Hontiveros meets with US envoy to advance LGBTQIA+ rights, discusses SOGIESC Equality Bill

Senator Risa Hontiveros has recently met with the United States Special Envoy to advance LGBTQIA+ rights, Jessica Stern, to share how the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) Equality Bill can be finally passed into law.

The senator welcomed Stern's prognosis that the passage of the SOGIESC Bill in the Philippines will help the global discourse on LGBTQIA+ rights, at a time of growing hate and violence against members of the LGBTQIA+ community around the world.

"This is a bill whose time has come. I deeply appreciate the growing support for the bill, and I am also delighted to have shared with the US envoy the good news that 18 out of 24 senators signed the committee report of the SOGIESC Bill," Hontiveros said.

"As Senator, I first filed the SOGIE Equality Bill in the 17th Congress. In the 18th Congress, I refiled and sponsored it; however, it did not go beyond second reading. I am positive that this 19th Congress, we will finally make it. The support from the majority of my colleagues is a small, but significant, sign of hope in taking this forward," the senator added.

Hontiveros then suggested that parallel to pushing for the passage of the SOGIESC Equality Bill, there should also be support for local government units and grassroots organizations that have been fighting for the welfare of the LGBTQIA+ community.

"It's the LGBTQIA+ community that has given us heart. It's the community that has not given up on this bill, and as allies, we can do no less. We need to match the community's persistence, and the newly filed committee report is an important first step towards taking the SOGIESC Equality Bill to the finish line," Hontiveros concluded.