Saturday, April 19, 2008 Speak out: We want justice By Roxanne Omega-Doron Provincial Coordinator, BisdakPride
WE strongly condemn the act committed by the medical personnel of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City. The dastardly act by few medical personnel violates the basic principle of human rights: respect.
Those responsible should be held accountable for violating the right to privacy of the victim and should be brought to court so they can no longer do what they recently did.
We also extend our deepest sympathy to the victim, his family and friends. Now is the appropriate time to consolidate our ranks against systemic bias towards us.
Two things should be considered:
First, the incident is medical malpractice, pure and simple. Medical personnel nowadays are trained primarily to earn and not to serve. Such orientation contradicts what the medical profession is supposed to uphold.
While we agree that these people are just few, government and the public should not give space to individuals laughing at the expense of an innocent victim.
Second, the issue also exposed our misconception, bias and phobia towards members of the lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgendered (LGBT) community.
By laughing at and taking video of the victim, those responsible showed deep and historical bias towards us.
A society that degrades the LGBT community is not a free society. An individual or group of people who shamelessly disrespect the rights of others, particularly the LGBT people, is a product of a cruel society who breeds them.
