. He prayed for me. There were no supportive
teachers at the school.”

In some cases, disapproval from teachers was voiced in front of other

students, reinforcing the idea that LGBT youth are wrong or immoral. Gabriel
K., a 19-year-old gay student who attended high school in Manila, recalled
how a teacher brought him before his peers and “compared me to the others—
that being gay is not welcome into heaven, and made an example in front of the
whole class.” Benjie A., a 20-year-old gay man in Manila, recalled how a
teacher in elementary school called him and two other effeminate students in
front of her biology class to tell the students:

There’s no such thing as gays and lesbians. There’s man and woman,
and marriage is only between a man and a woman.” And I was only turning 12
—I hadn’t hit puberty at the time, and you’re telling me not to be gay!? How
could I even tell? And everyone was looking at me—I was like, okay, teacher,
I respect your religion, but come on, I’ve been bullied for five years. Haven’t I
had enough?

Cyberbullying
16
As students interact with their peers on social media and in other virtual spaces,
cyberbullying has increasingly impacted LGBT youth in schools. LGBT
students described anti-LGBT comments and slurs as well as rapidly spreading
rumors facilitated by social media.

Leon S., a 19-year-old gay student from Malolos, said: “They would
post things online, which is a far easier thing to do than say it personally.... I
would post something, and they would comment about my sexual orientation.
It was the usual, bakla, bading.” Marisol D., a 21-year-old transgender woman,
similarly noted, “Some of my friends would put comments like bakla, bakla on
my posts. You just ignore it… because if they see that you’re being affected
they’ll bully you more.” Carlos M., a 19-year-old gay student from Olongapo
City, said, “My classmates would post stuff online—memes against LGBT,
Satan saying ‘I’m waiting for you here.’”

Jack M., an 18-year-old gay high school student in Bayombong, was a

victim of rumors spread through social media: “They’ll make up stories. People
will tell others [online] that I had sex with a person, even if it’s not true.”

Cyberbullying also draws on stereotypes about LGBT students, and

particularly transgender women and girls, with harsh disapprobation for those
who were perceived to fall short of social expectations. Geoff Morgado, a
social worker, observed that:

There are lots of transwomen who are coming out on different platforms
on social media, and they’re really bullied. Because people will base it on the
looks—if you’re a transwoman, especially, they’ll say you’re not allowed to be
a trans woman because you’re too ugly, or your skin is so dark. They say you
have to be pretty, you have to be white, or you have to look like a woman
before they decide you’re a transgender woman.

Morgado added that many same-sex couples in schools must also

contend with comments on social media criticizing their conformity to gender
norms and the appropriateness of same-sex pairings.

17
Intervention and Reporting
Human Rights Watch heard repeatedly that schools fail to instruct
students about what bullying entails, how to report incidents when they occur,
and what the repercussions will be. As a result, many schools convey tacit
acceptance to perpetrators and leave victims unaware of whether or how they
can seek help.

Both the Child Protection Policy and Anti-Bullying Law require that
schools develop and convey policies regarding bullying and harassment.
Nonetheless, many students interviewed by Human Rights Watch indicated
they were unaware of the policies in place. Danica J., a 19-year-old lesbian
woman who had attended high school in Cainta, said, “We didn’t get any
information about bullying as high school students.” Others said they had
received some instruction on bullying, but it was incomplete or did not address
LGBT issues. Leon S., a 19-year-old gay student from Malolos, said “the
school did anti-bullying seminars, but it didn’t really address bullying about
your sexual identity—the seminar is more general in scope.”

When students do not know how to report bullying and harassment or do

not believe that reporting would be effective, they are unlikely to bring
incidents to the attention of teachers and administrators. Jerome B., a 19-year-
old gay man from Cebu City, said:

I would not tell the teacher. I was too ashamed. Because if I would tell
the teacher, they would say, oh, you’re such a gay person, you have such weak
feelings, you’re such a tattle tale. So I would just keep it to myself and endured
the harassment for a long time, until I graduated.

Some students attributed their reluctance to report bullying to the

negative messages about LGBT people they’d received from teachers. Students
identified negative messaging in various classes, including values education, a
subject taught throughout secondary school to instill positive values and morals
in Filipino youth. Although many students told Human Rights Watch that their
values education courses were largely secular and focused on topics like

18
respect and responsibility, others described overtly religious lessons that
disparaged LGBT people. Dalisay N., a 20-year-old panromantic woman who
had attended high school in Manila, remarked: “There’s a lot of teasing and
bullying, but we don’t talk about it with teachers or counselors. I think that’s
because of what they’re trying to teach us, in values education, things like
that.”

Interviews with LGBT students indicate that many teachers fail to

intervene when they witness bullying or harassment occurring or it is brought
to their attention, even since passage of the Anti-Bullying Law, which in turn
discourages students from reporting cases of bullying. Analyn V., a 17-year-
old bisexual girl in Mandaue City, said, “Teachers don’t step in. They think it’s
a joke. But some jokes are below the belt. We conceal being hurt because
maybe they think it’s overreacting.” “The teachers don’t say anything or get
mad —if they hear people saying bakla, they just smile or laugh,” said Felix P.,
a 22-year-old gay high school student in Legazpi. “Teachers might ask the
students to stop, but they don’t punish them. And as soon as they leave, the
bullying happens again.”

In some instances, teachers and administrators may not have intervened

because they had not received proper training or were unsure of their
responsibilities. In one interview, a high-level administrator at a high school in
Mandaue City remarked that she had never heard of the Anti-Bullying Law. In
another interview, a DepEd trainer and educator erroneously stated that the law
did not cover LGBT students.  According to Rowena Legaspi of the Children’s
Legal Rights and Development Center, uncertainty about existing protections
is due in part to the tendency for school administrators to simply adopt policy
templates from DepEd without tailoring them to the school environment,
undergoing training, or fully understanding what is being implemented.

As a coalition of Philippine organizations has noted, in many instances,

bullying and other forms of violence within the schools or education settings is
steered by institutional policies, for example, through gender-insensitive
curricula, SOGI-insensitive school policies (e.g. required haircuts and dress

19
codes), and a culture of bullying. As evidenced in the following sections, the
many forms of exclusion and marginalization that LGBT youth experience in
Philippine schools can reinforce one another. In schools where LGBT youth
lack information and resources, for example, they may struggle more deeply
with their sexual orientation or gender identity or be unsure where to turn for
help. In schools where policies discriminate against LGBT youth, they may be
placed in situations where bullying by peers is likely to occur and may feel
administrators are unlikely to help them.

Creating a Hostile Environment

In addition to bullying and harassment, LGBT students encounter
various forms of discrimination that make educational environments hostile or
unwelcoming. To ensure that all youth feel safe and included in schools, school
administrators should examine policies and practices that punish LGBT
students for relationships that are considered acceptable for their heterosexual
peers, restrict gender expression and access to facilities, and stereotype LGBT
youth in a discriminatory manner.

Discrimination takes a toll on LGBT students’ mental health and ability

to learn. Some students who encountered discrimination in schools reported
that they struggled with depression and anxiety. Others told Human Rights
Watch that discrimination made it difficult to concentrate on the material or
participate in class, or caused them to skip classes, take a leave of absence, or
drop out entirely.

Both the Philippine Constitution and the Philippines’ international treaty

obligations recognize a right to education. The UN Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights has emphasized that the right to education, like
other rights, must not be limited on the basis of sexual orientation or gender
identity. For educational environments to effectively serve all youth, they must
treat LGBT youth the same as they treat their non-LGBT peers.

20
School Enforcement of Stereotyped Gender Norms
Uniforms and Hair Length Restrictions
It is common practice for secondary schools in the Philippines to require
students to wear uniforms. Under these policies, the attire is gender-specific
and the two options, male or female, are typically imposed upon students
according to the sex they were assigned at birth.

In addition to clothing, many secondary schools have strict hair-length

restrictions for their students, particularly for boys. Almost all interviewees
reported that boys could not grow out their hair past ear-length or dye their hair
at their schools, and many also noted that girls were prohibited from wearing
their hair shorter than a permissible length.

Students whose gender expression differed from the norms associated

with their sex assigned at birth told Human Rights Watch how these
restrictions impeded their education. Students reported that being forced to
dress or present their selves in a manner that was inconsistent with their gender
expression made them unhappy and uncomfortable, lessened their
confidence, and impaired their concentration. As Del M., a 14-year-old lesbian
student who was allowed to wear the boys’ uniform, remarked, “It’s easier for
me to learn wearing the boys’ uniform.”

At many of these schools, students who did not conform to the uniform
and hair-length requirements faced disciplinary action. Common punishments
included being sent to the guidance or discipline offices and mandatory
community service. Ella M., a 23-year-old transgender woman who had
attended high school in Manila, described being punished solely on this basis
of her general gender presentation. She said that her school’s handbook
punished an “act of effeminacy,” not further defined, with “a conduct grade of
75, which basically means you did something really bad. I might as well have
cheated.”

For many transgender or gender non-conforming students, the strict

21
uniform and hair-length requirements were sources of intense anxiety and
humiliation, and in some cases led to extended school absences and even
leaving schooling entirely/

Marisol D., a 21-year-old transgender woman, said:

When I was in high school, there was a teacher who always went around
and if you had long hair, she would call you up to the front of the class and cut
your hair in front of the students. That happened to me many times. It made me
feel terrible. I cried because I saw my classmates watching me getting my hair
cut.

Other interviewees reported similar incidents in which teachers or

prefects would publicly call out students in violation of the restrictions and
forcibly cut their hair in front of the class.

Jerome B., a 19-year-old gay man, said that in his high school in Cebu City:

It applies for all boys. If your hair touches the ear and you don’t cut it,
the school will cut it for you, and they do it in front of your classmates. The
Student Affairs Officer who enforces the rules, once a month he would go to
each classroom and knock, and say, “All those with long hair go outside,” and
he would go one by one with these large, rusty scissors like the kind you see in
horror movies, and they’d cut our hair in front of everybody….
I think on purpose, he’d cut it very badly.

In most cases, teachers and administrators provided little to no

explanation for the hair-length requirements when students asked about the
policies at their respective schools. Felix P., a 22-year-old gay high school
student in Legazpi, told Human Rights Watch:

Before, I used to have long hair. I entered the school grounds, but the
school administrator asked me to cut [my] hair or else I couldn’t go in. So I
was forced to cut my hair and wear the male uniform.… There’s no
explanation about cutting the hair. I’ve asked them if having short or long hair

22
will affect my performance as a student, and the administrators say, “No, you
just have to cut your hair, you’re a boy.”

As Lyn C., a 19-year-old transgender woman in Manila, recounted,

gendered clothing requirements also extended to school-sponsored events such
as prom nights:

For our prom night, I asked our principal if I could wear a gown, but he
didn’t allow it. Back in high school I didn’t have long hair or makeup, so he
said, “What would you look like as a boy wearing a gown? It’s ridiculous!” I
felt really discriminated against. I had a friend who was also transgender and
we were both begging the administration but they wouldn’t allow it. They told
us that we would be an embarrassment to the school, that people would laugh
at us at prom, and that “You’re guys and you need to wear guys’ clothes.”

In some instances, students were able to request a full switch of the

uniforms according to their gender identity. However, agreements to alter
uniform requirements were usually not the result of consistently applied
policies designed to respect students’ right to free expression of their gender
identity, but rather of the compassion of a specific school administrator or
principal. In one of the few such cases Human Rights Watch documented, a
lesbian student was permitted to wear the boys' uniform primarily because the
school’s principal was himself openly gay and supportive of the petition.

Even when students are formally permitted to wear the uniforms of their
choice, however, school personnel at times harass or humiliate them in
practice. Gabby W., a 16-year-old transgender girl in high school in
Bayombong, told Human Rights Watch:

They’re questioning us about our makeup and dress… not only the
students, but the teachers too. It’s so disrespectful. We enter the gate and the
security guard will say, “Why is your hair so long, are you a girl?” And it
really hurts our feelings.

23
Uniform and Hair Length Restrictions in Universities
Although this report focuses on secondary schools, many interviewees
said they had experienced similar issues with uniform and hair-length
restrictions at the university level.

In some extreme cases, students who repeatedly “cross-dressed”—a term

that schools and some students used to describe gay, lesbian, or transgender
students expressing their gender in school—were suspended or even expelled.
According to Danica J., a 19-year-old lesbian woman at a university in Manila,
“people are punished if they violate the uniform policy. It’s like a disciplinary
action. They won’t let you in if you’re cross-dressing, and after a couple times,
you can be suspended or expelled.”

As one 19-year-old university student in Caloocan told Human Rights

Watch,

In our school, there are policies that if you cross-dress you will be
suspended for one day. Your freedom of expression is very limited. I know we
had policies against LGBTQ. We had hair-length restrictions—for guys, the
shaved hair has to be three inches on the side, four inches in the back. So every
time, if the hair passes three to four inches, the faculty will cut our hair. And
even here in the university, the handbook says male students must only have
hair to their ears.

Even in universities without formal uniform or hair-length policies,

however, transgender and gender-fluid students sometimes reported harassment
or reprisals from teachers, classmates, and administrators when they expressed
their gender. Patrick G., a 19-year-old gay man in Manila, said that despite a
policy at his university guaranteeing students the freedom to dress based on
their gender expression, he was aware of one case in which the Discipline
Office (DO) summoned a transgender woman to interrogate her about her
clothing: “She was within the scope of the policy, but the DO said, ‘Are you
not ashamed of what you’re wearing? Are you not thinking of how others will
think about how you dress?’”

24
 Dalisay N., a 20-year-old panromantic woman at a university in
Caloocan, said:

When I enrolled in college, I even talked to the head of the office for
student affairs, and told her I’m not comfortable wearing a skirt. They allow us
to wear slacks, but it’s different from the male uniform. And she said, “What
are you, you’re a female, right?” I was speechless.

The guards are also a headache. They’ll ask, “Why are you wearing
slacks? Why aren’t you wearing women’s shoes?” I tell them I’m not
comfortable wearing that. And sometimes they’ll even look me up and down
from head to toe, which is really uncomfortable.

Carlos M., a 19-year-old gay student at the same university, said that
university security guards forced transgender women to go home if they were
wearing makeup or long hair.

According to Lyn C., a 19-year-old transgender woman at a university in

Manila:

The first three years of my school days we were just hiding ourselves,
because if the guards and administration know that we’re transgender we’ll be
punished. When the guard knows you’re transgender, you’ll be sanctioned.
They’d send you to the discipline office… you’d get community service or
suspension. It was really difficult for us, to hide our very identities.

Lyn’s university removed its uniform and hair-length restrictions in

January 2017 after years of persistent advocacy from student groups. However,
even after the changes, some students still faced discrimination from teachers.

Several interviewees also told Human Rights Watch that they or their
classmates had dropped out of classes or transferred sections at their
universities to avoid conflicts with professors who were hostile to transgender
students.

Certain departments and colleges also tend to have more stringent

25
uniform and hair-length restrictions than their affiliated universities, often
forcing transgender students to conform in order to matriculate. Some students
and professors identified colleges of hospitality, management, and education
among those requiring gendered clothing, irrespective of the broader
university’s policies.

Access to Facilities
For students who are transgender or identify as a sex other than their sex
assigned at birth, rigid gender restrictions can be stressful and make learning
difficult. One of the areas where gender restrictions arose most often for LGBT
interviewees was in access to toilet facilities, known in the Philippines as
comfort rooms (CRs). Most interviewees said that their schools required
students to use CRs that aligned with their sex assigned at birth, regardless of
how they identified or where they were most comfortable. Some said that both
female and male CRs posed safety risks or made them uncomfortable, but that
all-gender restrooms were scarce.

Requiring students to use restrooms that did not match their gender
identity or expression put them at risk of bullying and harassment. Gabby W., a
16-year-old transgender girl in Bayombong, said that “boys peep on us when
we use the boy’s restroom,” and “they say we’re trying to have sex with them,
things like that.” Reyna L., a 24-year-old transgender woman, agreed: “Boys or
male persons are always vigilant when it comes to gays and transgenders. Any
time they see us going in the CR, they sometimes look at you like I’m going to
do something, with malice, or look at us like a maniac.” Because of this,
Gabby said, “Sometimes you don’t have a choice but to go home and use your
own restroom.”

Some schools punish students for using the CRs where they felt
comfortable. Ruby S., a 16-year-old transgender girl who attended high school
in Batangas, said:

I was called by the administration when I used the CR for the girls. They
said you’re not allowed to use it just because you feel like you’re a girl. They

26
used that as a black mark on my campaign for student council. They said, even
though he wants to be student council president, he doesn’t follow the rules.

Even students who were not formally punished described being

humiliated by faculty and staff policing gendered spaces. Alon B., a gay
teacher in Cebu City, said that the administration at the school where he taught
had posted “a printed sign that says only biological females are able to be in
this bathroom.”

At least one secondary school has created all-gender CRs that any person
can use regardless of their gender identity. But while some students may feel
more comfortable using all-gender CRs, others prefer to use the same CRs that
everybody else uses. Reyna L., a 24-year-old transgender woman, said, “I’d
like to use the female comfort room, and be treated as a normal person…. If I
can’t, I’d rather not use it at all. Allowing students to use CRs consistent with
their gender identity can be a simple and uncontroversial step that makes a
positive difference for transgender youth. Ella M., a 23-year-old transgender
woman from Manila, noted that when she transferred to a new high school:

I was able to use the girls’ bathroom, freely, since most of the peers were
really supportive. And there hasn’t been any incident of like adverse reactions
to some guys going into the girls’ bathroom. My teacher knew I was doing it—
he just warned me that some girls might get offended. But nobody complained.

Gender Classifications
Even when students identify as transgender, some teachers and
administrators insist on treating them as their sex assigned at birth. David O., a
high school teacher in Mandaue City, recounted a story in which a transgender
boy and his parent wanted the school to socially recognize him as a boy, but
another teacher insisted that the student was female and should be treated as a
girl.

Imposing strictly gendered activities and requiring students to participate

according to their sex assigned at birth can constitute discrimination and impair
the right to education. Human Rights Watch found that some schools require

27
boys to take physical education classes and girls to take arts classes, for
example, which reinforces stereotypes and deprives boys who want to pursue
art and girls who want to pursue sports of educational opportunities. It can also
be profoundly stigmatizing and uncomfortable for students. As Felix P., a 22-
year-old gay high school student in Legazpi, said: “During flag ceremony,
students used to line themselves up by male or female, and I think it’s really
difficult—which line should I go in? I don’t think I’m welcome in the boys’
group, and I’m not allowed to go in the women’s group.”

Hostility Toward Same-Sex Relationships

Many schools in the Philippines have policies restricting public displays
of affection among students, and outline those policies in student handbooks or
codes of conduct. Yet LGBT students reported that their relationships were
policed more carefully or punished more harshly than their non-LGBT peers.
In particular, young lesbian and bisexual women and transgender men who
attended exclusive schools—those that are only open to one sex—reported that
their friendships and relationships were closely scrutinized and policed by
school staff.

Juan N., a 22-year-old transgender man who had attended high school in
Manila, said:

When I was in high school, I had a girlfriend, but we were really careful
about it, because once it becomes known—especially to admins, who are
mostly nuns, and when your teachers know you’re in a relationship with
another woman, they try to correct you, they would reprimand you, give you
violations based on what you’ve done.

Angelica R., a 22-year-old bisexual woman who had attended high

school in Manila, said that more masculine girls were especially targeted to
keep them from becoming close with other girls:

If someone is really butch, our professors are always watching us.

They’re talking among themselves and student council to pinpoint who was
involved in same-sex relationships. There’s not much bullying among the

28
students, but it was oppression from the administration. I remember this
particular experience where one of our professors went into our class and said,
did you know, girls are for boys, girls are not for girls, we know who’s
involved in same-sex relationships, and if you don’t stand up, we’ll make you
stand up.… So as a result, some of my butch classmates would attempt to be
feminine, they would hide it, they would wear more feminine clothes. You
could see they were unhappy. It’s a struggle.

The same standards were not applied to heterosexual students, as

teachers and administrators acknowledged. Even a gay teacher defended this
double standard, citing social and religious conventions. Ernesto N., a gay
teacher in Cebu City, said of same-sex couples dating in schools: “It’s just like
having sex in school! Goodness! It’s really our culture.... For boys and girls it’s
okay, but not for LGBT.”

Pressure to Conform to Stereotypes

LGBT youth also described the pressure that teachers and administrators
imposed on them to act in a stereotypical fashion.

Many of the LGBT youth interviewed by Human Rights Watch

emphasized that, to the extent they were respected in school, they had earned
that respect by being better students than their peers. Often, this meant that
LGBT students were tasked with more work or responsibilities than other
students as part of the price they paid to be accepted and respected. Eric
Manalastas, a psychology professor at the University of the Philippines who
has conducted research on LGBT youth issues, found that:

Gay students or those who are out or coded as gay [are sometimes] given
extra work at school, including extracurricular work—being asked to be the
MC at an event, or fixing the stage for a performance, being asked to clean up
after school. Because of a stereotype that they’re reliable, or combine the best
of both male and female students, a kind of androgynous thing going on. I hear
that from students but also teachers—teachers who say, I love my gay students,
they’re so helpful, I ask them to stay after school. They’re tasked with

29
leadership roles.

In a similar vein, one university instructor told Human Rights Watch that
“as faculty members, we’re often delegating responsibilities to members of the
LGBT community because we know they’ll do it well.”Rodrigo S., a gay high
school teacher in Dipolog City, observed: “I guess there are pressures for gay
children—and I see this—to do really well in class, I guess, because that kind
of saves you from being bullied. Like, you ought to get somewhere so people
won’t make fun. A lot of my students wanted to excel in whatever they were
doing, being artistic, because they wanted to be accepted. A lot of my gay
students were at the top of the class.”

In interviews, it appeared that many LGBT students had internalized the

message that their acceptance as LGBT was conditional on being dutiful,
talented members of the school community. Virgil D., a 20-year-old gay man
in high school in Bacacay, said, “I think the gays should dress properly and be
responsible. And then they’ll be treated well.” Mary B., an 18-year-old
transgender woman in a high school in Manila, said:

For us to be better accepted, we’re taking proactive measures to be

accepted into the community. We’re setting good examples. We engage in
extracurricular activities, we organize events for the school, we stop bullying
when we see it, we promote child protection. We become model citizens,
model students, and it improves our stature.

Manalastas found that the demand to be “respectable” put a heavy

burden on LGBT students who did not conform: It may be that gay students are
warmly received, generally speaking, but if you’re characterized as one of the
indecent ones—perceived as very sexual, very loud, very gender non-
conforming or outré, it’s different. He added that LGBT people from lower
socioeconomic strata often face double discrimination, as exemplified by the
common insult baklang kalye—“you’re bakla and also you come from the
streets, you don’t have a proper house, you’re poor.”

Some students were keenly aware of these conditions and expressed

30
frustration with them, voicing a desire to be treated with the same inherent
respect as their non-LGBT classmates. Felix P., a 22-year-old gay high school
student in Legazpi, said:

Sometimes teachers say things like you have to respect gays and lesbians
because they’re the breadwinners for their family, they’re reliable, they’re good
at makeup, costume making, talent…. I’m proud of being gay—my teacher
says something good about being gay, but why do I have to earn that respect?
It’s not 100 percent good. Some of my gay classmates don’t have those talents,
and how does that make them feel?

Jerome B., a 19-year-old gay man from Cebu City, described another
stereotype that he found oppressive: the idea that gay males should be
entertainers, jokers, and talented performers. He said classmates and teachers:

…put so much pressure on me that because I’m gay, I should be comedic, I

should be funny all the time, I should joke—and I’m not that kind of person, to
crack jokes and sing and entertain. In our entertainment industry, gays are
usually presented as comic relief. And that’s okay at some point, but that’s it?
There’s more to being gay than being funny and entertainers. And because of
that, usually our job opportunities are being limited to being a hairdresser,
working at a salon, being a comedian. And I’d like to be a researcher or a
lawyer. We’re diverse people, like straight people.

When students and teachers reinforce these stereotypes, they put

pressure on those who do not fit preconceived notions of being gay and
constrain their education and employment options. In an interview with Human
Rights Watch, a local government official who had organized a job training
program for LGBT people noted that the program specifically trained LGBT
people to be clowns and hosts for pageants and other events.

Young lesbian women encounter different stereotypes. Dalisay N., a 20-

year-old panromantic woman who had attended high school in Manila,
observed that lesbian girls were particularly disadvantaged by teachers because
“the lesbian community, they don’t see us like that, like the gays, the creative

31
ones who do something artsy, that gay people are at the top of the list.” Instead,
according to Eric Manalastas, “the stereotype with lesbians is that they’re
dangerous, a danger to other female students. Not in terms of being violent, but
maybe as predatory. Or generally a bad influence—not good for moral
development—as though they aren’t also adolescents themselves.” In
interviews with Human Rights Watch, young bisexual women recounted how
teachers scrutinized girls they considered “butch” or masculine, and took steps
to separate them from other girls to prevent them from becoming close.

For youth who are transgender, pressure to “pass” according to their

gender identity and, for transgender girls, to achieve high standards of physical
beauty, were a serious source of stress for those who felt they lacked the ability
or resources to meet the expectations of others.

These stereotypes were among the most consistent themes in interviews

with LGBT youth. They illustrate how attitudes and informal practices, even
when well-intentioned, can place heavy expectations on LGBT youth and
undermine the notion that all youth are deserving of respect and acceptance.
They underscore the importance of anti-bullying efforts, information and
resources, and antidiscrimination policies that emphasize that all students,
regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, have rights that must be
respected in schools.

Exclusion from Curricula and Resources

When LGBT students face hostility in their homes, communities, and
peer groups, access to affirming information and resources is vitally important.
In interviews, however, few LGBT students in the Philippines felt that their
schools provided adequate access to information and resources about sexual
orientation, gender identity, and being LGBT.

As scholars have noted, heterosexism—or the assumption that

heterosexuality is the natural or preferable form of human sexuality—can take
two different forms in educational settings: (1) denigration, including overt
discrimination, anti-gay remarks, and other forms of explicit homophobia

32
against gay and lesbian students and teachers, or (2) denial, the presumption
that gay and lesbian sexualities and identities simply do not exist and that
heterosexual concerns are the only issues worth discussing. By neglecting or
disparaging LGBT youth, both forms of heterosexism, alongside
cisnormativity—the assumption that people’s gender identity matches the sex
they were assigned at birth, sometimes accompanied by denigration of
transgender identities—are harmful to the rights and well-being of LGBT
students in the Philippines.

A recent analysis of issues related to sexual orientation and gender

identity in the Philippines found that LGBT youth are often neglected in school
environments, particularly in light of strong constitutional protections for
academic freedom, which give schools considerable leeway to design curricula
and resources. In interviews with Human Rights Watch, LGBT students
described how the absence of information and resources proved detrimental to
their rights and well-being and why DepEd, lawmakers, and school
administrators should embrace inclusive reforms.

School Curricula
Very few of the LGBT students interviewed by Human Rights Watch
said they encountered positive portrayals of LGBT people as part of the school
curriculum.

In many cases, LGBT people were simply invisible, with no

acknowledgment that people are LGBT or discussion of LGBT history,
literature, or other issues. One study found that, in elementary school textbooks
required by DepEd:

Characters that portray femininity are always women, while men always
portray masculinity. There is a clear binary and strict gender attributes and
roles between the two genders; and both gender are always portrayed in a fixed
stereotypical manner…. Hence, with the strict portrayal of women as feminine
and continuously at home, while men are masculine as the breadwinner,
couples, as heterosexuals, are legitimized and naturalized, leaving no room for

33
other forms of sexuality…. These discourses do not leave any room for diverse
forms of family, such as single-headed families, families with overseas contract
workers, families that are cared for by young or aging people, homosexual
couples, to name a few. It only legitimizes the heterosexual couple and
renounces other forms.

Students confirmed that discussions of LGBT people in classes where

LGBT issues might arise—for example, history, literature, biology, or
psychology—are exceedingly rare. As Leah O., a 14-year-old bisexual girl in
Marikina, said, “The teachers don’t mention LGBT.” Alex R., a 17-year-old
gay boy from San Miguel, similarly noted, “I didn’t hear teachers say anything
about LGBT issues in class.”

Interviews with teachers and administrators illustrated why LGBT issues

are absent from the curriculum. Alon B., a gay teacher in Cebu City, recalled
how a gay student asked a question about LGBT identities, which he answered
in front of the class. Alon's department chair overheard the conversation and
reprimanded him, and relieved him of his teaching load the following semester.
One LGBT advocate recalled asking his aunt, who was a high school principal,
how LGBT issues were handled in the school: “She told me—I was surprised,
she said, ‘I don’t want to touch on that subject.’ And I asked why immediately,
and she said it was a sensitive issue…. They’re careful not to offend parents.”

Interviews with LGBT students suggest that when LGBT issues are
discussed in class, teachers frequently portray them in a negative light. Often,
this was the case in values education or religion classes, which were offered in
public as well as private schools but often had a strongly Catholic orientation.
Juan N., a 22-year-old transgender man who had attended high school in
Manila, said that in theology classes, “There would be a lecture where they’d
somehow pass by the topic of homosexuality and show you, try to illustrate
that in the Bible, in Christian theology, homosexuality is a sin, and if you want
to be a good Christian you shouldn’t engage in those activities.” Jessica L., a
22-year-old transgender woman from Pampanga province, noted how
challenging this was as a student who was questioning her gender identity:

33
“Teachers would say, oh God only created man and woman, and so I’m like
who created me, I want to know? And who created us? So we’re the
imperfections of God? It’s so hard. It’s like you’re taking the bull by the horns
every day.”

Ernesto N., a gay teacher in Cebu City, recalled walking down a hallway
past a class being taught by a values education teacher, who “says that you
should not be gay because you will go to hell. You will no longer go to
heaven.” One values education teacher explained why she taught students that
a proposed anti-discrimination bill protecting LGBT rights was wrong:

I informed them of the SOGI bill, I told them that it will become a law
soon. For some of us Christians it’s alarming, because for example two boys
will be approaching a priest, and will ask them to be married. And if the priest
wants to marry them, again as Christians, we have this kind of same-sex
marriage, what can be next—it’s a slippery slope, there will be sexual
intercourse, I don’t think that will be good.

Juan N. said, “I remember even in a physics class, we had the topic of

negative and positive attraction, and negative doesn’t attract, and [the teacher]
said men are for women only, and never men for men or women for women.
And I remember it because it came out of nowhere—we were talking about
magnets!” In a speech class, Ruby S., a 16-year-old transgender girl who had
attended high school in Batangas, recalled delivering a presentation “about
coming out, coming out of your shell, coming out as a gay man—which I was
then—and I said coming out was a good thing to do, but the teacher
commented, ‘I support you gay people, but if you have a relationship with a
man, it’s a sin,’ the Bible says this, the Bible says that.” Pablo V., an 18-year-
old gay student who attended high school in San Jose, said: “In our school, we
presented a play—there’s a gay character—and then our principal told me that
it’s not possible for us to present because there’s a gay character in our
presentation.”

Without training teachers about LGBT identities and issues, stereotypes

34
and misinformation spread unchecked. Jerome B., a 19-year-old gay man from
Cebu City, recalled an instance in high school where “one teacher said that if
you eat a lot of chicken, you turn gay. And she said if you would eat a lot of
ramen, you turn lesbian. I wouldn’t dare question her, because she’s in charge
of my grade, but deep inside I was shaking—I mean, how unbelievable. Eating
chicken will turn you gay? That’s crazy. It would really help if they would
undergo training. Because they’re teaching the kids wrong stuff. It’s a cycle—
if they teach this, they pass it on to the next generation.”

In discussions about curricular offerings, students of all sexual

orientations and gender identities voiced a desire to learn about LGBT topics in
school. As Isabel A., a 16-year-old heterosexual girl in Cebu City, observed:
“We want to understand, even if we’re not lesbian or gay, so we can
understand gays and lesbians.” For LGBT students, discussing LGBT issues
was particularly important. Felix P., a 22-year-old gay high school student in
Legazpi, suggested that “it would be better if there was education on LGBT
rights in the school, because it would be easier to respect and value individuals,
regardless of whether they’re women or men—and LGBT people in school
wouldn’t be stereotyped as infected with HIV.”

Discussions of LGBT topics in high schools were rare, but occurred

more frequently at the university level. There, professors who were open to
discussing LGBT topics observed how inclusivity improved the educational
environment. According to one literature professor, “If they’re out as members
of the LGBTQ community, I can ask them questions about it, and they’re more
engaged…. When I’m open with my students about their relationships, they
tend to study better. They’re never absent. They’re more comfortable…. If the
teacher is more discriminatory, they won’t be open to talking about how it
affects them and what they think about it.”

Comprehensive Sexuality Education

In order to understand their own sexuality and to make responsible
choices, LGBT students, as well as other students, need access to information

35
about sexuality that is non-judgmental and takes into account the whole range
of human intimacy. In recent years, many countries have moved toward
providing comprehensive sexuality education, which UNESCO describes as an
age-appropriate, culturally relevant approach to teaching about sex and
relationships by providing scientifically accurate, realistic, non-judgmental
information.

As part of comprehensive sexuality education, LGBT students as well as

their heterosexual, cisgender peers should have access to relevant material
about their development, relationships, and safer sex. Scholars in the
Philippines have found that research on Filipino young adult sexuality has been
explicit in stressing the need for a comprehensive educational framework that
addresses gender and sexuality issues. One study found that gay learners
expressed dissatisfaction about sexuality education in high school, both for its
heterosexist bias and its restrictive philosophy, and desired more information
about sexual identity and orientation, body image, love and friendship,
HIV/AIDS, and gender roles. This is more generally true across the Asia-
Pacific region, where UNESCO has found that young people want more
inclusive content that address same-sex attraction and diversity.

The passage of the 2012 Reproductive Health Law, which calls for
DepEd to issue a sexuality education curriculum and for schools to adopt
minimum standards, created an opening for accurate and non-judgmental
discussions of LGBT identities and sexuality. UNESCO, in a 2015 report,
noted that NGOs are working with experts and Department of Education
officials to establish minimum standards on sexuality education that include
anti-bullying standards addressing both gender-based violence and other
bullying and violence on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and
expression.

However, at the time of this writing, DepEd had only recently

incorporated sexuality education into school curricula, five years after the
passage of the law, without adopting standards developed by a panel of experts
or training teachers in sexuality education. Both the UN Population Fund and

36
the government’s task force on the implementation of the law have noted that
implementation of the law has fallen short, leaving students across the
Philippines without access to comprehensive sexuality education. Professionals
who work with students have found that existing sexuality education modules
are limited for youth of all sexual orientations and gender identities but also
routinely exclude instruction about LGBT concerns. Perci Cendana, a
commissioner with the National Youth Commission, explained that at present,
Young people don’t get information about safer sex, period. And young men
who have sex with men and transgender kids don’t get it from the sources
where they should get it. Human Rights Watch recently documented how
resistance from conservative lawmakers and school administrators has stymied
comprehensive sexuality education in schools in the Philippines, exacerbating
rapidly rising rates of HIV transmission among MSM and transgender women.

In interviews with Human Rights Watch, students who received

sexuality education described receiving that education at various grade levels,
with varying degrees of comprehensiveness. But across the board, they stated
that their sexuality education classes either excluded any discussion of LGBT
people or conveyed inaccurate and stigmatizing messages about same-sex
conduct and the existence of transgender people.

While some students only discussed anatomy and reproduction in their

sexuality education curriculum, others learned about sexually transmitted
infections, HIV/AIDS, safer sex, and family planning. In virtually all cases,
however, sexuality education was limited to discussions of heterosexual
reproduction and sex. Mary B., an 18-year-old transgender woman in a high
school in Manila, said, “We had classroom instruction on sexual health. They
told us about sexuality—my teacher strongly believes in the Bible, and the idea
that God created only men and women. They haven’t mentioned LGBT
people.” Efren D., an 18-year-old bisexual man who had attended high school
in Quezon City, said, “we tackled the planning methods, the condoms, other
contraceptives. But it’s basic. Not deeper than that. And it was all boy-girl. I’d
like LGBT sexuality education, to be a little more aware, as LGBT people.”

37
 In many instances, sexuality education conveyed misinformation or
disapproval about LGBT identities and relationships. Gabby W., a 16-year-old
transgender girl at a high school in Bayombong, said that teachers “always say
that gay is a disease, that it’s a contagious disease. Or say being gay is a
sin.” Bea R., a 22-year-old transgender woman at another school in the area,
said that although science teachers do cover safer sex at her school, “They say
that LGBT are the ones spreading HIV and chlamydia.” Francis C., a 19-year-
old gay student from Pulilan, was similarly told by teachers “that there were
same-sex who were doing those activities, but they would say that if two males
or two female did those activities, they would become sick or ill.” Jonas E., a
17-year-old gay boy in high school in Mandaue City, noted: “I get really
offended when they talk about HIV. They say that gays are the main focus of
HIV… I’m a bit ashamed of that, because I was once in section where I’m the
only gay, and they kept pointing at me.”

When comprehensive sexuality education is not provided in schools,

students may not receive information about their physical and emotional
development, relationships, decision making, HIV and sexually transmitted
infections, safer sex, contraception, and reproductive health at all. Past research
has suggested that, especially for LGBT youth, sexuality is rarely discussed
informatively in the home, and being gay not at all. Rodrigo S., a gay high
school teacher in Dipolog City, observed that parents avoid sexuality as much
as possible. I don’t know if it’s actually easy for students to find a figure,
someone they can ask about things like that.

With little guidance at home or in school, LGBT students turned to

various sources of uncertain quality for information about sexuality. Students
told Human Rights Watch that they had learned what they knew about LGBT
identities, relationships, and sexual health from friends, the internet,
pornography, and experience. As previous research has suggested, peers may
provide very vivid information presented using shared meanings, but the
adequateness of this information is, in hindsight, suspect.  Students themselves
doubted the information they received. Tricia C., a 14-year-old girl in
Marikina, admitted, “The information we get from other people is not accurate.

38
It’s too early for us to know what’s true.” Reports that LGBT students learned
about sexuality from what Jin W., a 20-year-old man who attended high school
in Manila described as “live action” are particularly worrying, as they illustrate
how LGBT youth engage in sexual activity before they have access to
information about how to keep themselves safe.

Counseling and Support

In addition to formal curricula, schools provide a variety of resources to
students. Support from teachers, guidance counselors, school psychologists,
and other school personnel is a valuable asset, and should be available to guide
LGBT youth as well as their non-LGBT peers. According to UNESCO,
support from teachers can have a particularly positive impact on LGBT and
intersex students, improving their self-esteem and contributing to less
absenteeism, greater feelings of safety and belonging and better academic
achievement.

Students in the Philippines have signaled a desire for faculty and staff
support. As one study found, students want their teachers, who are in a
position of influence and credibility, to dispel common misconceptions and
misperceptions about gay and bisexual people. Nonetheless, few teachers or
guidance counselors are trained to provide support for LGBT youth. As Rina
Fulo of the Women and Gender Institute at Miriam College noted, “We do a lot
of training related to gender fair education, and we see that teachers and
administrators have their biases. We’re worried if they can actually follow
through.” Remedios Moog, a guidance counselor at the University of the East
in Caloocan, similarly recalled that when she presents papers on LGBT-
inclusive counseling, “there are different reactions, negative, positive, some
counselors saying great job, and you see the affirmation, and other counselors,
‘No, you should not label, you should not call them lesbian, gay, bisexual,’”
seeming to suggest that guidance counselors should ignore students’ sexual
identities altogether.

Although some counselors have created successful programs for LGBT

students, such as support groups, such efforts need to have support from the

39
school administration to ensure counselors are recognized as affirming, non-
judgmental resources. As one study found, “it has been the experience of gay
students (or perhaps students in general) that the guidance counselor is
associated with delinquent and problem students. This image of the guidance
counselor may contribute to the problematization of gay identity in school
settings, that being gay is something that has to be ‘dealt with’ with and by
these counselors.”

Interviews with LGBT youth in the Philippines underscore the urgent

need for resources and support. Jerome B., a 19-year-old gay man from Cebu
City, recalled that in secondary school, “I was questioning for a long time—is
there something wrong with me? Am I mentally ill? I planned to talk to a
psychiatrist because I thought I had a mental illness…. We had a guidance
counselor. But I wouldn’t go to them, because I was too ashamed.” For some
students, bullying and a lack of resources led to depression and thoughts of
suicide. Benjie A., a 20-year-old gay student from Manila, recounted struggling
to make sense of his identity until “I thought about getting a gun from a
policeman and shooting myself.”

Many students declined to go to counselors for help and support,

expecting that they would be hostile to LGBT youth. Patrick G., a 19-year-old
gay man who had attended high school in Cainta, recalled that his high school
guidance counselor would quote Bible passages and say “that God created
Adam and Eve, and not Adam and Steve, things like that.” As a result, Patrick
said, “I didn’t really have the courage to come out of the closet, or at least
accept or think I was gay…. I think it made me step back farther in the closet.”

When students did seek out help, some counselors declined to discuss
LGBT issues. Ella M., a 23-year-old transgender woman who had attended
high school in Manila, recalled an instance when a counselor asked about her
personal life. When she confided that she thought she might be attracted to a
boy, the counselor told her “I’m not going to comment on that, because I don’t
have any information on that.”

40
Other LGBT students described going to counselors and facing outright
hostility or condemnation. Ace F., a 24-year-old gay man who had attended
high school in Manila, said that his school counselor used decades-old
psychological materials:

What they taught us was DSM-3 or DSM-2—where being gay is still

classified as a mental disorder. That’s what they taught us. I was pretty well
informed because I was a debater, so I would question them about it: it’s
already outdated, it’s not the standard, it is not considered a mental disease.
But they would institutionally still say that it was a disease, a mental disorder,
it’s bad.

LGBT students interviewed said some counselors passed moral

judgment on them. Reyna, a 24-year-old transgender woman, recalled being
told to go to her high school counselor because she wore nail polish and
makeup, and said “they would read some biblical passage or verses that
includes, you know, Sodom and Gomorrah. They would always tell me,
‘Reyna, you will go to Hell if you don’t change.’ And I was afraid that time,
because of course, who wants to go to Hell?”

When guidance counselors were willing to discuss LGBT identities in an

open and non-judgmental way, many LGBT students said they felt affirmed
and supported. For instance, Nathan P., a 19-year-old gay man who attended a
high school in Bulacan, said “I did talk to my counselors in high school, and I
was thankful they’re so open minded, and helping me, when I’m so
confused.” For Nathan, whose friends were pressuring him to disclose his
sexuality and causing him stress, having a supportive counselor was a source of
comfort that ultimately helped him resolve the situation with his peers.

Student Organizations
LGBT student groups are extremely rare at the secondary school level in
the Philippines. Yet at the university level, these groups have been a powerful
resource for LGBT students. Since at least 1992, when UP Babaylan formed at
the University of the Philippines, these groups have provided educational

41
programming to the university community, advocated for policy changes, and
offered peer support to LGBT members. As a recent UNESCO study notes,
these organizations can be powerful sources of information and support in
school environments:

School-based and school-linked programs providing peer support [for

LGBT students] engage students in rejecting bullying, violence and other
forms of discrimination. These can include student associations, youth groups,
peer mentoring systems, extra-curricular or club-based activities as well as
other pairing or peer networks within schools. These programs can help to
create feelings of connectedness, and respectful and supportive relationships
that develop empathy, responsibility and concern for others. They can also
build confidence, leadership behaviors and social skills.

LGBT students have expressed a need for organizational support

structures such as LGBT student groups. Yet despite their many advantages
and student demand, LGBT groups in Philippine secondary schools are rare.
As Carlos M., a 19-year-old gay student from Olongapo City, observed: “I
wish they had it when I was in high school. There were so many of us LGBT
when I was in high school…. I wish they had a program to strengthen the
bonds of LGBT students.” Gloria Z., a 22-year-old bisexual woman from
Cavite, said: "I wish we had a support group. There were other female students,
lesbians, and they were forced to be straight because of our Catholic
upbringing. They would discriminate [against] them, just like me. And there
were so many of us trying to act straight, and we were part of the rainbow
community.”

In some instances reported to Human Rights Watch, school personnel

have been unsupportive of LGBT groups. Sean B., a 17-year-old gay student in
Bayombong, said: “I tried to start a student organization, but we don’t have
enough allies with teachers. It’s all about awareness, to make other students
understand what we are, to be able to reach out to them, to make them feel,
we’re gays, we’re also humans, not animals or trash.”

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Philippines’ Legal Obligations to Protect LGBT Students
In recent years, the Philippines has enacted important laws and
regulations that affirm the rights of LGBT learners in schools. DepEd’s Child
Protection Policy, the Anti-Bullying Law, and the Reproductive Health Law—
as well as anti-discrimination ordinances at the local level—reiterate the
government’s commitment to ensuring that all youth are safe, healthy, and able
to learn in schools.

The Philippines has also ratified core international agreements that

obligate lawmakers, administrators, and teachers to protect the rights of LGBT
youth, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW). The UN expert bodies that interpret these agreements have
expressed concern about discrimination against LGBT students in
schools, prompting the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to
recommend “that States establish national standards on non-discrimination in
education, develop anti-bullying programs and helplines and other services to
support LGBTI youth, and to provide comprehensive, age-appropriate
sexuality education.”

Right to Education
The right to education is enshrined in international law, notably in the
ICESCR and the CRC, both ratified by the Philippines. The CRC specifies that
education should be directed toward, among other objectives, the development
of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their
fullest potential, the development of respect for human rights and fundamental
freedoms, and the preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society,
in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and
friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons
of indigenous origin.

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 LGBT students are denied the right to education when bullying,
exclusion, and discriminatory policies prevent them from participating in the
classroom or attending school. LGBT students’ right to education is also
curtailed when teachers and curricula do not include information that is
relevant to their development or are outwardly discriminatory toward LGBT
people.

To make the right to education meaningful, schools should ensure that

school curricula, interactions with school personnel, and school policies are
non-discriminatory and provide information to LGBT youth on the same terms
as their non-LGBT peers.

The right to education includes the right to comprehensive sexual

education, which is especially lacking for LGBT youth in the Philippines. As
the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education has explained: The right
to education includes the right to sexual education, which is both a human right
in itself and an indispensable means of realizing other human rights, such as
the right to health, the right to information and sexual and reproductive
rights. A curriculum that only prepares students for heterosexual sex inside of
marriage “normalizes, stereotypes, and promotes images that are
discriminatory because they are based on heteronormativity; by denying the
existence of the lesbian, gay, transsexual, transgender and bisexual population,
they expose these groups to risky and discriminatory practices.”

The Philippine Congress recognized the importance of sexuality

education with the passage of the Reproductive Health Law, which mandates
age- and development-appropriate sexuality education in schools. The
Philippines should take further steps to implement the law in a manner that is
consistent with its treaty obligations. To ensure the right to education is
respected, the Committee on the Rights of the Child has said that sexuality
education provided by schools:

…should include self-awareness and knowledge about the body,

including anatomical, physiological and emotional aspects, and should be

44
accessible to all children, girls and boys. It should include content related to
sexual health and well-being, such as information about body changes and
maturation processes, and designed in a manner through which children are
able to gain knowledge regarding reproductive health and the prevention of
gender-based violence, and adopt responsible sexual behavior.

This information must not only be provided to heterosexual, cisgender

students. Schools must also provide LGBT students with relevant content to
ensure they enjoy the same right to education without discrimination.
Comprehensive sexuality education “must be free of prejudices and stereotypes
that could be used to justify discrimination and violence against any
group,” and “must pay special attention to diversity, since everyone has the
right to deal with his or her own sexuality without being discriminated against
on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Violence and Bullying

Under domestic and international law, LGBT children in the Philippines
have the right to be free from bullying, harassment, and violence. The
Constitution of the Philippines obligates the government to defend “[t]he right
of children to assistance, including… special protection from all forms of
neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation and other conditions prejudicial to their
development.” To this end, the Anti-Bullying Law requires elementary and
secondary schools “to adopt policies to address the existence of bullying in
their respective institutions,” and outlines baseline requirements for such
policies. Similarly, DepEd’s Child Protection Policy requires that school
administrators, among other responsibilities, ensure the institution of effective
child protection policies and procedures, and monitor compliance thereof,
conduct the appropriate training and capability-building activities on child
protection measures and protocols,” and ensure that all incidents of abuse,
violence, exploitation, discrimination, bullying and other similar acts are
addressed.

The terms of the Anti-Bullying Law and Child Protection Policy echo
the Philippines’ obligations under international law. The ICCPR states that

45
every child shall have… the right to such measures of protection as are
required by his status as a minor, on the part of his family, society and the
State, while the CRC requires governments to protect the child from all forms
of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment,
maltreatment or exploitation. The government of the Philippines
signed UNESCO’s Call for Action on Homophobic and Transphobic Violence,
issued in November 2016, which commits it to monitoring the prevalence of
homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools, providing students with
information about harmful gender-based stereotypes, training school personnel,
and taking steps to make schools safe for LGBT youth.

Children who are especially likely to face violence, including bullying,

merit specific attention and protection from the state. As the Committee on the
Rights of the Child, the UN body that monitors implementation of the CRC,
has noted, groups of children which are likely to be exposed to violence
include, but are not limited to, children … who are lesbian, gay, transgender or
transsexual. The committee has repeatedly described bullying, harassment, and
violence against LGBT youth as violations of children’s rights, and
emphasized that a school which allows bullying or other violent and
exclusionary practices to occur is not one which meets the requirements of
article 291, the CRC provision specifying the aims of education.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child has identified steps that
governments should take to protect children from bullying, harassment, and
other forms of violence. These include challenging discriminatory attitudes that
allow intolerance and violence to flourish, establishing reporting
mechanisms, and providing guidance and training for teachers and
administrators to know how to respond when they see or hear about incidents
of violence. When taking these steps, the committee has stressed that children
themselves should be involved in the development of prevention strategies in
general and in school, in particular in the elimination and prevention of
bullying, and other forms of violence in school.

Right to Health
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 Bullying, exclusion, and discrimination generate physical and mental
health risks that threaten the right to health for LGBT youth. The Committee
on the Rights of the Child has expressed concern about the health
consequences of bullying, including suicide, and has urged governments to
take the necessary actions to prevent and prohibit all forms of violence and
abuse, including sexual abuse, corporal punishment and other inhuman,
degrading or humiliating treatment or punishment in school, by school
personnel as well as among students.

The ICESCR recognizes the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the

highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. The CRC reinforces
that children must enjoy this right, and states that, in pursuit of that goal,
governments will ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and
children, are informed and have access to education, and will develop
preventive health care, guidance for parents and family planning education and
services.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child has said that in order to fully
realize the right to health for all children, States parties have an obligation to
ensure that children’s health is not undermined as a result of discrimination,
which is a significant factor contributing to vulnerability, including
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and health
status.

The significant shortcomings of sexuality education in schools in the

Philippines also undermine the right to health for all students, but particularly
LGBT students. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has explained that
youth are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS because their first sexual experience may
take place in an environment in which they have no access to proper
information and guidance. Omitting information about same-sex activity and
transgender identity from sexuality education curricula undermines LGBT
students’ right to health. To ensure their rights are respected, the committee has
said that governments must refrain from censoring, withholding, or
intentionally misrepresenting health-related information, including sexual

47
education and information, and… ensure children have the ability to acquire
the knowledge and skills to protect themselves and others as they begin to
express their sexuality.

Freedom of Expression
The ICCPR recognizes that everyone shall have the right to freedom of
expression, and the CRC expressly recognizes that the right extends to
children.

The right to free expression is violated when schools limit displays of

same-sex affection or gender expression solely for LGBT youth. Schools need
to ensure that LGBT students are able to participate in the school environment
on the same terms as other students, regardless of their sexual orientation or
gender identity.

Freedom from Discrimination

Even as municipalities and provinces pass anti-discrimination ordinances
to protect the rights of LGBT people, the Philippines has not passed
comprehensive legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation and gender identity.

Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is

prohibited under many of the treaties the Philippines has ratified. As the UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights has concluded:

…freedom from discrimination is a fundamental obligation of States

under international law, and requires States to prohibit and prevent
discrimination in private and public spheres, and to diminish conditions and
attitudes that cause or perpetuate such discrimination. To this end, States
should enact comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation that includes sexual
orientation and gender identity among protected grounds.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child has explained that

discrimination in the school setting, whether it is overt or hidden, offends the

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human dignity of the child and is capable of undermining or even destroying
the capacity of the child to benefit from educational opportunities. Because of
the dangers that discrimination poses to health and development, children at
risk of discrimination are entitled to special attention and protection from all
segments of society. The committee has specifically expressed concern about
discrimination against children on the basis of their sexual orientation and
gender identity in its review of state policies. 

Students who are transgender or do not identify as their sex assigned at

birth face especially pervasive discrimination as a result of uniform and hair-
length policies and other gendered restrictions. The UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights has expressed concern about discriminatory dress codes that
restrict men dressing a manner perceived as feminine and women dressing in a
manner perceived as masculine, and punish those who do so, and noted that
United Nations mechanisms have called upon States to legally recognize
transgender persons’ preferred gender, without abusive requirements. To make
schools less discriminatory and more inclusive of transgender youth, UNESCO
recommends that laws and policies should recognize self-defined gender
identity with no medical preconditions or exclusions based on age, marital or
family status or other grounds.

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Recommendations
To the President of the Philippines
 Speak out, as you have done in the past, against bullying in schools,
reiterating that bullying of LGBT youth is harmful and unacceptable.

 Speak out in support of an anti-discrimination bill that prohibits

discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity,
including in education, employment, health care, and public
accommodations.

To the Congress of the Philippines

 Enact an anti-discrimination bill that prohibits discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, including in education,
employment, health care, and public accommodations.

 Authorize funding for the implementation of the Reproductive Health

Law and any necessary support for comprehensive sexuality education in
schools.

To the Department of Education

 Undertake a comprehensive review of school compliance with the
provisions of the Child Protection Policy and the Anti-Bullying Law.

 Collect and publish data on the number of schools nationally that address
sexual orientation and gender identity in their Child Protection Policy
and Anti-Bullying Law. Recommend that schools that do not address
sexual orientation and gender identity revise their policies to do so.

 Create a system to gather and publish data about bullying on the basis of
sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. Revise forms to more
clearly differentiate and record incidents of gender-based bullying on the
basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity, and include these
categories on all forms related to bullying, abuse, or violence against

50
 children.

 Immediately review all curricula, including textbooks and teaching

materials, to ensure that LGBT issues are incorporated. Remove content
that is inaccurate or derogatory toward LGBT people and include
content that is relevant to LGBT youth and promotes respect for gender
diversity.

 Revise the standard sexuality education curriculum to ensure it aligns

with UNESCO’s guidelines for comprehensive sexuality education, is
medically and scientifically accurate, is inclusive of LGBT youth, and
covers same-sex activity on equal footing with other sexual activity.

 Issue an order instructing schools to respect students’ gender identity

with regard to dress codes, access to facilities, and participation in
curricular and extracurricular activities.

 Conduct trainings, in collaboration with LGBT rights groups where

possible, to familiarize DepEd personnel at the division and district
levels with LGBT terminology and issues.

To Local Officials
 Enact local ordinances to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation and gender identity, including in education, employment,
health care, and public accommodations.

 Promulgate implementing rules and regulations to ensure that existing

anti-discrimination ordinances are applied and enforced.

To School Administrators
 Adopt anti-bullying and anti-discrimination policies that are inclusive of
sexual orientation and gender identity, inform students how they should
report incidents of bullying, and specify consequences for bullying.

 Conduct trainings, in collaboration with LGBT civil society groups

51
 where possible, for child protection committees and school staff to
ensure that they are sensitive to the needs and vulnerabilities of LGBT
youth. The trainings should inform school staff about proper
terminology, the forms of bullying and discrimination that LGBT youth
face, the rights that LGBT youth enjoy under domestic and international
law, and resources and services available for LGBT youth.

 Conduct trainings, in collaboration with children’s rights groups where

possible, for child protection committees and school staff to ensure they
are able to recognize and intervene in bullying and harassment when
they witness it occurring or it is brought to their attention.

 Promulgate guidelines instructing school staff to respect the gender

identity of students with regard to dress codes, access to facilities, and
participation in curricular and extracurricular activities.

 Commemorate occasions like Human Rights Day and National

Women’s Month with programming that promotes human rights and
respect for gender diversity in schools.

 Ensure that the school has resources available for LGBT youth, for
example, books and printed material, access to counselors or other
supportive personnel, and curricular resources that are inclusive of
LGBT youth.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books
Remoto, D. Bright, Catholic and Gay. Anvil Publishing, Inc, 2015.

Remoto, D. and J.N. Garcia. Ladlad: An Anthology of Philippine Gay Writing.

Anvil Publishing, 1996.

Remoto, D. and J.N. Garcia. Ladlad: An Anthology of Philippine Gay Writing

2. Anvil Publishing, 1996.

Internet Sources
https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/06/21/just-let-us-be/discrimination-against-
lgbt-students-philippines

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_community

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_culture_in_the_Philippines

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_orientation_discrimination

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