Another trans woman murdered. Another body pulled from the river. Another news report that misgenders the dead. And still… No law. No justice. No protection.
This year’s Pride Month in the Philippines has been marred not by celebration, but by mourning. It is a time when LGBTQIA+ individuals around the world gather in joy and remembrance. Yet in our country, we are once again grieving the deaths of our own.
Ali Macalintal, a transwoman, former broadcaster and human rights defender, was gunned down in General Santos City. Kierra Apostol, another transwoman, was found lifeless in the river of Cagayan after being reported missing for days.
With each new headline, the pattern becomes clearer. These are not isolated crimes. These are symptoms of a society that has never protected queer and trans individuals.
And yet, every time, we are being told the same thing: “The Philippines is tolerant of LGBTQIA+ people.”
What good is tolerance when LGBTQIA+ lives are taken with impunity?
Visibility without protection
Yes, we see queer Filipinos on television. We watch drag performers and trans influencers gain fame online. We even see rainbow logos from banks and government offices.
But this visibility masks a dark reality. In truth, these individuals still remain deeply vulnerable to violence, discrimination, harassment, and erasure. Because while we are seen, we are still harassed. Disowned. Misgendered. Killed.
The Philippines has no national law that protects people from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC). Without legal protection, queer Filipinos are left to see life with no safety net.
And without that law, we are left with nothing but slogans and hashtags. We are disowned by families, harassed in the streets, and, as we’ve seen again this Pride Month, killed.
We are left with police officers asking trans women if they are “really women” when reporting abuse. We are left with classrooms that claim to teach respect while LGBTQIA+ students are bullied into silence. We are left with media outlets still misgendering victims in headlines.
Each time the SOGIESC Equality Bill, formerly known as the anti-discrimination bill, is filed and killed in Congress for over two decades, another queer person is left unprotected.
Why must we remain merely tolerated, with our fundamental rights still left hanging?
This is a political failure
Macalintal’s death was not just a tragedy. It was a political failure. Apostol’s murder is not just a crime. It is the result of decades of government inaction. And so we say: Enough.
This is why the SOGIESC Equality Bill must be passed, not tomorrow, not next year. But now.
And while it may not solve everything, it will be a start. It will, at the very least, affirm that this nation sees us as people worth protecting.
Pride is not just about a parade of colors. It is a protest.
A demand to live without fear. And a refusal to die quietly.
A demand to be seen not as someone “tolerated”, but as someone equal.
We are tired of asking politely.
We are done watching our own queers die.
The time for tolerance is over. The time for justice is now.
