Research Title: Impact of Discriminative Language in the Coming Out of the

Selected DOrSU Students from Gender Dysphoria

Research Objectives:
a. to understand the concept of sexual orientation and gender identity;
b. to analyze how language influences a person’s decision to come out of their
gender identity crisis; and
c. to explore how language helped the selected DORSU students in the coming out
of the gender identity crisis.

Introductory:
The incidents described in this report illustrate the vital importance of
expanding and enforcing protections for LGBT youth in schools. Despite prohibitions
on bullying, for example, students across Mindanao described patterns of bullying
and mistreatment that went unchecked by school staff. While verbal bullying
appeared to be the most prevalent problem that LGBT students faced, physical
bullying and sexualized harassment were also worryingly common—and while
students were most often the culprits, teachers ignored or participated in bullying as
well (Human Rights Watch, 2017).

Children in the Philippines face a wide range of human rights issues. Some
children are made more vulnerable to human rights violations due to other aspects of
their identities, such as class; ethnicity; disability; and sexual orientation, gender
identity and expression, and sexual characteristics (SOGIE). For children who are
perceived to be and/or identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and
intersex (LGBTQ), these vulnerabilities are increased due to widely held hetero-
normative views that foster and justify the violence and discrimination against them.
Despite this increased vulnerability, issues that are specific to LGBTQ children have
for the longest time been on the fringes of LGBTQ rights and child rights discourses
(Ivanka Custodia, 2019).

Based on interviews with over 500 students, teachers, administrators,

parents, service providers, and advocates in Alabama, Pennsylvania, South Dakota,
Texas, and Utah, this report focuses on four main issues that LGBT people continue
to experience in school environments in the United States. Areas of concern
include bullying and harassment, exclusion from school curricula and resources,
restrictions on LGBT student groups, and other forms of discrimination and bigotry
against students and staff based on sexual orientation and gender identity (Human
Rights Watch, 2016).
Reference:
Human Rights Watch. (2017). “Just Let Us Be” Discrimination Against LGBT
Students in the Philippines. Retrieved:
https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/06/21/just-let-us-be/discrimination-against-
lgbt-students-philippines
Human Rights Watch. (2016). “Like Walking Through a Hailstorm” Discrimination
Against LGBT Youth in US Schools. Retrieved:
https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/12/08/walking-through
hailstorm/discrimination-against-lgbt-youth-us-schools
Ivanka Custodia. (2021). The Situation Of LGBTQ Children In The Philippines.
Retrieved: https://chr.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2019.-THE-
SITUATION-OF-LGBTQ-CHILDREN-IN-THE-PHILIPPINES-A-Report-by-the-
Commission-on-Human-Rights-December-2019.pdf