"There is a need for us to fight, and we should not stop until each member of the LGBTQIA community is free from persecution. Our personal experience, after all, is a political fight. And it is every person’s right to be fully protected by both law and practice." - Prof. Hermie Monterde

Prof. Hermie Monterde, a transgender graduate student and faculty member of the University of the Philippines System, has experienced bullying, harassment, and discrimination from her colleagues and various members of the UP community because of her gender identity. Her story (http://bit.ly/HMPersonalStatement) is only one of the many ways transgender people and the larger LGBTQI community have been continuously marginalized and oppressed, within and beyond the University, because of institutionalized cissexism and heterosexism.

We stand in solidarity with Prof. Monterde and firmly believe that discrimination has no place at the University of the Philippines and that the University, as a bastion of honor and excellence, should protect its LGBTQI students, faculty, and staff from discrimination based on SOGIESC (sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics) and all other forms of inequality and injustice. Everyone, regardless of their SOGIESC, deserves to learn, work, and live in an environment without fear to be who they are.

Read about Prof. Monterde's story on Rappler: http://bit.ly/HMRapplerArticle

#SolidarityWithHermie #NoToDiscriminationInUP #LabanHermie



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