In today's world, where labelling yourself as either gay, lesbian, trans or any other gender under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella, being stigmatized for it has unfortunately become the norm. Whether it be an openly gay student, a non binary professor in college, or a bisexual doctor- no matter their contributions to the world they are still discriminated against. Thirty years ago, being a part of the community was considered having a mental illness- and while there are other countries that have legalized same-sex marriage and gender affirming transitions, there are still cases of discrimination across the world.

Conde C. (2016, September 20). Philippines Transgender Lawmaker Urges Protection for LGBT Rights - Human Rights Watch
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/09/20/philippines-transgender-lawmaker-urges-protection-lgbt-rights 

The Philippines is a very conservative country, and even if there are laws that support Anti-Discrimination against LGBTQIA+ individuals, The Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression (SOGIE) Bill, discrimination is still evident in the country and people under the community are referred to as "Tolerated, but not accepted"

Badilla, J. (2024, June 15). LGBTQIA+ groups urge PBBM to certify SOGIE Equality Bill - Palawan News
https://palawan-news.com/lgbtqia-groups-urge-pbbm-to-certify-sogie-equality-bill-urgently/?noamp=mobile

However, even in the midst of such discrimination- Filipino's who are part of this community still fight until this very day for the same rights everyone else has: hosting events such as a pride-march, making advocacies that can become compromises between Filipinos, and freely expressing themselves with no regard to what they might hear in hopes that others do the same.