Akbayan Youth to Sotto: 'Transphobia' in dictionary too
MANILA, Philippines — Akbayan Youth on Tuesday disputed Senate President Vicente Sotto III's remark that the terms "transman" and "transwoman" do not appear in dictionaries, which the senator said shows advocates of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression Equality bill "have deviated too much."
Akbayan Youth called Sotto's argument an attempt to muddle the debate on a bill proposing to penalize discrimination against and harassment of people based on their SOGIE, or who they are attracted to and how they identify.
"Both the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster Dictionary already define several trans-inclusive terms. He may want to look up the meaning of 'transphobia' next to check if his eyesight is okay," Akbayan Youth secretary-general Justine Balane said in a press release.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, transphobia is "the irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against transgender people."
"Senator Sotto's prejudice may be affecting his vision," Balane also said.
Sotto made the remarks on Monday after a prayer rally against the SOGIE Equality Bill. According to the Christian Coalition for Righteousness, Justice, and Truth, around 25,000 joined the prayer rally against passage of the bill.
The CCRJT is made up of mega Christian groups the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, Philippines for Jesus Movement, Intercessors for the Philippines, Jesus is Lord, ProLife International, Couples for Christ, and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines from the 17 cities of the National Capital Region and from CALABARZON.
'Not in dictionary'
"Hindi ko maintindihan kung paano nila nabaluktot yun, na gamitin yun, na naging transgender ang paggamit, yung trans-woman, trans-man, ikinalulungkot ko, pero hanap ako ng hanap sa dictionary, walang word na trans-woman," Sotto said.
(I do not understand how they twisted it, to use that, to use 'transgender', and 'trans-woman' and 'trans-man.' Sad to say, I kept looking in the dictionary and I couldn't find 'trans-woman'.)
"Lahat ng dictionary hinanap ko, wala. Wala ring trans-man. So, saan galing? In other words, nag deviate nang masyado, iba na ang (unclear). Ika nga ay let us not allow such moves," he said.
(I looked for it in all the dictionaries, there was nothing. There was no 'trans-man' either. In other words, they have deviated too much already... Let us not allow such moves)
Both terms are in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which notes that the words were first recorded in 1996.
Just to set the record straight, I said there is no such word as transwoman or transman in any dictionary! @sherieanntorres
— Tito Sotto (@sotto_tito) September 30, 2019
"Senator Sotto, as Senate President, should not use his influence to erase the existence of the transgender community. Not at a time when we have two cases of Filipina trans women killed in September this year. Senator Sotto's statement dehumanizes trans people, it is an implicit endorsement to the violence done to the community," Balane said.
Akbayan's Sen. Risa Hontiveros is an author of one of the versions of the SOGIE Equality Bill at the Senate and has been holding hearings on it.
'15 senators against bill and counting'
Sotto, in remarks to the CCRJT on Monday, said that "15 [senators] and counting," or more than half of the 24-member Senate are opposed to passage of the bill.
Intercessors for the Philippines Inc., a group opposed to the bill, quoted Rep. Eddie Villanueva (CIBAC party-list) as saying the bill's provisions are "far from equal" since the bill, if passed, will allow members of the LGBT community to accuse people of discrimination in court simply for quoting the bible.
"Under the SOGIE Bill, the penalty for Verbal Harassment is P250,000 to P500,000. Where is equality?” he said.
Under the SOGIE Equality Bill, "[promoting and encouraging] stigma on the basis of SOGIE in the media, in educational textbooks, and other medium" is considered a discriminatory practice and penalized.
"Inciting violence and sexual abuse against any person or group on the basis of SOGIE is likewise prohibited," the bill reads.
Villanueva said that under the Revised Penal Code, slander, or oral defamation, is only punishable "by arresto mayor in its maximum period to prision correccional in its minimum period if it is of a serious and insulting nature; otherwise the penalty shall be arresto menor or a fine not exceeding P200."
Under the RPC, slander is a type of libel, which is the "public and malicious imputation of a crime, or of a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, condition, status, or circumstance tending to cause the dishonor, discredit, or contempt of a natural or juridical person, or to blacken the memory of one who is dead."
'We do not want our country to be cursed'
Also in attendance at the rally were Sens. Manny Pacquiao and Joel Villanueva, son of Rep. Villanueva.
Pacquiao, who opposes the bill and says it is against God, said "we do not want our country to be cursed."
"Huwag po kayo mag-alala sa mga kasama natin sa Senado, kami po ay nagkakaisa, lalabanan po namin ang SOGIE Bill," Pacquiao said of his fellow senators.
(Do not worry about our fellow members of Senate. We are one, and we will oppose the SOGIE Bill,)
Similarly, Sen. Villanueva said: “We are doing this out of love. We don’t want anyone to be discriminated, but we are doing this out of love for God and the Nation.”
'SOGIE Bill redundant'
After the arrest of transwoman Gretchen Diez at a mall in Quezon City on August 13, Sotto was quoted as saying, "Why the lengthy letters? Why not just Homo Sapiens? We’re all the same,” of the LGBTQIA+ acronym. In early September, he was quoted as saying that “if you are a man, you will never be a woman."
For Sotto, the SOGIE Bill is "redundant because there are enough laws that cover the issues that the [LGBT] are talking about."
The SOGIE Equality Bill, or the Anti-Discrimination Bill, was intended to prevent acts of discrimination against people of the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.
Despite Sotto's count, Sen. Hontiveros said that the SOGIE bill has a "strong fighting chance" based on her camp’s numbers.
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