Not all LGBTQIA+ are allies of the struggle. Bataan 1st District Rep. Geraldine Roman proved this in the public support she gave to the executive bid of the dictators’ children tandem of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte for the 2022 national elections during their campaign rally in Bataan last March 17. “Bataan is both a Marcos and Duterte country,” Roman proudly proclaimed.
Roman made headlines for her historic win in 2016 as the first openly trans woman in Congress under the Liberal Party. In a predominantly Catholic and conservative country, brought by the intensive colonial conditioning and erasure of indigenous beliefs, her win posed socio-political significance in the representation of the LGBTQIA+ sector and of trans issues in the legislative.
In her two terms in Congress, she was among the legislators fighting for the passing of the SOGIE Equality Bill, which seeks the protection of gender minorities from discrimination on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in the workplace, public spaces, education, and other social institutions. Unfortunately, the bill has yet to be passed due to the abundance of vocal bigots in Congress such as Sen. Manny Pacquiao who called gays “worse than animals,” Sen. Tito Sotto who cited Pride, a central theme of the LGBTQIA+ movement, as one of the seven deadly sins, and Sen. Joel Villanueva who also opposed the bill due to religious beliefs.
Roman hailed from a long-standing political dynasty in the 1st District of Bataan. They have monopolized the representative position in their clan for about 24 years. Maybe this pushed Roman’s endorsement for the Marcos-Duterte tandem — a common ground on dynasties and engrossment of political power? After all, observing the Roman dynasty’s pattern of constantly shifting political parties to those who are in the executive seats for probably the security of their family rule, is no surprise at all.
Giving Roman the benefit of the doubt, maybe her decision to support the dynastical tandem was to forward the interests of the queer community. After all, Marcos Jr. publicly stated his support for same-sex marriage back in 2015, while Duterte said that she is part of the community and an advocate of queer rights.
But this begs the following questions: if Duterte is really for the queers, why does she exclude the trans community in her disapproval of their use of public restrooms according to their identity? In a comment she made during the issue of trans women using women’s comfort rooms, sparked by the discrimination faced by Gretchen Diez in a Quezon City mall, she disapproves of this on the grounds of safety. Duterte said that only when they underwent a “sex change” does she support their basic right to use restrooms according to their identity. But this is completely dismissive of numerous trans individuals who have no privilege to undergo physical transition due to the lack of government-subsidized healthcare for trans individuals. It's quite ironic for a trans personality like Roman to endorse an evident transphobe in a rainbow cloak.
Moreover, If Marcos is truly for the implementation of same-sex marriage, why did he not file a bill for this during his term? Why did he not help push for the passing of the SOGIE Equality Bill? Despite his progressive views on LGBTQIA+ rights, he remains to deny the atrocities of thousands of human rights violations during his father’s Martial Law, which also includes the exile, silencing, abuse, and killings of queers.
Their statements are just mere empty promises that have yet to be proven by their actions. From what we know, it’s possible that they are just capitalizing on the tactic to appeal to the queer vote that Sara’s father successfully used in his 2016 bid. Rodrigo Duterte promised during his presidential campaign to “consider” the legalization of same-sex marriage when the opportunity allows. Quickly almost after a year in office, he retracted those statements and said that he is against such an idea.
Nonetheless, Duterte’s pronounced queerness or Marcos being a staunch advocate of LGBTQIA+ rights is not the issue. The problem goes further than gender matters. As a community present in all sectors of life, the struggles faced by the queers are along with issues of the everyday Filipino mass and are layered. This means there are queers everywhere in different walks of life facing the challenges of an abusive state.
There may be LGBTQIA+ farmers and indigenous people enslaved by the land-grabbing of the Marcoses, LGBTQIA+ victims of Duterte’s brutal war on drugs, queers imprisoned and tortured during the Martial Law, LGBTQIA+ activists and journalists that were abducted, killed, and silenced by the Duterte and Marcos regime, and queer workers that were burdened and hungered by Duterte’s criminal negligence during the pandemic.
There is purposive neglect of government-issued data on queer statistics to properly confirm these claims, but it is clear that the struggles faced by the LGBTQIA+ community are the myriad of oppression faced by the everyday Filipino mass. Thus, the fight for basic human rights is also a fight for queer rights and vice versa.
Therefore, for a prominent representative of the LGBTQIA+ in Congress to endorse candidates from dynasties who are at the forefront of violation of human rights is a blatant betrayal of the queer struggle. This shows how important knowing the background, particularly their class and interests, is in determining the true allies of any movement. With Roman’s dynastical background and Bataan’s Duterte-rich vote in 2016, it’s no wonder she can easily let go of the mass-centric principles and intersectionality of the queer movement in exchange for her political career tenure.
Roman’s transfer of partisanship to Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), Duterte’s political party, is a huge step on the graves of the estimated 50 trans and gender non-conforming individuals who have been murdered by hate crimes since 2010, according to Transgender Europe’s Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM). Donna Nierra, Jessa Remiendo, Ebeng Mayor, and Jennifer Laude are only some of these victims of systemic oppression and miscarriage of justice.
After all, as Amber Quiban recalled from what Roman said in a lunch meeting with SOGIE Equality advocates, “I am not an advocate. I am [a] politician,” which her actions justified. Just like any other politician, it was her own interests first before the interests of the (queer) people she was supposed to serve. Roman’s allyship to a son of a tyrant who caused the exile of the founding figures of the Filipino LGBTQIA+ movement during the Martial Law and a daughter of a misogynist who killed thousands of innocent youth during their “war on drugs'' is a desperate attempt to secure her own post.
Being queer doesn’t exempt you from being one with the perpetrators of violence, corruption, misogyny, and tyranny. We must be wary of more Romans out there — moths pretending to be one with the butterflies, politicians who tokenize the marginalized struggles for political leverage. Genuine queer representation will only be achieved by someone who recognizes that true gender liberation is accompanied by the freedom of all marginalized sectors — the poor, the working class, the Indigenous, the farmers and fisherfolks, and more — from a system of oppression. Being queer is first and foremost being a revolutionary from society’s gender expectations in place.
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