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Schools and community 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.

[Senator and boxing legend] Manny Pacquiao says we’re not human. They should just let us be.

– Edgar T., an 18-year-old gay high school student in Manila, February 2017

It’s like walking through a hailstorm...

—Polly R. (pseudonym), parent of gender non-conforming son, describing the hostile

environment that LGBT children face in schools, Utah, December 2015

Outside the home, schools are the primary vehicles for educating, socializing, and providing

services to young people. Schools can be difficult environments for students, regardless of their

sexual orientation or gender identity, but they are often especially unwelcoming for lesbian,

gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth. A lack of policies and practices that affirm and

support LGBT youth—and a failure to implement protections that do exist—means that LGBT

students nationwide continue to face bullying, exclusion, discrimination and misconception in

school, putting them at physical and psychological risk and limiting their education.

In 2001, Human Rights Watch published Hatred in the Hallways: Violence and Discrimination

against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Students in different schools. The report

documented rampant bullying and discrimination against LGBT students in schools across the

country, and urged policymakers and school officials to take concrete steps to respect and

protect the rights of LGBT youth.


The mistreatment and misconception 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, 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.

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, exclusion and misconception 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.

Not only in the Philippines, but it is universal in the LGBT community that each individual

encounters or has encountered some sort of identity crisis—which may not be as grave as the

other—before they come to terms with themselves and the people around them. It was
reported by Inquirer.net (June 8, 2013) that a survey was conducted by the Pew Research

Center, which results made the Philippines rank 10 out of 17 countries as one of the most gay-

friendly countries because of the country’s high level of public acceptance of homosexuals.

Dr. Margarita Go Singco- Holmes, a psychologist, wrote a book entitled A Different Love: Being

a gay man in the Philippines (2005), which is composed of the mails she received from gay men

who seek advice from her regarding the problems and issues they currently face at the time.

One of the common problems of these men were about their sexuality—that they weren’t sure

what they really were and they also weren’t so sure about “coming out” to the people close to

them, such as their family and friends. These experiences could be supported through two of

these stage models, despite there being many, on the “stages” LGBT people experience during

identity formation.

Many people are guilty of discrimination against LGBT youths, whether consciously or

unconsciously. LGBT youths are faced with daily discrimination and misconception from society,

peers, family and even school teachers and administrations. The above statistics not only show

that LGBT youths lack support and guidance but also prove how much these youths are clearly

affected, in more ways than one, by discrimination. Cole (2007) mentions that there is a higher

rate of abuse, neglect, and discrimination against LGBT youths than straight youths. Most

parents would prefer their children to be straight than to be gay, and most school officials also

prefer straight students over gay students.

Cole (2007) claims that misconception and discrimination against LGBT youths can create

repression along with a deficiency in their natural growth. Discrimination also has a social and

emotional impact on them. Instead of being social individuals, LGBT youths remain in the closet

and hide. The loneliness that they bear can turn into depression which often leads to substance

abuse or even suicide. LGBT youths have greater chances of alcohol and substance abuse than
heterosexual youths (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1989, as cited in “Today’s

Gay Youth,” n.d.). Also, roughly about one third of LGBT youths have a drinking or drug problem.

Human Rights Watch (2001) interviewed some LGBT youths who say that they drink to the

point of passing out or to feel good and normal (p. 69). The lack of support from parents or

schools can possibly make them feel like there is no hope of ever living a happy life and being

productive (Human Rights Watch, 2001, p. 68).

Beyond the need to address multiple types of discrimination, unseen misconception and

variable effects and outcomes, literature to date has rarely made a distinction between lesbian,

gay or bisexual identities. There is evidence to suggest, however, that bisexual groups in

particular have unique experiences with discrimination and misconception — that are specific

to their bisexual identity and that differ from the experiences of lesbian women and gay men

(Balsam & Mohr, 2007; Hequembourg & Brailler, 2009). In addition to experiencing differential

treatment by heterosexuals, bisexual persons also confront prejudicial behaviors and attitudes

among lesbians and gays, or the “LGBT” community, of which bisexual groups—at least

nominally—are a part (Bostwick, 2012; Bower, Gurevich & Mathieson, 2002; Hequembourg &

Brailler, 2009). Bisexual groups are in the unfortunately unique position of confronting

discrimination, and corresponding exclusion, from within their “own” community, which likely

adds to the deleterious mental health consequences of discrimination and misconception.

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