In relation to the Gretchen Diez incident where she was prevented from using the ladies’ restroom because she’s a trans woman, Miss Universe Catriona Gray shared her thoughts about it and showed her support to the LGBTQ+ community.
On August 13, Tuesday, Diez was prevented from using the ladies’ restroom by a female janitor. She took a video of this incident and shared it as a Facebook Live Video. She was taken to the mall’s security office. The janitress insisted that Diez, who identifies and presents as a woman, use the men’s bathroom instead. Later that night, Diez was taken to a police station, where she almost faced an unjust vexation complaint. The case was later dropped after the janitress apologized.
On Facebook, Gray said:
Last night’s incident involving a transgender woman being prohibited from using the womans washroom and resulting in being escorted off premises in handcuffs by local police only highlights further, the Philippines need for implementation of the #SOGIEEqualityBill.
LGBTQ+ rights are HUMAN rights – mga karapatang pangkaligtasan at kalayaan mula sa diskriminasyon, karahasan at pagmamalupit batay sa pagkakakilanlan.
The incident happened in a city that has an existing anti-discrimination bill. Ibig sabihin, walang saysay ang isang bill na hindi maipatupad sa isang komunidad.
Kasabay ng hinihinging pagpasa ng #SOGIEEQUALITYBILL, dapat din tayong humiling ng mga sumusunod bilang isang komunidad:1. “Accessible forms of information for the public such as educational drives, programs and awareness campaigns”: para mas maintindihan natin ang mga pangangailangan ng LGBTQ+ community at para malaman natin ang mga bagay na maaari pa nating magawa bilang mga kaalyado o mga taong may awa sa kapwa ❤.
2. “A SOGIE workplace policy”: para sa lahat ng mga pampublikong tagapaglingkod at mga taong may impluwensiya sa komunidad.
Gusto ko ring pagtuunan natin ng pansin
ang katotohanang wala dapat makaranas ng anumang uri ng pagpapahiya at pang-aabuso (emotional, physical o sexual), LGBTQ+ man o hindi.The whole arguement of shifting the blame to the victim for reasons of being trans to justify abuse – is still victim blaming and IS NOT RIGHT. The blame should be on the perpetrators who should be held accountable and corrective actions should be taken (in last nights case – points one and two above could greatly help prevent future similar incidents from happening).
Ang LGBTQ + ay nakikipaglaban para sa kanilang mga karapatan – ang karapatan sa kaligtasan, proteksyon at pagkakapantay-pantay – ay laban din natin. ?? #SOGIEEqualityNow
She also shared a rainbow flag along with this statement.
Here’s her actual Facebook post:
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