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HOLY ANGEL UNIVERSITY

Holy Angel University

School of Engineering and Architecture Department
#1 Holy Angel St, Angeles, 2009 Pampanga

“Just Let Us Be”

Discrimination Against LGBT Students in the Philippines

Submitted to:
Mrs. Maria Cristina Castro-Nogoy, LPT, MAEd

Submitted by:
David, Patricia D.

December 09,2024
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Schools should be safe places for everyone. But in the Philippines, students who are
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) too often find that their schooling
experience is marred by bullying, discrimination, lack of access to LGBT-related
information, and in some cases, physical or sexual assault. These abuses can cause
deep and lasting harm and curtail students’ right to education, protected under
Philippine and international law.

In recent years, lawmakers and school administrators in the Philippines have

recognized that bullying of LGBT youth is a serious problem, and designed
interventions to address it. In 2012, the Department of Education (DepEd), which
oversees primary and secondary schools, enacted a Child Protection Policy
designed to address bullying and discrimination in schools, including on the basis of
sexual orientation and gender identity. The following year, Congress passed the
Anti-Bullying Law of 2013, with implementing rules and regulations that enumerate
sexual orientation and gender identity as prohibited grounds for bullying and
harassment. The adoption of these policies sends a strong signal that bullying and
discrimination are unacceptable and should not be tolerated in educational
institutions.

But these policies, while strong on paper, have not been adequately enforced. In the
absence of effective implementation and monitoring, many LGBT youth continue to
experience bullying and harassment in school. The adverse treatment they
experience from peers and teachers is compounded by discriminatory policies that
stigmatize and disadvantage LGBT students and by the lack of information and
resources about LGBT issues available in schools.

This report is based on interviews and group discussions conducted in 10 cities on

the major Philippine islands of Luzon and the Visayas with 76 secondary school
students or recent graduates who identified as LGBT or questioning, 22 students or
recent graduates who did not identify as LGBT or questioning, and 46 parents,
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teachers, counselors, administrators, service providers, and experts on education. It

examines three broad areas in which LGBT students encounter problems—bullying
and harassment, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender
identity, and a lack of information and resources—and recommends steps that
lawmakers, DepEd, and school administrators should take to uphold LGBT students’
right to a safe and affirming educational environment.

The incidents described in this report illustrate the vital importance of expanding and
enforcing protections for LGBT youth in schools. Despite prohibitions on bullying, for
example, students across the Philippines described patterns of bullying and
mistreatment that went unchecked by school staff. Carlos M., a 19-year-old gay
student from Olongapo City, said: “When I was in high school, they’d push me,
punch me. When I’d get out of school, they’d follow me [and] push me, call me ‘gay,’
‘faggot,’ things like that.” While verbal bullying appeared to be the most prevalent
problem that LGBT students faced, physical bullying and sexualized harassment
were also worryingly common—and while students were most often the culprits,
teachers ignored or participated in bullying as well. The effects of this bullying were
devastating to the youth who were targeted. Benjie A., a 20-year-old gay man in
Manila who was bullied throughout his education, said, “I was depressed, I was
bullied, I didn’t know my sexuality, I felt unloved, and I felt alone all the time. And I
had friends, but I still felt so lonely. I was listing ways to die.”
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The mistreatment that students faced in schools was exacerbated by discriminatory

policies and practices that excluded them from fully participating in the school
environment. Schools impose rigid gender norms on students in a variety of ways—
for example, through gendered uniforms or dress codes, restrictions on hair length,
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gendered restrooms, classes and activities that differ for boys and girls, and close
scrutiny of same-sex friendships and relationships. For example, Marisol D., a 21-
year-old transgender woman, said:

When I was in high school, there was a teacher who always went around and if you
had long hair, she would call you up to the front of the class and cut your hair in front
of the students. That happened to me many times. It made me feel terrible: I cried
because I saw my classmates watching me getting my hair cut.

These policies are particularly difficult for transgender students, who are typically
treated as their sex assigned at birth rather than their gender identity. But they can
also be challenging for students who are gender non-conforming, and feel most
comfortable expressing themselves or participating in activities that the school
considers inappropriate for their sex.
Efforts to address discrimination against LGBT people have met with resistance,
including by religious leaders. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
(CBCP) has condemned violence and discrimination against LGBT people, but in
practice, the Roman Catholic Church has resisted laws and policies that would
protect LGBT rights. The CBCP has sought to weaken anti-discrimination legislation
pending before Congress, for example, and has opposed implementation of
comprehensive sexuality education in schools. Representatives of the Church warn
that recognizing LGBT rights will open the door to same-sex marriage, and oppose
legislation that might promote divorce, euthanasia, abortion, total population control,
and homosexual marriage, which they group under the acronym “DEATH.” In a
country that is more than 80 percent Catholic, opposition from the Church influences
how LGBT issues are addressed in families and schools, with many parents and
teachers telling students that being LGBT is immoral or wrong.
One way that schools can address bullying and discrimination and ameliorate their
effects is by providing educational resources to students, teachers, and staff to
familiarize them with LGBT people and issues. Unfortunately, positive information
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and resources regarding sexual orientation and gender identity are exceedingly rare
in secondary schools in the Philippines. When students do learn about LGBT people
and issues in schools, the messages are typically negative, rejecting same-sex
relationships and transgender identities as immoral or unnatural. Juan N., a 22-year-
old transgender man who had attended high school in Manila, said, “There would be
a lecture where they’d somehow pass by the topic of homosexuality and show you,
try to illustrate that in the Bible, in Christian theology, homosexuality is a sin, and if
you want to be a good Christian you shouldn’t engage in those activities.” Virtually all
the students interviewed by Human Rights Watch said the limited sexuality
education they received did not include information that was relevant to them as
LGBT youth, and few reported having access to supportive guidance counselors or
school personnel.
When students face these issues—whether in isolation or together—the school can
become a difficult or hostile environment. In addition to physical and psychological
injury, students described how bullying, discrimination, and exclusion caused them
to lose concentration, skip class, or seek to transfer schools—all impairing their right
to education. For the right to education to have meaning for all students—including
LGBT students—teachers, administrators, and lawmakers need to work together
with LGBT advocates to ensure that schools become safer and more inclusive
places for LGBT children to learn.