September | 2018 | Philippine Law Bytes: TheCyberLawyer Issues by Dr. Attorney Noel Guivani Ramiscal

As an advocate of the rights of people with alternative sexualities, i.e., those who do not conform to the binary heterosexual gender norm that dominant societies impose and recognize in the legal system, hope for real change comes in the form of two bills from the Philippine House of Representatives (H.B. 4982) and the Senate (S.B. 1271) that address the destructive effects of discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity expression (SOGIE). These bills consolidate the major provisions of previous bills in both houses and recognize the dimension of the Internet in perpetrating offenses on persons based on their SOGIE and perpetuating these abuses as well as false beliefs and dangerous stereotypes in a medium that is accessible to virtually everyone, including the most intolerant and the most gullible.

In the middle of August 2018, I was given the opportunity to address some of the most virulent untruths about lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transpersons, intersexuals, queers and questioning (LGBTIQQs), that are found in laws, practices and judicial decisions in the Philippines and other jurisdictions.

Dr. Atty. Noel Guivani Ramiscal’s MCLE Lecture for UPIAJ on LGBTIQQs last August 13, 2018

In my lectures for the University of the Philippines Institute of Administration of Justice (UP IAJ) on August 13, 2018; the Liceo De Cagayan University Corp Diplomatique officers and students last August 14, 2018; and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Iligan Chapter member lawyers on August 15, 2018, I expounded and refuted some of these falsities enshrined in these legal systems and jurisprudence that are based on religious and heteronormative beliefs which have no credible scientific and empirical bases (e.g., that being LGBTI is unnatural, that being LGBT is immoral and infectious, that being LGBT is “evil”, that being LGBT is a choice, that one can be “cured” of being LGBT, etc.). I even showed audiences samples of same sex lovers who were granted sainthood status by the Catholic Church.

Dr. Atty. Noel Guivani Ramiscal beside the reliquary devoted to Saints Bacchus and Sergius, at Abu Serga Church, Egypt

Dr. Atty. Noel Guivani Ramiscal lecturing on the rights of LGBTIQQs for the IBP Iligan lawyers in their MCLE seminars last August 15, 2018

The effective weapons of choice for advocates and lawyers of LGBTIQQs, as I emphasized and discussed with the attendees, are scientific studies and reports, enlightened laws, jurisprudence and medical approaches from diverse countries like Malta, Colombia, United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, some states in the United States, and others that have eroded the “horridious” conception that a person’s gender identity and expression must always be legally tied to that person’s biological sex and chromosomal make-up. It is good that the current SOGIE bills make it very clear, through their definitions, that a person’s SOGIE is totally unrelated to the person’s sexual chromosome.

Dr. Ramiscal’s lecture on the LGBTIQQs’ Rights for the Liceo De Cagayan University students last August 14, 2018

The SOGIE bills are helpful in placing certain types of discrimination and violence committed against LGBTIQQs in their proper perspective. Discrimination in the academe, in the workplace, in housing and other forms of services, in associations and expression based against a person’s SOGIE are prohibited. On this matter, I gave tips on how a workplace can be LGBTIQQ friendly.

Lawyers who stood up for the rights of LGBTIs in Dr. Ramiscal’s UPIAJ lecture, August 13, 2018

Since the Internet changed the terrains of abuse, I told the audiences about the gay outing of Tyler Clementi by his Rutgers University room mate Dharun Ravi, who secretly streamed Clementi’s first male sexual encounter online and wrote ghastly messages about it in his social media accounts. When Clementi found out about it he killed himself by jumping off the George Washington bridge. And of the cyber harassment, physical stalking, cyberlibel and hate speech perpetrated by a former Michigan Assistant Attorney General, Andrew Shirvell against an openly gay University of Michigan Student Council president, Chris Armstrong, which led to Shirvell being made liable for US$3.5 million in damages to Armstrong, and his disbarment in the Michigan Bar in 2017. Both of these cases would be considered crimes under the SOGIE bills.

IBP Iligan lawyers who stood up for the rights of LGBTIs during Dr. Ramiscal’s LGBTIQQ lecture last August 15, 2018

But of course, the SOGIE bills, even if they are passed through, barely skim the surface of centuries of discrimination. I apprised the audiences of the need to study and legislate on the terrible plight of LGBTIs who are further ignored because of their backgrounds. LGBTI juvenile delinquents in the Philippines are mixed up with adult inmates and we have no idea as to what they go through in the prison system. LGBTIs who are part of the indigenous population, who are disabled, and/or who are elderly have different legitimate needs and interests that are not being served. We have no known comprehensive study on the plight and medical butcherings of Philippine infant intersexuals conducted by doctors in conspiracy with the parents of the intersexuals. Most Philippine statistics on crimes against persons are aggregated to their biological identity, so we have no meaningful figures as to the crimes committed specifically against the LGBTI populace. Furthermore, unlike in other jurisdictions, there is no Philippine study or report that correlates or attributes the loss in the annual Philippine Gross Domestic Product due to SOGIE discrimination.

Liceo De Cagayan University students who attended Dr. Ramiscal’s lectures on LGBTIs and 3D Printing

The different audiences were mostly receptive and wonderful. The Liceo de Cagayan University students reminded me why I must continue with my advocacies. Heartfelt thanks to Ms. Nathalie Igot and Mr. Luke Igot and the wonderful faculty, officers and members of the LDC Corps Diplomatique!

Students & staff members & the Igots with Dr. Ramiscal at Liceo De Cagayan University last August 14, 2018

I would like to thank the UPIAJ for giving me the opportunity to lecture on this topic. I would also like to express my deep gratitude to the IBP Iligan lawyers who treated my mother and me with so much generosity and who genuinely supported my advocacies. I dared the lawyers present in my UP and Iligan lectures if they will stand up for the rights of LGBTIs because it is the right thing to do, and to my deep gratitude many of the did.