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Rep. Roman on Sotto's 'Homo sapiens' remark: 'He was trying to be funny'


Bataan Representative Geraldine Roman believes Senate President Vicente Sotto III's remark on using "Homo sapiens" to refer to different gender identities was simply made in jest.

"I think Senator Tito Sotto was trying to be funny and was his usual self. But the term Homo sapiens is irrelevant, really," Roman said in an interview on ANC on Friday.

"We want a toilet that would respond to the needs of all people regardless of their gender identity," she emphasized.

Roman, the first openly transgender woman elected to Congress, was commenting on a remark Sotto made during a discussion at the Senate regarding the proposed Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression Equality (SOGIE) bill.

Puzzled over the tag LGBTQIA+ to refer to lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, queers, intersexuals, and asexuals, Sotto asked: "Why that lengthy letters? Why not just Homo sapiens? We're all the same."

The SOGIE bill was tackled in light of the incident involving trans woman Gretchen Custodio Diez, 28, who was driven out of a women's restroom at a mall in Quezon City.

Diez was handcuffed and brought to a police station after being led out of a restroom by a cleaning lady who insisted that she use the restroom for males instead.

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte has condemned the discrimination against Diez, noting that the mall — Farmers Plaza — clearly violated the city's Gender Fair Ordinance for failing to establish an all-gender comfort room.

Farmers Plaza has apologized over the incident. —Margaret Claire Layug/KBK, GMA News

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