St. Scholastica’s College former President Sister Mary John Mananzan expressed her support to the SOGIE equality bill because she believes that everyone deserved to be respected even if they’re a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.
During the Senate hearing in SOGIE bill, Sister Mananzan, a catholic nun urged the lawmakers to pass the bill immediately to penalize people who would show bad behavior towards the LGBQIA+ members.
She believes that the law would not give any advantage to the LGBTQIA+ members than straight people.
“I don’t see the SOGIE bill giving any special right to the LGBT community. We are just saying that the rights of everybody should also be applied to them,” she said.
Mananzan also said that religious people like her already learned how to respect the decision of an individual.
“As a religious woman, I believe in the respect, compassion, and reverence for all persons because they were all created in the image and likeness of God,” she explained.
The nun didn’t tell if St. Scholastica College, a school exclusively for a female would accept transgender women in the future.
Other religious leaders also expressed their support to the said bill.
Aglipayan Church member Koko Alviar, who admitted that he’s an openly gay man said that he believes in the intention of SOGIE bill to end inequality in the country.
“We believe God wants us to exist in a community of love,” said Alviar.
“‘Love the sinner,’ we are told by our anti-SOGIE Christian siblings, but how do you say you love the sinner when you are refusing them secular, universal rights to jobs, education, and healthcare based on their dissonance from your expectations?” he added.
SOGIE bill became a topic after Gretchen Diez, a trans woman was stopped from using a restroom designated for female in Quezon City.