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Know your laws: Laws that protect the LGBTQ+ community from any harm.
by: Sharine Gragasin
As bullying and discrimination against the students who are part of the LGBTQ community become a serious problem in the Philippines, the Department of Education enacted a “Child Protection Policy” in 2012 and this aims to address bullying and discrimination in schools, which includes the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The following year, Congress passed the Anti-bullying Law of 2013, this lists sexual orientation and gender identity as prohibited grounds for bullying and harassment, along with corresponding rules and regulations. These policies tell us a strong message that bullying and discrimination are unacceptable in schools and they should not be tolerated.
In spite of having these laws, verbal and physical abuse against the LGBTQ community continues. This is because of the absence of effective implementation and monitoring on the said issue. The lack of knowledge and resources on LGBTQ issues, as well as the discriminatory policies that stigmatize LGBTQ students in schools aggravated the negative treatment they receive from peers and sometimes, even from the teachers.
After years of waiting, the lawmakers started introducing bills to advance the rights of LGBT people in 1995 and now, the following are the laws made to protect the LGBTQ community youth.
Child Protection Policy
This policy was enacted by Department of Education in 2012 which it describes as “zero tolerance policy for any act of child abuse, exploitation, violence , discrimination, bullying , and other forms of abuse. This policy prohibited all forms of bullying and discrimination in schools, which includes the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
The policy requires schools, both private and public to establish a “child protection committee,” which is to draft a school child protection policy to be reviewed every three years, programs in protecting students and systems to identify, monitor, and refer cases of abuse would be developed as well as the coordination with parents and government agencies. This Policy also details a clear protocol for handling bullying incidents, investigations by school personnel, and reports from the school head or schools division superintendent should be fast.
The Anti-Bullying Law
After a year when The Child Protection Policy became a law, the Philippine Congress passed another law that protects the youth, the Anti-Bullying Law of 2013. This law mandates elementary and secondary schools to “adopt policies to address the existence of bullying in their respective institutions.” The policies under this law are meant to prohibit bullying on or near school grounds, as well as bullying and cyberbullying outside school grounds that interferes with a student’s education, and retribution against individuals who report bullying.
It is also explained in the implementing rules and regulations for the law that comes with the term “bullying” is “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).”
Comprehensive Sexuality Education
The Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law, passed by Congress in 2012, mandates that the state provide age and developmentally appropriate reproductive health education to teenagers, given by sufficiently certified teachers. This law and its implementing rules and regulations instruct public schools to use the Department of Education while private schools have the choice to use the said curriculum or make their own curriculum and wait for DepEd’s approval for it.
