The transgender politician fighting for gay rights in the Philippines
Congresswoman Geraldine Roman’s election was a breakthrough in the devoutly Catholic country – now she hopes Manila will pass a bill to outlaw discrimination against the LGBT community and build on her success
There is an elevated stage in the basketball court-cum-community hall that Philippine Congresswoman Geraldine Roman is using to address her constituents, but she chooses not to use it.
Instead she remains on their level, cracking jokes and singing as she outlines her local government platform – emphasising her education and livelihood programmes and underlining her commitment to a national bill that will outlaw discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
It’s an issue close to her heart, for Roman is the first transgender woman to be elected to public office in the devoutly Catholic Philippines.
Years of campaigning for her parents, Antonio (now deceased) and Herminia, who both served as representatives of the first district of Bataan, were like a boot camp for Roman, showing her the importance of engaging on a human level. Geraldine replaced her mother as the district’s representative after the 2016 elections, in which she beat Hermosa mayor Danilo Malana.
“I may be a neophyte congresswoman but I’m a veteran in politics,” she said over a quiet lunch in her ancestral home.