During the hearing of the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression equality Bill at the House of Representatives Committee on Women & Gender Equality, Deputy Speaker, and CIBAC Partylist Representative Bro. Eddie Villanueva deferred the said bill.
Then in one of his statements, Rep. Villanueva asked that instead of posing like LGTBQ+, Congress should focus on rehabilitation.
“Are we posing ourselves to be like LGBTQ+? Cant we focus on rehabilitation?” said Rep. Villanueva.
Netizens took to Twitter to express their concerns and reactions over these statements, especially about rehabilitating the LGBTQ+ community.
Among these concerns is the possibility that Rep. Villanueva is pushing for conversion therapy and psychological abuse.
✔ Forcing his religious beliefs on others
✔ Conversion Therapy
✔ LGBTQ+ as wrongLet it be known that Eddie Villanueva advocates for the psychological, mental, and emotional torture of LGBTQ+ individuals. SHAME. https://t.co/CJgjxF8heW
— Ja #Equality4All 🏳️🌈 (@dyaelgonzales) November 4, 2020
Conversion therapy is torture. Never forget that Eddie Villanueva proposed to torture LGBTQ people. #SOGIEEqualityNow https://t.co/1yqyITtPem
— Tina Boado 🌈 (@inaurner) November 4, 2020
https://twitter.com/mazda_more/status/1323884421875855361
https://twitter.com/4plus4equals7/status/1323921558209929218
https://twitter.com/abby_orbeta/status/1323913142800318464
Then, another netizen cited that these ideas have no place in today’s society and even referred to the representative as a dinosaur.
https://twitter.com/dandelfin_/status/1323866875034435584
Then, other netizens pointed out that being LGBTQ+ is not a mental disorder as it was declared by the American Psychiatric Association back in 1973.
December 1973, the American Psychiatric Association took a vote and declared that homosexuality is not a mental disorder. WHY THE NEED FOR REHABILITATION PROGRAMS?
IT IS NOT, AND WILL NEVER BE, A MENTAL DISORDER. LGBTQ+ RIGHTS IS HUMAN RIGHTS!#SOGIEEqualityNow #PassADBNow https://t.co/zOJiH9dQq0
— Robert Dominic Gonzales (@robertkaaatz) November 4, 2020
https://twitter.com/bornfujoshi/status/1323881619531292672
The SOGIE bill already passed its third and final hearing back in the 17th Congress with a 197-0 vote. Congress meant to pass adopt the 17th congress version of the bill to this 18th congress and supposed to continue with the plenary hearing wherein it will be up for a vote in Congress. However, conservatives such as Rep. Villanueva have managed to defer the SOGIE bill to one more hearing under their committee.