SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao del Sur (MindaNews / 20 Nov) – Previously known as the municipality of Maganoy, this third-class town with a population of around 35,000 has imposed stricter measures against members of the LGBTQ+ community, particularly gay persons, banning them from cross-dressing in public.
Anwar Emblawa, executive secretary of the Shariff Aguak municipal government, said the move is in line with “upholding and respecting the Islamic religious tradition propagated by our forebears.”
Gays, he clarified, can still cross-dress but they are banned from doing so in public. “Inside their beauty parlors, gays can wear what they want, but in public places, they must not wear dresses fit for women,” Emblawa said.
LGBTQ+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual and more.
Payong-payongs or passenger tricycles maneuver at the rotunda in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao del Sur on Thursday, 17 November 2022. MindaNews photo by BONG S. SARMIENTO
Emblawa explained that LGBTQ+ members are not banned in this town which used to be the seat of power of undivided Maguindanao.
Maguindanao has recently been divided into Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte, with Shariff Aguak under Maguindanao del Sur.
“Members of the LGBTQ+ community are welcome to live, do business and visit our municipality. What we ban is for the gays to cross-dresses in public places,” Emblawa told MindaNews Thursday at the municipal hall here.
Emblawa said penalties include warning for the first offense and community service for the next.
He said the ban on gays cross-dressing in public was imposed by the previous administration in 2019 and is still being implemented by the LGU now headed by first-term mayor Akmad “Mitra” Ampatuan.
Emblawa explained that while homosexuality is frowned upon by Islam, the LGU is becoming tolerant – it does not totally ban gays or lesbians living or visiting the town –due to the “changing times,” apparently referring to society’s acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community.
Emblawa said that with Ampatuan’s order banning cross-dresisng in public, fake news reports have circulated that gays and other LGBTQ+ members are totally prohibited in this town, “to discredit or malign his leadership.”
Alsarip Usman, a freelance makeup artist in Shariff Aguak, said LGBTQ+ members should be respected and not discriminated against.
“My dream as a member of the LBGTQ+ sector is to be influential by becoming a respected professional (through education opportunities). Our sector has been the subject of bullying,” he said in a Facebook post in Filipino.
Usman pushed for equal rights to education for the LGBTQ+ community “so that no one will be left behind from among their ranks.”
In September, versions of the SOGIE (sexual orientation, gender identity and expression) bill were refiled at the Upper House by Senators Risa Hontiveros, Loren Legarda and Mark Villar. Senator Robinhood Padilla, a Muslim, manifested support to the measures that seek to penalize discrimination against persons based on their sexual preferences.
Aside from banning gays from wearing cross-dresses in public places, Emblawa said the LGU also required women to wear hijab in public spaces such as restaurants and markets. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)