Although it may have come from good intentions, including members of the LGBTQIA+ community in the Land Transportation Office’s (LTO) priority lane may actually be more harmful to the community, an alliance of LBGTQIA+ organizations warned.
Bahaghari Philippines spoke out against the LTO’s plan to prioritize LGBTQIA+ individuals for services such as driver’s license applications and renewals as part of its gender and development program, saying that the implication of including them in the agency’s priority lanes was “dangerous.”
Currently, the LTO’s priority lanes serve senior citizens, persons with disabilities (PWDs), and pregnant women.
“While at first glance it appears convenient, priority lanes exist to aid people with physical and/or mental difficulties in processing transactions. Being LGBTQ+ in no way impairs a person’s physical ability to take part in social and governmental functions,” Bahaghari Philippines’ chairperson Reyna Valmores said in a statement.
“We of course recognize that this may be well-meaning. However, this does not erase the fact that the implication of LTO’s LGBTQ+ priority lane is dangerous. To this day, many people including lawmakers cite the erroneous idea that being LGBTQ+ is a disorder,” Valmores added.
The group offered to hold gender sensitivity trainings for the agency instead, and help the LTO develop anti-discrimination policies.
“It would be more productive for government to issue policies that address actual concerns raised by LGBTQ+ Filipinos, such as the SOGIE Equality Bill, marriage equality, and in a time of economic crisis, a family living wage which could be enjoyed by all regardless of SOGIESC,” it added.
