InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA, Philippines - Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community on Thursday went caroling in front of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) office in Intramuros, Manila to fight for their rights against discrimination.
Dressed in green and red, the protesters led by the organization, "Ang Ladlad," gathered in front of the CBCP headquarters carrying a banner, which read "All We Want for Christmas Is Our Human Rights."
Ang Ladlad former chairperson Danton Remoto said that through their Christmas carols, they expressed their annoyance over the move of CBCP lawyer Jo Aurea Imbong to ask for the removal of sexual orientation and gender identity from the list of punishable forms of discrimination under Senate Bill 2814 or the Anti-Ethnic or Racial Profiling and Discrimination Act of 2011.
“Mali si Atty. Jo Imbong. Di naming pinili na maging LGBT. Ito ay natural, bahagi ng kalikasan. Hindi kami kaka-iba, di kami different people. Pilipino din kami. Taxpayers din kami” Remoto told reporters.
[Atty. Jo Imbong is wrong. We did not choose to become LGBT. This is natural. We're not different, we are also Filipinos. We are also taxpayers.]
Meanwhile, LGBT chairperson Bemz Benedito said that the group had long requested for a dilaogue with the prelates but their appeal fell on deaf ears.
“Matagal nang gusto naming makipag-dialogue sa kanila pero sa kanilang puso at isip, di lang pintuan ang sarado. Palagi nilang sinasabi kami ay makasalanan at mauuwi sa impyerno” Benedito said.
[We have long wanted to have a dialogue with them but their door is not the only one closed, their hearts and minds, too. They always say that we are sinners and that we will go to hell.]
There have been 146 LGBTs who brutally died in the country since 1996, according to Benedito. Forty-four of them died this year due to gender discrimination-related crimes.
