Brother Eddie Villanueva: SOGIE Bill to give undue rights to LGBTQ

Longtime evangelist and now CIBAC party-list Representative Brother Eddie Villanueva said the SOGIE Equality Bill would unduly give "special" rights to members of the LGBT community to the disadvantage of other members of society.

Villanueva, the founder of Bible-based Jesus Is Lord Church Worldwide, made the remark amid renewed calls for the passage of the SOGIE Equality Bill following the discrimination incident and arrest of trans woman Gretchen Custodio Diez.

In a privilege speech, Villanueva expressed his opposition to the SOGIE Equality Bill in its current form.

He said that the incident involving Diez at a mall in Quezon City was actually a "first taste" of what would happen if the SOGIE Equality Bill was passed into law.

"[The SOGIE Equality Bill] will not promote equality but will, instead, unduly give 'special' rights to some members of our society at the expense of the rights of the other members and to the detriment of the social order in our community," Villanueva said.

Villanueva said several provisions in the 13 SOGIE Equality Bills filed before the 18th Congress were filled with various issues that run counter to what the Constitution provided.

He said that the SOGIE Equality Bill "[undermined] the role of parents in the family" as some of its versions require parents to secure a family court order if ever they want their children to take any medical or psychological examination in relation to SOGIE.

Villanueva said the bill threatened academic freedom by prohibiting schools to deny access to a student based on his or her sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.

"Will the purported law require educational institutions (such as an all-boys school or Catholic school) to adjust their policies accordingly, thus, forcing them to go against the very principles on which their institutions have been established?" Villanueva said.

He said the SOGIE Equality Bill curtailed freedom of speech and religion as it penalizes any speech or belief that may be discriminatory to the LGBT community.

"What happens to a Christian like me, and to the majority of the people in this chamber, if we are to be threatened by punishment every time we share our Bible-based beliefs on matters of transgenders and homosexuals?" Villanueva said.

Villanueva said the bill "puts into question the very foundation of our laws," claiming that the passage of a law that "upholds one sector's perceived rights over the rights of other people" is "unfair and equally discriminatory."

"It will be a law of 'preferential rights,' a 'class legislation,'" Villanueva said.

Responding to the privilege speech, Buhay party-list Representative Lito Atienza said his group supported "100 percent" Villanueva's position.

But Bataan Representative Geraldine Roman, the first transgender woman to hold a seat in Congress, urged her fellow lawmakers to read the contents of the SOGIE Equality Bill.

"Let us not be carried away by extrapolations, nor by fear, nor by very far away scenarios from other countries, but rather focus on the essence and the objective of the bill which is simply to afford fellow Filipinos the same rights when it comes to work, to study, to receive services from the government, and to access commercial and public establishments, not to be insulted in the streets," Roman said in response to Villanueva's privilege speech.

"I can say that I am proudly a member of this community and I look forward to working with Bro. Eddie Villanueva and the other so-called opponents of this bill, trying to look for a solution that will be respectful to all," she added. —NB, GMA News