Rainbow Rights Project

Rainbow Rights Project (R-Rights)

The Rainbow Rights Project (R-Rights), Inc. is a group of lesbian and gay lawyers and legal activists who are dedicated to promoting a rational discourse on the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders (LGBTs). Following its registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2005, R-Rights was formally launched in the same year at the University of the Philippines Center for Women’s Studies. The affair also doubled as a Roundtable Discussion on gay rights and the law entitled “OUR RIGHTS: Law 101 for LGBTs”.

Since then, the group has launched the “Pink Card” which sought to educate LGBTs about their basic human rights, and inform them of what to do in case they are arrested or criminally charged for offenses commonly filed against LGBTs; the “Blue Card” which is a primer for the legal protection of lesbians in intimate relationships; and the “Lilac Card” which is a guide that outlines the rights of lesbians in the work place.

R-Rights has likewise assisted in several cases affecting the legal rights of specific LGBT individuals (i.e. discrimination case of a gay librarian against Miriam College, Fahrenheit Imbestigador expose’, harassed transgendered at G4, Makati, etc.). It has also responded to several legal queries on various LGBT issues and served as resource persons for various academic researches and fora on LGBT concerns.

Dyke Dialogues 2: A Rainbow Exchange on Identities and Partnerships

During the LGBT Pride March in December last year, R-Rights co-organized the biggest all-women contingent with Radar Pridewear, Lunduyan ng Sining (LNS), and the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines.

In 2007, R-Rights launched the Dyke Dialogues Series which aims to provide young lesbians with a venue to discuss various issues that concern the community. Most recently, R-Rights sponsored “Dyke Dialogues 3: The Sex Talk”, a forum on safer sex practices and the intricacies of lesbian relationships. R-Rights will soon be taking the Dyke Dialogues to colleges and universities in Metro Manila. The Dyke Dialogues Series and M2M Series are sponsored by Radar Pridewear.

Why we are here: The Concept Behind our Being

The Rainbow Rights Project is an innovation to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered (LGBT) advocacy in the Philippines. Instead of the usual “reactionary” nature of direct activism, R-Rights advocacy work is more “thoughtful” and seeks to be primarily an intellectual endeavor. Activities are geared towards knowledge production, separate from the political base of advocacy groups, and are focused on developing ideas that will create major changes in the long run.

R-Rights observed that while the Philippine LGBT Community has already succeeded in organizing the troops and galvanizing support from local LGBT members, increased visibility did not necessarily promote a singular, unified “voice” on certain matters.  As such, in the midst of all the organizing, the “brains” of the movement, a long-term approach that focused on pure study was always lacking. There was a genuine, felt need for rigorous, analytical investigations of issues and an institution that will come up with quality research and unbiased reports on LGBT concerns.

The original idea was to come up with a legal and policy “think tank” and legal resource center dedicated to sexual orientation law and public policy. The mission will continue to be about eliminating discrimination and violence against LGBT members, but will utilize policy research, review and analysis, as well as legal reform measures and legislative advocacy, as concrete strategies to promote LGBT rights. The objective is to make daily conversations, or debates if you will, less shrill with high emotion and dramatic fervor, and instead be rational, objective, and more importantly, informed discussions on LGBT rights. It will aim to “internally” educate the ranks of the LGBT Community and to consolidate arguments and positions on different LGBT matters.

As of now, no LGBT group or network has successfully organized a law-based advocacy work such as this. Similarly, no alternative lawyering NGO has established a legal resource institution devoted to this form of developmental law. Sexual Orientation law is virtually unheard of in the Philippine legal community and remains to be a vague concept among LGBT members. As such, there is clearly an unexplored territory which could be exploited to advance LGBT rights in the Philippines. For LGBT members or LGBT-friendly individuals with the proper legal training, this is also an opportunity to engage in meaningful and fulfilling legal work that will surely benefit the Filipino LGBT Community.