Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros refiled the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression (SOGIE) Equality Bill (Senate Bill 159) as part of her first batch of priority proposed measures in the upcoming 18th Congress.
She expressed confidence that the measure will finally pass the legislature.
“We will paint the Senate with rainbow colors. Our hard work in the previous Congress laid the groundwork for the measure to gain new champions and allies and the massive popularization of the bill inside and outside the halls of the legislature. It has a momentum that can’t be ignored nor halted,” she said.
“If the Senate’s 17th Congress was a big win for women and health, the 18th Congress will be a massive victory against hate and discrimination. The SOGIE Equality Bill will pass. It is a measure whose time has come,” Hontiveros added.
In the 17th Congress, Hontiveros authored and sponsored the passage of the Strengthened Anti-hospital Deposit Law, the Mental Health Law, the Expanded Maternity Leave Law, the Safe Spaces Act, and the HIV Policy Act, to name just a few.
Aside from the SOGIE Equality bill, for the 18th Congress, Hontiveros also filed the Teenage Pregnancy bill, the Universal Social Pension bill for Senior Citizens, the Expanded Solo Parents Welfare bill, the Anti-child Marriage bill, the Strengthened Anti-Rape Law, the On-site, In-city, Near-city Resettlement Bill, the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Bill and the Barangay Health Workers Bill.
