Sogie Bill News Today

THE first same-sex marriage in this side of the country received a backlash from netizens after the approval and blessing from the Christian Church Philippines for the LGBTs (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender).

In this age of mass disinformation and authoritarianism, Ruth Manglalan, Reyna Valmores and Letty Castillo represent different generations of women on the march: defiant in the face of attacks, but hopeful and working hard for a better, more humane society.

The absence of CIBAC Party-list Rep. Bro. Eddie Villanueva, an evangelist and president-founder of the Jesus Is Lord (JIL) Movement, led to a House panel approving the consolidation of several Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression (Sogie) bills, as well as the creation of the technical w

Sen. Joel Villanueva, who chairs the powerful rules committee that calendars bills, told reporters in a virtual briefing that he is speaking with other senators to set the schedule of his panel’s hearing on the measure.

Within the safe walls of Manila’s queer-coded nightclubs in the early 90s, Villar wondered for the first time in her 30s if expressions of lesbian pride and feminism would ever take place outside of nights spent steeped in alcohol.

Villanueva also claimed that the bill will prevent people from reading the Bible and exercising their faith

Hontiveros would have wanted to conduct another hearing on the SOGIE bill to give more time to evangelical groups to speak, but the majority decided to refer the measure to the rules committee for "further study."

“I am ecstatic that 19 of us colleagues in the Senate have come together to support the SOGIESC Bill. In just one day, we persuaded them to sign the committee report. I am even more encouraged that in this Congress, the SOGIE bill will finally be passed,” Hontiveros said. 

The Philippines has ignored calls from a United Nations body to legalize same-sex marriage and enact other pieces of legislation that seek to protect the members of the LGBT community from discrimination and allow divorce in the country.

As it currently stands, though, heterosexuality also already falls under the umbrella of SOGIE, which stands for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression.