BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – The ganging up by LGBTs and their allies on a college coed running for department governor at the University of St. La Salke here is “not surprising” but “not fair.”
Lawyer Lyndon, a former city councilor here and one of the prime movers of the Coalition of Concerned Families, told DNX the case involving Shaina Bernabat “is not peculiar to her case alone” as he himself had experienced a similar shaming by a proponent of the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Expression (SOGIE) bill that seeks to, among others, penalize discrimination of LGBTs.
Caña said no less than Rep. Geraldine Roman of Bataan’s first district, called him “hypocrite, holier than thou” and “self righteous” during a House hearing on the SOGIE bill.
Roman is the first transgender to win a Congressional seat.
Bernabat, on the other hand, was bashed on the Facebook page of the Spectrum, the official school organ of USLS over her opinion on the bill.
The 3 May 2021 post of The Spectrum featured a photo quote of Bernabat who is governor of the College of Education under the KAUSAP party on the question: “do you agree or disagree that the SOGIE bil should be passed. Why or why not?”
Bernabat’s answer on the quote card was “I am against the implementation of the SOGIE Bill. I am a Catholic; I believe that the bill does not address equality but rather inequality. I am not against the LGBTQ+ community, what I’m against is the bill they are trying to pass, because it is against the rights of the people outside their community, […] instead of pushing for SOGIE Bill, why not have a comprehensive anti-discrimination bill/act [where] we can also include age, race – like it covers different aspects, not just gender, which values equality for everyone, not just a specific group of people.”
Her comments led to a deluge of negative remarks that eventually led to the turning off of the comments section by The Spectrum with the note: ” The comment sections have been turned off due to malicious remarks and defamatory attacks posted by certain netizens directed towards the electoral candidates in question. Likewise, comments already posted with the sane intentions have been removed. The post was not intended to cause any harm to the individuals but rather to share the candidates’ insight on pertinent topics and issues.”
Caña noted a “vehemence and a passion” in the reaction among SOGIE bill supporters that make it hard or impossible for “civil discussion to take place.”
Caña’s group is one of those opposing the passage of the bill.
He added he is “happy in a sense” that the Bernabat incident happened because there is “documentary evidence of the danger of the SOGIE Bill being weaponized” if it becomes law.
“We affirm that we respect the LGBT community but what we are against is the SOGIE Bill” that Caña added might create a “super class or sector in Philippine society.”
